Christian Gray describes his emotions of making late-game interception on Drew Allar

The Orange Bowl between Notre Dame and Penn State was a thriller and with less than a minute left the Nittany Lions had the ball and were looking to find a go-ahead score. Instead, quarterback Drew Allar was intercepted late in the game by Christian Gray, setting up the Irish to win and advance to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.

Following the game, Gray shared his emotions and what was going through his head following the interception.

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“To be honest with you, I really didn’t think about anything after I caught the ball,” Christian Gray said. “I just knew I was just blessed and I just felt God over me after I caught the ball. So, that’s pretty much it.”

On the play, Notre Dame had blanket coverage seemingly across the board. That gave time for the pass rush to get in Drew Allar’s face and force a bad throw that Christian Gray jumped on. The interception set up a short field and a game-winning kick for the Irish and Mitch Jeter.

After Christian Gray finished his thoughts, head coach Marcus Freeman jumped in. He used that opportunity to heap praise on one of his star defensive backs.

“All these guys are special, man,” Freeman said. “He won’t take credit for it, but in the biggest moments, both of these two [Christian Gray and Riley Leonard] and many guys in that locker room find ways to make plays when it matters the most. We’re playing USC a couple weeks ago and they’re going in to try to make this a one-score game and he had some plays earlier that didn’t go his way, but on that play versus USC, when they went at him, he picked the ball off and ran it back for a touchdown. That’s what Christian Gray does. He makes plays when it matters the most. It wasn’t a perfect day for him. I think he got a DPI or a holding or something like that, but in that moment, Christian had to make a play and he did, and was a huge reason why we won that game.”

Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame are going to be looking for another big game out of Christian Gray and the Notre Dame secondary in the National Championship Game. There, they’ll take on the Ohio State Buckeyes, who boast one of the most explosive passing offenses in the country.