CFP semifinal live blog: Notre Dame takes on No. 1 Alabama in Rose Bowl
Notre Dame #NotreDame
The No. 4 Fighting Irish battle the first-ranked Crimson Tide in the College Football Playoff semifinal in the Rose Bowl at Arlington, Texas.
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Third quarter:
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Mac Jones makes the catch on third down… but that’s not supposed to happen. Notre Dame downs Jones off a deflection behind the line of scrimmage and the Irish open the second half with a big stop.
Jonathan Doerer misfires on a field goal at the end of the half. Nowhere close, but seems to have been deflected.
Kyren Williams should have intentionally dropped Book’s shovel pass. 11 seconds to work with, no timeouts.
Huge pickup by Book on a designed run and then hits Ben Skowronek for another big gain. Notre Dame impressive in final drive of the half.
Looked like Notre Dame might get a stop, but DeVonta Smith continues to destroy the Irish secondary. First down.
TOUCHDOWN. Didn’t take long at all for Alabama to respond. DeVonta Smith catches his second touchdown. Alabama 21, Notre Dame 7
TOUCHDOWN. Notre Dame finally gets on the board on a long drive which started at the end of the first quarter. Kyren Williams runs it in. Alabama 14, Notre Dame 7
First quarter:
TOUCHDOWN. Saw that one coming. Mac Jones finds Jahleel Billingsley wide open in the end zone. Notre Dame needs something as a response. Alabama 14, Notre Dame 0
Najee Harris. Woah. He hurdled a defender en route to a 53-yard run to set up Alabama near the end zone.
Notre Dame’s ensuing drive stalls, but the punt comes so close to contacting the foot of an Alabama player. Notre Dame jumped on it. No possession, but the ball downed at the three-yard line.
TOUCHDOWN. Devonta Smith will be a problem for Notre Dame. Alabama and Mac Jones set up a screen pass to the Heisman finalist and Smith does the rest. Alabama’s offense moved quickly, and Notre Dame needs to respond. Alabama 7, Notre Dame 0
Dangerous pass from Mac Jones. Kyle Hamilton almost picks him off inside the 20-yard line.
Notre Dame punts the ball away. Alabama set for its first possession.
Big break on a huge mistake from Kyren Williams and Ian Book. Book clearly threw a backwards pass to Williams. The ball went through Williams’ hands and he didn’t make any effort to jump on top of it. But neither did Alabama. Ball rolled out of bounds.
Notre Dame receives the ball first. Chris Tyree gets hit hard and loses the ball, but Notre Dame jumps on it to retain possession. Well, could have started better.
Pregame:
2021 feels familiar.
Correll previously started in Notre Dame’s Nov. 27 win over North Carolina, but got injured and was replaced by sophomore Joshua Lugg. Lugg started each of the past two games, including the blowout loss to Clemson in the ACC Championship game.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: CFP semifinal live blog: Notre Dame trails Alabama 21-7 in Rose Bowl