Notre Dame may have gotten a little too cute on one of their playcalls in Monday’s national championship game against Ohio State.
The Fighting Irish trailed the Buckeyes 28-7 early in the third quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga. Notre Dame had 4th-and-2 at their 33 and lined up for a punt.
The play ended up being a fake as backup quarterback Steve Angeli received the snap and threw an incomplete pass to wide receiver Jordan Faison.
The fake punt heard round the world pic.twitter.com/cMSUw9rbLv
— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) January 21, 2025
Given the circumstances, the entire football-watching world could tell that a fake punt was coming. ESPN announcer Chris Fowler was already talking about “trickery” right before the play began.
Several fans on X lambasted Notre Dame for going with an obvious fake punt rather than simply running a normal play.
Fake punts work best when no one sees them coming.
They don't work when everyone does.
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) January 21, 2025
If you're gonna fake a punt just go for it. Ohio State hasn't been able to stop QB Power all night.
That's insane.
— David Ubben (@davidubben) January 21, 2025
Maybe the most obvious fake punt ever
— Evan (aka Ebo) (@EBoKnowss) January 21, 2025
Just run a play. The fake punt there is pretty obvious even though they almost got it
— Bud Elliott (@BudElliott3) January 21, 2025
Faison got his fingertips on the ball and almost came up with the catch for a first down. But it was far from an easy play with the QB rolling hard. The call felt even more questionable given that QB power plays were virtually the only things working for Notre Dame to that point.
The Irish scored the game’s opening touchdown to cap off an epic 10-minute drive that relied heavily on QB Riley Leonard’s legs.
