Out of 132 teams in college football, only two remain standing: The Ohio State Buckeyes and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
The Buckeyes ended the regular season 10-2, losing a tight matchup to Oregon in Eugene, while the Ducks were ranked #1 in the country, and their rival, the Michigan Wolverines, who finished the season 7-5. Both of those losses were conference games, which meant that the Buckeyes were left out of the BIG10 championship race, which would have kept them out of the college football playoffs before this year’s expanded format.
The Fighting Irish ended the regular season 11-1 with a baffling loss to Northern Illinois, who finished 7-5 in the MAC. The Irish, who are not aligned with a conference, got the short end of the stick with the new playoff rules, as no matter how well they played or where they were ranked, they couldn’t get one of the four available byes, which could only go to conference champions.
With neither team earning a bye, both had to win three games to get to the final. Ohio State routed Tennessee and Oregon, scoring 40+ points in both games, and then beat Texas 28-14. Notre Dame beat Indiana 27-17, Georgia 23-10, and Penn State 27-24.
While these two teams made it to the national championship, their styles are opposites. When they meet on Monday night, I predict Ohio State will win 28-21. The Irish are a run heavy team led by transfer quarterback Riley Leonard, who, despite having 2600 yards passing with 19 touchdowns, is known for his legs. Leonard ran for 860 yards and had 16 rushing touchdowns. Notre Dame also features sophomore star running back Jeremiyah Love, who had 1122 yards rushing with 17 touchdowns. The Buckeyes have an explosive offense featuring true freshman Jeremiah Smith, who had 1227 yards and 14 touchdowns on the season also in the receiving room is Emeka Egbuka who had 947 receiving yards on the year which puts him #1 all time for receiving yards the senior who led the team in receptions is just 3 catches away from holding the #1 spot in that as well, and the dynamic running back room of Quinshon Judkins and Treyvon Henderson, who both had over 960 yards rushing and 10+ touchdowns.
