For the first time in 12 years, Notre Dame is 60 minutes away from a possible National Championship. That elusive 12th title is within the grasp of the Irish again. When the game kicks off on Monday night, it’ll be 13,167 days since Notre Dame defeated West Virginia in the 1989 Fiesta Bowl for their last championship.

On the other sideline awaits the talented Ohio State Buckeyes.

At the time Notre Dame was winning that aforementioned 11th title mentioned above the program had the best winning percentage in college football history. Fast forward to today, and it’s Ohio State with the best winning percentage in history while the Irish have dropped down to 4th place all-time in the intervening years.

Ohio State (-8) vs. Notre Dame

2025 College Football National Championship
Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Atlanta, GA
Date: Monday, January 20, 2025
Time: 7:30 PM ET
TV: ESPN

The Buckeyes had their own rollercoaster season to get to this point. They eased into their schedule with a weak out of conference slate and fell short on their potential game-winning drive at no. 1 Oregon to drop their first game of 2024. Things looked really shaky too the following game after a bye week when Nebraska nearly upset the Buckeyes in Columbus.

Afterward, Ohio State stabilized things and went on a strong run with quality wins over ranked Penn State and Indiana squads to set up the regular season finale at home versus Michigan.

This is from the last time Atlanta hosted the ‘chip. 

Another stink bomb performance against their rival ensued in an embarrassing 13-10 loss to the Wolverines in which Ohio State didn’t score in the 2nd half and left their head coach on the brink of being axed.

After missing the Big Ten Championship Game, the Buckeyes slid all the way to the no. 8 seed when the playoffs began with far more doubters than exist today. They’ve since dominated Tennessee (42-17) and won a re-match against Oregon (41-21) before clinching a title game appearance with a close 28-14 win over Texas.

Vegas Corner

After Ohio State’s victory over the Horns, the Buckeyes opened as a 9.5-point favorite versus Notre Dame. On Sunday, the line moved closer to the Irish at 8.5 points. As we approach the weekend a handful of the books have dropped the line all the way down to 8 points now.

Weather Report

This will be the 6th straight National Championship Game played in an indoor stadium. If you’re heading down to Georgia for the game or just to take in the festivities be warned…the weather isn’t expected to be toasty. Rain is in the forecast for Saturday and the temperatures on Sunday look to be staying in the high 40’s. On game day, it’s expected to be a frigid (for Atlanta) 34-degrees with winds around 10-12 mph.

Series History

This will be the 3rd straight season Notre Dame and Ohio State will meet and the 4th time in 8 years, as well. The history of struggle against the Buckeyes is well known. The Irish are currently owning a 6-game losing streak to Ohio State in all of the modern matchups in the series stretching back to the 1995 visit to Columbus. Notre Dame did win the first 2 meetings in a 1935-36 home-and-home so we’ve got that going for us.

Coaching Staff

There’s been no more scrutinized head coach in college football than Ryan Day. He comes into Monday night with an impressive 69-10 overall record with the Buckeyes but he’s also been on the hot seat seemingly 3 or 4 different times throughout his tenure in Columbus. The 4 straight losses against Michigan hang like a dark cloud over the program (the first Oregon game this year is the only other Big Ten loss for the program under Day) and it’s taken a hot streak this playoffs to cool the jets of his largest critics.

Quite the picture.

After a lackluster offensive season for their standards (14th in OFEI in 2023) the Buckeyes lured away UCLA head coach Chip Kelly to come and coordinate things and take the play-calling duties away from Day. Only Chip Kelly’s former school Oregon ranks above them in OFEI as the National Championship is near.

Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles is wrapping up his 3rd season with Ohio State after coming over from Oklahoma State. If you remember, Knowles had just left Stillwater when Marcus Freeman made his head coaching debut in the Fiesta Bowl against the Cowboys back at the conclusion of the 2021 season.

Portal

Ohio State brought in a small but impactful transfer haul this past off-season. The full list is below:

QB Will Howard – Kansas State
QB Julian Sayin – Alabama
RB Quinshon Judkins – Ole Miss
TE Will Kacmarek – Ohio
OL Seth McLaughlin – Alabama
LB Joey Velazquez – Michigan
S Caleb Downs – Alabama
S Keenan Nelson – South Carolina
P Anthony Venneri – Buffalo

They picked up 2024 Composite no. 1 quarterback Julian Sayin away from Alabama after Nick Saban retired but brought in graduate transfer Will Howard as starter following a very good career at Kansas State. It hasn’t always looked pretty (see the Michigan game) but Howard is 3rd nationally in passer rating and provides good mobility with 7 rushing touchdowns this season.

Running back Quinshon Judkins was one of the most high-profile transfers in the country following a stellar 2,725 rushing yards in his first 2 seasons with Ole Miss. However, he’s been splitting a lot of time in the backfield and had a disappointing season overall.

Kacmarek has been a solid backup tight end in 2024.

Seth McLaughlin came in and was the starting center before tearing his Achilles on their road trip to Northwestern a couple months ago. He was still named a consensus All-American. I’ll note here that projected 1st round NFL pick Josh Simmons suffered a season-ending knee injury in their first game against Oregon.

Caleb Downs was showered with nearly every freshman award possible in 2023 after leading Alabama in tackles. He was the undisputed no. 1 transfer recruit in the country and was named a consensus All-American for 2024.

Top Men

RB TreVeyon Henderson – The true senior put together a special freshman season back in 2021 but hadn’t built off that momentum over the next 2 seasons. For 2024, he’s blossomed into that dangerous elite back again with nearly 1,000 yards on the season and a healthy 7.3 yards per carry–the latter stat is the 13th best nationally and he’s the only Power conference back over 900 yards and 7 YPC. He also scored an electric 75-yard touchdown on a short pass in the semi-finals against Texas.

WR Jeremiah Smith – I mean, sheesh. The no. 1 overall recruit in the 2024 class (tied for the 9th best recruit of all-time with Leonard Fournette according to 247) is built like a NFL All-Pro receiver and is finishing one of the best freshman seasons in NCAA history.

Smith is built different.

He’s scored 14 touchdowns and is the only receiver in the country with at least 1,000 yards and 17 yards per reception. He was held to a season-low 1 catch for 3 yards against Texas, though.

DE JT Tuimoloau – It feels like this guy has been at Ohio State for 7 years but he is just a true senior. He’s a jumbo end who can wreak havoc on an offense. Tuimoloau did hurt his ankle in the semi-finals but came back with it heavily taped and was able to finish the game. As he finishes up his career, JTT has 43 tackles for loss and 22.5 sacks in the scarlet and gray.

DT Tyleik Williams – The true senior tips the scales at nearly 330 pounds and in addition to being an excellent run stopper, he packs some quickness and can get into the backfield too. This will be an important match up to watch, especially as the injured Rocco Spindler tries to tough it out at right guard. Williams has 27 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks in his career and is projected as a late 2nd round to 3rd round pick in this spring’s NFL Draft.

LB Cody Simon – Cody is the little brother of former Notre Dame linebacker Shayne Simon, and we had a recruiting dalliance with him in the past. He’s now a 5th-year senior and has blossomed in his final year with the Buckeyes. Simon leads Ohio State in tackles this year (Sonny Styles, younger brother of former Notre Dame wideout Lorenzo Styles, is 2nd on the team by the way) and has an impressive career stat line of 251 tackles, 24 tackles for loss, and 10 sacks.

Good Matchup

Al Golden vs. Will Howard

I feel it deep in my bones that Will Howard isn’t that good* of a quarterback. All things being equal Notre Dame has been fortunate to face Kurtis Rourke, Gunner Stockton, and Drew Allar through 3 playoff games instead of unquestioned future NFL stars. It doesn’t take much to get this Ohio State offense going but I wonder (and hope!) Golden cooks something up that makes Howard have a bad day, especially with their missing offensive linemen.

*The retort from Columbus would be that the same holds true for Riley Leonard, and I’d agree.

Bad Matchup

Ohio State’s defensive front versus the injured Notre Dame offensive line

True freshman left tackle Anthonie Knapp has been ruled out and as of this writing Notre Dame looks ready to roll with Tosh Baker as his replacement with a return of Rocco Spindler back to right guard. Whether through ineffectiveness or further injury, we’re likely to see Charles Jagusah at some point in the game, too.

Can the Irish win against the OSU D-line?

No doubt this has been a phenomenal coaching job by Joe Rudolph to keep this unit together all the way to the National Championship. It’s all so precarious right now. Ohio State has allowed an absurd 35 rushing yards and negative yards per carry over their last 2 playoff games. Notre Dame has progressed to this point by squeezing out crucial successful rushing plays while avoiding a ton of sacks. That has to continue.

Special Teams

Redshirt sophomore Jayden Fielding is in his 2nd year as the starting kicker for the Buckeyes. He’s 27 for 35 in his career, although he infamously missed 2 field goals in the loss to Michigan back in late November.

Another Aussie punter? You bet! They just keep coming as Joe McGuire walked on to the program ahead of 2023 and is in his first year as the starting punter.

Sophomore wide receiver Brandon Inniss was the punt returner earlier in the year but you can expect to see Caleb Downs back there, as well. Inniss also works on kick returns with TreVeyon Henderson.

Prediction

Well, here we are. The longest season in Notre Dame history finally comes to an end on Monday night. Game number 16. A full 223 days ago I published the preview to the opener at Texas A&M and that seems like such a long time ago now. The season has been so long Charles Jagusah has already come back from a season-ending injury!

It’s been a season full of up and down emotions. The NIU loss was deflating and yet the program picked itself up and has marched its way to the brink of glory.

Someone pinch me.

FEI 2024 RANKINGS

I’m always thinking in historical terms and I’ll admit I keep wondering if this Notre Dame team can actually win it all. There are so many injuries. The passing game can be so bad at times. Our All-American corner was lost for the season and a perfectly good backup at this position entered the portal 3 months ago. Marcus Freeman is only 39 years old! Doesn’t recruiting have to be better to get this elusive championship?

My gut and brain says we’re just too flawed.

Allow me to walk through some reasons why I think Notre Dame can win, though.

The Ressurection of Day

Nah, I don’t like this storyline one bit. Not only was Day on the precipice of being fired after the loss to Michigan, there was a fairly widespread reaction in the media building off his lack of accountability and the locker room seemingly ready to revolt against him.

I didn’t forget–and maybe with a big dose of adversity Monday night in Atlanta neither will his players.

I made this.

College football is full of the bad guys winning, and Day with his villainous dyed beard would make sense to get off the ground and win a championship. But, don’t we want something different?

College Football Wants This Notre Dame Win, Maybe Even Needs It! 

Speaking of which, everyone is sick of Ohio State right? In fact, Ohio State winning is positively boring. The Buckeyes lost to Michigan and then they get to win the National Championship anyway? That devalues everything!

Now, Notre Dame winning…that’s a STORY.

All of the off-season content of Return to Glory™ (for real this time!) would make the pageviews look like the US Debt Clock. If this run to the title game is any indication, college football is just itching to invade South Bend and wax poetically about Marcus Freeman, the program culture, and the Irish actually being back.

This could be so unbelievably awesome. Plus, there’d be the inevitable backlash of pageviews as the rest of the country gets sick of Notre Dame and starts to hate us again. Literal years of emotions from everyone. Hey, I’ll take it!

I just don’t believe it, though. Yes, if that dusty Michigan offense (whose passing game makes Notre Dame look like the 1984 Dolphins) can beat Ohio State team there’s a pretty good shot on Monday for the Irish. However, left tackle number three on the season is not a place you want to be in for this game and ultimately I think the offense struggles far too much.

Ohio State 27

Notre Dame 16