No. 2 Ohio State rallied from a three-point halftime deficit and defeated No. 5 Notre Dame 21-10 in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday in the season opener for both teams.
C.J. Stroud gave the Buckeyes a 14-10 lead with 17 seconds left in the third quarter when he passed 24 yards to walk-on receiver Xavier Johnson.
Miyan Williams then capped a 95-yard, 14-play drive with a 2-yard run with 4:51 to play to make it 21-10.
Stroud, a Heisman Trophy hopeful, was 24 of 34 for 223 yards and two touchdowns.
Williams rushed 14 times for 84 yards while Emeka Egbuka made nine catches for 90 yards and a score.
Notre Dame’s Tyler Buchner, in his first college start, completed 10 of 18 passes for 177 yards.
Notre Dame scored on the first series of the game and took a 10-7 lead to halftime. Blake Grupe made it 3-0 on a 33-yard field goal before Stroud rallied the Buckeyes to go ahead 7-3 with 5:32 left in the first quarter on a 31-yard catch by Egbuka.
The Irish regained the lead 10-7 at 11:56 of the second, taking 5:10 off the clock to go 87 yards in 10 plays, when Audric Estime rushed for a 1-yard touchdown.
Ohio State had a chance for the tie in the final minute of the first half but Noah Ruggles, who made 20 of 21 field goals last season, missed from 39 yards.
Stroud was 11 of 17 for 99 yards in the first half. He was hampered by the absence of star wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba for most of it after he was injured on the Buckeyes’ first drive.
Smith-Njigba returned for the final series of the half but did not play the second half, finishing with two catches for three yards.
The Irish finished with 253 total yards, 158 of which came on their two early scoring drives.
Ohio State had 395 yards, just 149 came in the first half.
–Field Level Media
