The college football national championship matchup is set. The 8th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes will face the 7th-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Monday night, January 20th. Both teams, not making the original top 4, defied the odds and won despite being the underdogs.
Ohio State
The Buckeyes are coming off a 13-2 season, with their only losses coming to the Oregon Ducks and the Michigan Wolverines during the regular season. They steamrolled the number one and number nine teams in the nation with ease and took care of business against the Longhorns. At the end of the regular season, Ohio State was ranked 4th in their conference, yet they are the only team left fighting for that national championship.
The Program had one of the best defenses this year, ranking number one in the top three defensive metrics in the BIG conference: yards allowed, points allowed, and sacks. They also ranked in the top five across all defensive categories in the nation.
- Total Record: 13-2
- Regular Season Record: 10-2
- Conference Record: 7-2
- Conference Rank: 4
- Playoff Rank: 8
- Home Record: 8-1
- Away Record: 3-1
- Passing Yards Leader: Will Howard
- Rushing Yards Leader: TreVeyon Henderson
- Receiving Yards Leader: Jeremiah Smith
- Tackle Leader: Cody Simon
- Interceptions Leader: Denzel Burke
Notre Dame
The Fighting Irish are coming off a 14-1 season, with their only loss coming in the regular season to Northern Illinois. Notre Dame has not lost a game since that matchup. Notre Dame does not participate in a conference; they are independent along with the UConn Huskies and UMass Minutemen.
The Fighting Irish also have an amazing defense. They rank in the top 20 in a lot of the defensive metrics, some even in the top 10. On offense, they mostly prioritized the run game over the passing game. They play run-heavy with a whopping 542 carries compared to only 413 attempts. They carried the ball about 57% of the time.
- Total Record: 14-1
- Regular Season Record: 11-1
- Playoff Rank: 7
- Home Record: 6-1
- Away Record: 3-0
- Passing Yards Leader: Riley Leonard
- Rushing Yards Leader: Jeremiyah Love
- Receiving Yards Leader: Jaden Greathouse
- Tackle Leader: Jack Kiser
- Interceptions Leader: Xavier Watts
Score Predictions and Odds
- Daboraj Chowdhury: Notre Dame 32-30 Ohio State
- Buckeyes are 9.5-point favorites
- The Over/Under for total points scored is 45.5
Overall, this should be a fantastic game. Both teams are better on defense, and both are known to be college football bluebloods. They have a history of incredible and long success, and we will see which of them comes out on top on Monday night.
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