The Orange Bowl was sweet for Notre Dame who won 27 – 24 over Penn State. Sixth grader Gavin Melendez thought that Penn State was going to win the game by a touchdown.
“I say this because they are both very good teams this season, but Penn State has been competing way better than Notre Dame.”
Sixth grader Noah Justo had a different idea about the game. He wanted Notre Dame to win because he felt like they haven’t won in a while.
“I like the team a lot so I decided to cheer for them,” Justo stated. “I was a little surprised that they won because by the second half, they were losing 10-3, and I thought it was game over and Penn State was going to continue to win, but Notre Dame had a great interception and had a last-minute comeback.”
Justo thought Penn State they could have tightened their defense a bit more.
“The quarterback, Drew Aller, was doing really good in the first half, but in the second half he kind of lost his groove and the Notre Dame defense began to read him. Overall, I think he could have done a little better and ask the offensive coordinator for new plays,” Justo added.
Caden Castillo, a sixth grader, loves to watch Notre Dame.
“I wanted Notre Dame to win because I’m Irish and my Fighting Irish needed to win,” Castillo said. “They haven’t even made playoffs in a couple of years, so they needed to win.”
He agrees that Aller’s lackluster second half hurt Penn State.
“Something that Penn State could’ve done better is handing the ball off more. Drew Allar threw three picks, and Abdul Carter didn’t do much on the d-line either,” Castillo explained. “I wasn’t surprised when they won because when they went 14-2, I knew something was different this year, and I had confidence in this team.”
