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College Football World Goes Berserk Over Ohio State’s Stunning Win Over Notre Dame
In this story:
Rarely does a regular-season game receive the hype of Ohio State and Notre Dame’s showdown Saturday evening and still exceed it.
Thanks to Buckeyes running back Chip Trayanum, it happened.
Trayanum’s 1-yard rushing touchdown with one second left gave No. 6 Ohio State a 17-14 win over the No. 9 Fighting Irish in an instant classic. The Buckeyes led 10-0, gave it away, and finally regrouped for a heart-stopping final drive led by quarterback Kyle McCord.
Needless to say, the college football universe had opinions on one of the best regular-season games of the still-young 2020s.
Fingers were pointed at Notre Dame’s coaching in the closing minutes.
Notre Dame has themselves to blame. Threw the ball in the final 2 mins, allowing Ohio State to keep a timeout. Dropped INT. Allowing a huge pass on 3rd & 19. Terrible coaching. #OSUvsND
— Austin (@AustinPlanet) September 24, 2023
McCord got plenty of flowers ...
... and his fair share of hyperbole, too.
Kyle McCord legacy drive pic.twitter.com/NuvlUlFvXx
— I do not care about football (@crydamoure400) September 24, 2023
Ohio State observers showered the Buckeyes defense with praise.
Ohio State’s defense wins a game for the first time since Jesus Christ was selling sandals in Cheyenne
— Ramzy Nasrallah (@ramzy) September 24, 2023
The Fighting Irish’s considerable futility against the Buckeyes was noted.
Notre Dame hasn’t beaten Ohio State since 1936.
— Buckeye Videos+ (@BuckeyeVideos) September 24, 2023
The world prepared for a long night on Notre Dame message boards.
.@ENERGY please prepare for the strain on our national grid notre dame message boards are about to create
— Ryan Nanni (@celebrityhottub) September 24, 2023
The Fighting Irish were even implicated by the meme of the moment.
Notre Dame when the game is on the line pic.twitter.com/ZvHLFYHSk1
— Andrew (@aterry65) September 24, 2023
One area where debate seemed to be off limits: the game was a masterpiece befitting its participants and setting.
Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .