At halftime of the Orange Bowl, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish looked like they had forgotten to show up to the must-win matchup against the Penn State Nittany Lions. Penn State held a 10-3 over Notre Dame and the Irish offense was falling apart at the seams with injuries at every turn.
With the seven-point deficit, an astonishing streak was snapped for the Fighting Irish as they trailed heading into the locker room.
Since the stunning loss to Northern Illinois in their second game of the regular season, the Fighting Irish had yet to trail at halftime, until Penn State put them in their place. Over the 12 games between the NIU and the PSU matchups, Notre Dame had led (or was tied) after the first 30 minutes of every single game.
At the half#GoIrish pic.twitter.com/nMJNmmVAdb
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) January 10, 2025
Penn State's defense was a force to be reckoned with all season long so the halftime deficit wasn't necessarily a red alert moment for the Fighting Irish. However, with how the game against the NIU Huskies turned out, a few Notre Dame fans were worried about their team's chances at making the National Championship game.
Notre Dame halftime scores during 2024 season
- 6-6 vs. Texas A&M
- 7-13 vs. Northern Illinois
- 42-0 vs. Purdue
- 14-3 vs. Miami (OH)
- 24-14 vs. Louisville
- 21-7 vs. Stanford
- 14-7 vs. Georgia Tech
- 31-7 vs. Navy
- 21-3 vs. Florida State
- 28-0 vs. Virginia
- 28-7 vs. Army
- 14-14 vs. USC
- 17-3 vs. Indiana (CFP Round One)
- 13-3 vs. Georgia (CFP Quarterfinals)
- 3-10 vs. Penn State (CFP Semifinals)
At halftime, head coach Marcus Freeman must have given the speech of a lifetime because just a few minutes into the second half, Notre Dame looked like it had remembered how to play football as the Fighting Irish scored a touchdown of their own to even the score at 10 apiece.