The No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes escaped Notre Dame Stadium with a touchdown run by running back Chip Trayanum with one second left.
However, none of it could have happened without the heroics of Buckeyes quarterback Kyle McCord who picked up three big conversions on third and fourth down on the game-winning drive to help Ohio State walk off the No. 9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 17-14.
"I thought he made some nice throws on first and second down, but he did his best ball on third down today," head coach Ryan Day said. "The bottom line is, he competed and won a game like this and that's the start."
Ohio State got the ball back on its own 35-yard line with one timeout, aided by an incompletion by Notre Dame on second down. The Buckeyes trailed the Fighting Irish 14-10.
A pair of incompletions by Kyle McCord set up a third-and-10 in which he found Emeka Egbuka down the seam for a 23-yard gain and a first down.
His next third-down throw is incomplete to tight end Cade Stover, but on fourth-and-7, McCord stood in the pocket and threw a crossing route to Julian Fleming, who got upfield and muscled his way for a first down.
Later in the drive, McCord was flagged for intentional grounding which set up a third-and-19 without any timeouts remaining and 15 seconds to go. McCord went back to Egbuka down the middle of the field and he was tackled at Notre Dame's 1-yard line to set up Trayanum's game-winner.
"We practice those two-minute situations all the time, and at that point, it was just reverting back to our training," McCord said. "My job is to get the ball in the hands of the playmakers and let them do special things, and that's exactly what it was."
McCord was 21-of-37 with 240 yards through the air, but Day said part of what makes a quarterback good is his success on third down and that's what defined the Buckeyes gunslinger's performance Saturday against Notre Dame.
On third down, the Philadelphia native was 10-for-13 with 155 passing yards, converting on all but one of his completions. McCord was 10-of-22, throwing for 78 yards on first and second downs combined.
McCord delivered a performance against Notre Dame that was similar to one former quarterback J.T. Barrett would turn in: the numbers may not look pretty but he came through when needed.
And the victory is the most important stat to McCord.
"Down four points with a chance to go win," McCord said. "Historic stadium, great environment against a great defense. You can't draw it up any better than that, and to come away with a win like I said, it wasn't perfect so a lot to grow on. But, it feels really, really good."
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