CFB wrap-up: Takeaways from the Orange Bowl

The opening two rounds of the 12-team College Football Playoff were filled with one-sided blowouts, but the Orange Bowl delivered an absolute banger between Notre Dame and Penn State on Thursday.

An electric back-and-forth final quarter eventually saw the Fighting Irish advance to the title game on a Mitch Jeter field goal with 8 seconds to play.

Here are three takeaways from a classic matchup between two of the biggest programs in the sport.

Of course Notre Dame got the turnover

Flash all the advanced statistics you can, but at the end of the day the goal of the defense is fairly simple: Get the ball back for the offense as fast as you can. Nobody in the country does that better than Notre Dame - a team that entered Thursday night with 31 takeaways on the season. It should come as no surprise that the biggest play of the Orange Bowl came on a diving interception by Christian Gray in the final minute of the game.

Gray took advantage of Drew Allar's late throw across the middle to get the ball back for a game-winning field goal attempt just three plays after Notre Dame was forced to punt.

While the final stats show just one takeaway for the Fighting Irish on Thursday, the defense had two end zone interceptions called back because of penalties. The ball-hawking defense shone once again as it has all season, and that ended up being the difference to book the national title spot.

Allar, passing attack exposed again

It's no secret Penn State wants to do two things on offense each game: Run the ball with either Nicholas Singleton or Kaytron Allen and find Tyler Warren - and only Tyler Warren - in the passing attack. The Nittany Lions accomplished both tasks Thursday with those three combining for 301 of the team's 331 yards of total offense. However, it was when Allar looked elsewhere that the game-changing play happened.

The junior passer has traditionally been very protective of the ball with just nine career interceptions entering the game. However, the 10th one won't be forgotten anytime soon. Pinned deep in the Penn State zone, Allar attempted to engineer a game-winning field goal drive but committed the cardinal sin for quarterbacks: throwing a pass late across the middle.

Allar certainly has plenty of skills that have caught the NFL scouting community's attention. However, the lack of standout wide receiving talent on the offense has severely hampered him in big-time contests.

Allar completed a combined 24-of-43 passes for just 281 yards with zero touchdowns and two interceptions in the losses to Ohio State and Notre Dame this season. Of those 24 passes, only three were caught by wide receivers - none in Thursday's contest. That's not a misprint, the Nittany Lions did not have a wide receiver catch a pass against the Irish.

For Penn State's offense to take the next step in 2025, a couple of gamebreakers outside have to be on head coach James Franklin's shopping list in the portal.

Freeman flipped the switch at half

Insert the iconic "Not gonna lie, they had us in the first half" video here because that's exactly how if felt for Notre Dame as the teams hit the locker rooms in Miami.

Penn State had dominated both lines of scrimmage in the opening 30 minutes, rushing for 141 yards while holding the Irish to just 15 on the ground. Oh, and Notre Dame had also watched two offensive linemen go down with injury, and Leonard was in the medical tent being evaluated for a concussion.

Whatever Irish head coach Marcus Freeman hit the team with in the locker room at halftime worked wonders, as the script was flipped over the final 30 minutes. Notre Dame piled up 261 total yards of offense and converted an impressive 6-of-9 attempts on third down. On defense, it was able to slow the Allen-Singleton duo on the ground, holding them to just 3.9 yards per carry after getting torched for 5.4 in the first half. That put the ball in Allar's hands and we've already covered how that ended up deciding the game.

Freeman should be commended on the depth he's built on the roster. The offensive line has been decimated by injuries - with guys that were seventh and eighth on the opening-day depth chart thrust into major roles - but was still productive against a strong Penn State front.