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.
