Jaden Greathouse delivered one of the biggest plays of the game in Notre Dame’s 27-24 win over Penn State in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff on Thursday night. His play was especially impressive considering how bad he made a couple of Nittany Lions players look.
Greathouse took a pass down the right sideline in the fourth quarter of the Orange Bowl and made a cut to the middle of the field and scored on a 54-yard touchdown to tie the game at 24 with 4:38 left. On two occasions, Greathouse made a Penn State defender fall down — which is called giving them “broken ankles.” The first time came when Greathouse was in the slot and got off the line of scrimmage with a move that made cornerback Cam Miller slip and fall. The second came when Greathouse made a cut that made safety Jaylen Reed fall down after he overpursued on a tackle attempt.
6 points on the scoreboard
4 broken ankles left on the fieldpic.twitter.com/2c92rvgrB7
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) January 10, 2025

Not only did that play help Notre Dame tie the game, but it also may have hurt Penn State’s confidence because of how bad it made their defense look.
The Nittany Lions later threw an interception that helped set the Fighting Irish up for a winning field goal. Notre Dame has now won 13 games in a row and is now headed to the championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga., on January 20.