Notre Dame wins Orange Bowl, stunning Penn State in CFP semifinal on big plays by former Missouri high school stars

Love, Gray, Williams have big games for Fighting Irish in College Football Playoff Semifinal win

Jan 9, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Aneyas Williams (20) makes a chat in the second half against the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

In one of the biggest games of the college football season, on one of the biggest stages, in front of a huge audience, some of the best Missouri high school football players of late made some of the biggest plays in the game’s biggest moments.

Fortunately for Notre Dame, all three players are now Fighting Irish.

Perhaps none of those players had a bigger impact, or made a bigger play, than sophomore cornerback Christian Gray.

A 2023 4-star recruit from De Smet Jesuit, the St. Louis native turned in one of the biggest highlights of the entire college football season when he dove in front of pass from Penn State quarterback Drew Allard with 33 seconds left in the game – video review confirming he caught the ball just before it hit the ground – to give Notre Dame the ball back at the Nittany Lions’ 42.

Irish kicker Mitch Jeter went on to kick a 41-yard field goal with 7 seconds left to seal the 27-24 win and send Notre Dame to the College Football Playoff Final, where they will face the winner of Friday’s other CFP semifinal between Texas and Ohio State.

Facing adversity while down 10-7 early in the third quarter, running backs Jeremiyah Love (Christian Brothers, St. Louis) and Aneyas Williams (Hannibal HS, Hannibal), helped get the Irish into the end zone for the first time on a Riley Leonard touchdown to tie the game at 10 with 10:46 to go in the quarter.

After trading punts, the Irish took the lead when Love, a sophomore and 2022 Missouri Gatorade Player of the Year, scored on a 2-yard run on the third play of the fourth quarter to make it 17-10.

After putting together one of the best high school careers of any running back in Missouri state history at Hannibal, Williams, a freshman, is already making his mark in college football history.

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In the third quarter against Penn State, he hauled in a perfect over-the-shoulder pass from Leonard for 36 yards with 12:39 left and followed with a 15-yard run on the next play to set up first down at the Penn State 4. Leonard scored two plays later to tie it at 10.

The drive was a big one for Great Bend and the state of Missouri. Love began the momentum-shifting drive with consecutive runs of six, nine and nine yards to set up Williams’ big plays.

After 7,504 combined yards at Hannibal (4,255 rushing, 3,249 receiving) and 155 total touchdowns, Williams has taken a bit of Love’s path as a freshman at Notre Dame.

The 4-star recruit has seen limited, but valuable time so far this season, racking up 220 rushing yards on 32 carries (6.3 average) and two touchdowns with 172 yards receiving entering Thursday’s game.

Thursday, however, was one of the more memorable performances of his young career, catching five passes – none bigger than the 36-yarder in the third – for 66 yards. He also rushed twice for 17 yards.

He scored his first career touchdown on a 19-yard run against Stanford on Oct. 19. His biggest game, however, came against Army when he rushed three times for 62 yards, breaking a career-high 58-yard touchdown run in the process.

Love, of course, has progressively shown improvement during his time with the Irish and is now a vital piece to their offense. He finished Thursday’s semifinal with 45 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries while adding one catch for six yards.

He was second in rushing at Notre Dame as a freshman with 385 yards last season but has stepped up in a big way as a sophomore. Serving as the lead back while splitting carries with Jadarian Price and Leonard, Love entered Thursday’s game with 1,076 yards rushing and 16 touchdowns and 226 yards and two touchdowns through the air.

Like Love, Gray – a 4-star recruit out of De Smet – took a big leap in year two. He entered Thursday’s game with 30 tackles (21 solo), two interceptions, a touchdown, nine pass breakups and forced a fumble. He has the rare distinction of beginning his Notre Dame career in Ireland, as the Irish kicked off the 2023 season, his freshman campaign, in Dublin against Navy on Aug. 26 of that year.

He went on to see action in 12 games that season, with 11 tackles (nine solo), an interception and two pass breakups.