Notre Dame is going to the first College Football Playoff National Championship game of the expanded format era after a comeback 27-24 win over Penn State in the Orange Bowl on Thursday.
Fighting Irish kicker Mitch Jeter kicked the game-winning 41-yard field goal to cap off a back-and-forth battle between the two storied programs.
Notre Dame's comeback victory may have never materialized had quarterback Riley Leonard not summoned the fortitude to return to the game after an injury.
"He's a competitor and competitors find a way to win," Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said in a postgame interview on ESPN right after the game. "It's an honor to be a part of this with him."
Leonard had to leave the game in the second quarter, forcing in backup Steve Angeli. At that point, Notre Dame was already behind 10-0. But Angeli helped get the Irish back into it with a field goal drive to give Notre Dame its first points, as the Irish went into halftime down 10-3.
But Leonard returned to the game in the second half, and led a touchdown drive to tie the game. The two teams then traded score for score in a competitive second half.
Leonard had a chance to lead a go-ahead drive with two minutes remaining, but the Penn State defense came up with a big third-down sack to force a Notre Dame punt.
Then Allar, with a chance to lead a game-winning drive with less and possibly put himself into the conversation for the top quarterback taken in the NFL Draft, came back onto the field for the biggest moment of his career. And in that moment, he threw an interception to give the ball right back to Leonard and the Irish.
Leonard then came back on the field and led the final drive that put Jeter in position to seal the deal.
"I just trusted in Jesus," Leonard said in a postgame ESPN interview.
Notre Dame's storybook run continues after it came up with a historic win against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans just one day after a deadly terrorist attack killed 14 innocent people.
The Irish will meet the winner of the Cotton Bowl on Friday between Ohio State and Texas.
Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard started the second half of Thursday's College Football Playoff semifinal against Penn State after clearing concussion protocol at halftime, coach Marcus Freeman told ESPN's Molly McGrath coming out of the locker room.
The Fighting Irish inserted a backup quarterback while trailing in the Orange Bowl Thursday.
Notre Dame starting quarterback Riley Leonard left the College Football Playoff semifinal late in the first half and was being evaluated by the Fighting Irish’s medical staff.
Leonard went into the medical tent on Notre Dame's sideline with about two minutes left in the half after a play in which he was hit by Penn State’s Zane Durant and Dvon J-Thomas.
It was not immediately clear what Leonard’s injury status was. He was replaced by Steve Angeli, and Notre Dame kicked a field goal on the final play of the half to cut Penn State’s lead to 10-3.
Leonard completed six of 11 passes for 63 yards and an interception before getting hurt.
Angeli, a Westfield, New Jersey, native, played high school football at Bergen Catholic High School. He made his first collegiate start in the 2023 Sun Bowl, throwing for 232 yards and three touchdowns in a 40-8 win over Oregon State.
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Trudeau said there was not a "snowball's chance in hell" that would ever happen, but if it does, Trump says he recruited Wayne Gretzky to be its "governor."
"I was with Wayne Gretzky. I said, 'Wayne, would you like to be the governor of Canada?’ I can't imagine anybody doing better than Wayne," Trump said at Mar-a-Lago Thursday.
"Wayne was not too interested. But he probably would have liked statehood," Trump said. "He's a friend of mine. He's a great guy. He's the great one. We call him the great one, right? He's a great hockey player."
Gretzky attended a victory party for Trump's 2024 election win after Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris.
Gretzky's son-in-law, Dustin Johnson, plays on the LIV Golf tour, which has played tournaments at Trump's golf courses.
Trump said Canada should be a state during a news conference Tuesday in Palm Beach. On Monday, the president-elect said in a social media post "many people in Canada LOVE being the 51st State."
"Together, what a great Nation it would be!!!" Trump exclaimed in his social media post.
Trudeau announced he intends to resign as party leader and prime minister after pressure from within his own Liberal Party increasingly grew amid heightened criticisms over his handling of the economy and threats levied by Trump. He said he will resign once the party selects a new leader.
Trudeau, who led the nation nearly a decade, has been grappling for months with significant drops in his approval ratings over mounting frustration relating to issues like the soaring cost of living and rising inflation.
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser, Caitlin McFall and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
