Football
The No. 8 seed Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the No. 7 seed Notre Dame Fighting Irish 34-23 on Monday night in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to win the College Football Playoff National Championship. Here are six key takeaways from the game.
A great first drive from Notre Dame gave hope
Notre Dame got the ball first and made the most of it. They grinded away on the first drive and had possession for most of the first quarter. Notre Dame’s first drive was 19 plays long with the drive lasting 9:45. The drive was reminiscent of something you’d see out of Army — with Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard carrying the ball nine times for 34 yards, including a rushing score from a yard out. Unfortunately for Notre Dame, their offense would wind up stalling for a while and wouldn’t score their next four drives.
Will Howard put on a clinic
Ohio State quarterback Will Howard got off to an incredibly hot start, completing his first 13 passes. Howard shredded Notre Dame’s man coverage. With little to no pass rush, Howard was able to feast and deliver a bevy of perfect deep and intermediate throws. Howard was 17-of-21 for 231 yards with two passing touchdowns. Howard also did major damage with his legs, rushing for 58 yards. With Ohio State up 31-23 with under three minutes to go Howard delivered the final dagger to Notre Dame, via a beautiful 56-yard pass to Jeremiah Smith. In “gotta have it” situations, Howard delivered nearly every single time on the biggest stage in college football. Howard is perceived as a day-three NFL Draft selection but those assertions may become unfounded after his impressive string of showings in the postseason.
Ohio State’s rushing attack was impressive
Notre Dame came into the National Championship ranked No. 2 in passing yards allowed and No. 41 in rushing defense. The Buckeyes took note of this and leaned heavily into the run game. In all, Ohio State rushed for 214 yards with Quinshon Judkins leading the way with 100 yards and two rushing scores on just 11 carries. Will Howard had a good day passing but Ohio State played bully ball along with the vertical passing attack, which made the overall offensive showing all the more impossible to stop.
Tip of the cap to Chip Kelly and Ryan Day
Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly was criticized heavily for his game plan in a 13-10 loss to Michigan and Ryan Day was blasted by the masses after the Buckeyes lost their fourth consecutive tilt to the Wolverines. All is now forgiven. Kelly was a step ahead of Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden all night, indicative of the Buckeyes scoring on their first five drives of the game (31 points) and going 9-of-12 on third down. Ohio State had 445 yards of total offense against the No. 9 total defense (298.3 yards) and scored 34 points on the No. 2 scoring defense (14.3 points per game). Ryan Day has been perceived as a good coach who fails in big games, and now that perception can be put to bed.
Notre Dame’s National Championship woes continue
The Fighting Irish haven’t won a National Championship since 1988 and the soonest they can change that is next season for 2026. Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman, who’s just 39, has the program poised for success moving forward, but that won’t make this loss sting any less. For a large swath of the game, the offense couldn’t gain any traction and the defense couldn’t stop the Ohio State offense, which proved too much to overcome. While the final score wasn’t embarrassing like it was in the 2012 National Championship when the Fighting Irish lost 42-14, it’s clear they still have work to do from a physicality standpoint against the big dogs if they’re ever going to hoist up the National Championship trophy again.
Is the Big Ten now the best conference in College Football?
The Big Ten has now won the National Championship in back-to-back seasons — first, it was Michigan, and now it’s Ohio State. While it’s far too soon to see if the recent Big Ten dominance can continue, they’re certainly proving that in the age of NIL the entire college football landscape can change in a hurry.
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