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 …
Kyle McCord has juice. No idea if he's another Fields or Haskins or Stroud or whatever but he has juice. That was big-time. Also Egbuka will never get enough shine for what he is (a top-five college WR pretty easy who happens to share a field with 2020s Pitt Larry Fitzgerald)
— Alex Kirshner (@alex_kirshner) September 24, 2023
… and his fair share of hyperbole, too.
Kyle McCord legacy drive pic.twitter.com/NuvlUlFvXx
— Voyager (@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.
