Notre Dame awaits the winner of the Cotton Bowl in the College Football Playoff national championship game after the Irish beat Penn State 27-24 in the Orange Bowl on Thursday night.

Notre Dame trailed Penn State by seven at halftime and the two teams combined to score 31 points in the fourth quarter after scoring just 20 points in the first three quarters. Here are the five plays that defined Notre Dame's win over the Nittany Lions to put them in position for the school's first national title since 1988.

Riley Leonard’s 3-yard TD run

Leonard’s status for the second half was in doubt heading into halftime. Leonard hit the back of his head on the turf with 1:36 to go in the second quarter and had to be replaced by backup Steve Angeli for the rest of the drive. Angeli was 6-of-7 passing for 44 yards and got the Irish in position to get a field goal before halftime.

Leonard was cleared by Notre Dame’s medical staff at halftime and allowed to return to the game as ESPN reported that Leonard was “asymptomatic” for a concussion. After deferring to start the game, Notre Dame opened the second half with the ball and drove 75 yards in eight plays.

The drive even came after a delay of game on the first play. Jeremiyah Love had three of his best runs of the day to start the drive as he rushed for 24 yards on the first three plays. A 36-yard pass from Leonard to Aneyas Williams got Notre Dame into the red zone, and Williams rushed for 15 yards a play after that. Two plays later, Leonard tied the game at 10-10 less than five minutes into the third quarter.

Pass interference on Notre Dame’s Adon Shuler

Notre Dame took a 17-10 lead early in the fourth quarter on a 2-yard TD run by Love. But Penn State responded with two TD runs from Singleton.

His first 7-yard run tied the game at 17-17 with 10:20 to go. Notre Dame’s next drive then lasted just one play as Leonard was picked off by defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton after the edge rusher dropped into coverage and made a fantastic catch of a pass intended for tight end Mitchell Evans.

The pick gave Penn State the ball at the Notre Dame 39-yard line before Drew Allar rushed 11 yards for a first down on third down. On the very next play, Allar tried to go deep to tight end Tyler Warren, but the pass was intercepted by Jack Kiser.

The pick didn’t count, however. Though Kiser grabbed the ball before it got near Warren, Adon Shuler was flagged for interfering with Warren because he didn’t turn around for the ball. The penalty put the ball at the Notre Dame 9-yard line, and Singleton scored his second 7-yard TD of the day two plays later to give Penn State the lead.

Jaden Greathouse’s 54-yard TD catch

The Irish tied the game with 4:38 to go as Greathouse made two Penn State defensive backs fall down on this 54-yard grab.

The catch came on the seventh play of the drive after the Irish needed six plays to go 37 yards. Greathouse finished the game with seven catches for 105 yards and a score.

Christian Gray’s interception of Drew Allar

Penn State went three-and-out after Greathouse's catch and gave Notre Dame the ball back with 2:27 to go. The Irish moved into Penn State territory, but Leonard was sacked on third down in Penn State territory with less than a minute to go.

That forced Notre Dame to punt as the Irish was out of field goal range. And two plays later, Notre Dame had the ball back after Allar forced a throw over the middle that Christian Gray intercepted with 33 seconds to go.

Mitch Jeter’s second 41-yard field goal

With the ball in Penn State territory again, Notre Dame just needed to get Jeter in position. It did that via a nifty third-down play that resulted in a conversion when Leonard rolled to his left and found an open Greathouse for 10 yards. Leonard then centered the ball as Penn State used its timeouts to try to get the ball back.

Jeter’s game-winning kick sailed through the uprights with seven seconds to go. Allar’s first pass of the drive fell incomplete and the last play of the game ended on a lateral that sailed out of bounds.