Notre Dame had a huge fourth-quarter takeaway.
Until it didn’t.
With a little over 10 minutes to go in the Orange Bowl on Thursday, Fighting Irish quarterback Riley Leonard was picked off by Penn State’s Dani Dennis-Sutton.
But just four plays later, Leonard seemed like he was saved when his Penn State counterpart, Drew Allar, threw an interception to Notre Dame’s Jack Kiser on a lofted pass near the front of the end zone.
It appeared to be a game-changing turnover, but referees called a pass interference penalty on Adon Shuler — who was in on double coverage on Tyler Warren.
As the call was made, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman appeared gobsmacked by the call on the sidelines and pointed toward the officials in almost full disbelief.
Notre Dame fans were similarly vexed by the penalty call, throwing beer bottles in the end zone at Hard Rock Stadium.
The fiery fans seemed to be quelled quickly, though, as play resumed in relatively short order.
After Greg McElroy on the main ESPN broadcast defended the call by officials despite Notre Dame’s protestations, rules expert Matt Austin agreed with the ex-Alabama QB’s assessment.
“That’s definitely pass interference,” Austin said.
The call gave Penn State new life, as Nicholas Singleton scampered in two plays later with his third touchdown of the game.
An extra point later gave the Nittany Lions a 24-17 lead.
But Notre Dame recovered from that tough sequence to score a comeback 27-24 win, and it will face the winner of Friday’s Ohio State-Texas game in the national championship game on Jan. 20.
