The University of Notre Dame and Ohio State University will play for the college football national championship tonight at 7:30, and each team will have a chance to make history.
Although Ohio State is one of the consensus best college football teams in the country, they haven’t won a national championship in a decade. On the other hand, Notre Dame hasn’t had much success in the last couple of years as their last national championship dates all the way back to 1988.
Both teams weren’t super high seeds going into the playoffs as Ohio State was ranked as the eighth seed and Notre Dame was ranked the seventh. The college football committee changed the playoffs this year to a 12-team playoff rather than a 4-team playoff which was what it had been for past years. If the committee never made this change, neither of these teams would be playing tonight.
Coming into the year, Ohio State was projected to be a top-four seed but they lost tough games to the #1 seed Oregon and their rivals, Michigan.
Notre Dame was also considered a playoff team but not thought of on the same level as Ohio State. Notre Dame lost to Northern Illinois in the second week of the season and many considered it one of the program’s worst losses of all time. They went on to win out the rest of the season and now have a chance to win the national championship for the first time in over 35 years.
Both teams had a very hard path to get to the national championship as Ohio State had to go through (9) Tennessee, (5) Texas, and (1) Oregon. Notre Dame also had a difficult path as they had to go through (10) Indiana, (6) Penn State, and (2) Georgia, who has won the national championship two of the past three years.
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman has already made history by being the first African American head coach to compete in the national championship game. After Notre Dame’s unbelievable season, he’s been getting looked at to be an NFL head coach.
On the other hand, Ohio State head coach, Ryan Day, has been criticized for making the playoffs almost every year but always walking away empty-handed. This year he has the opportunity to prove the haters wrong and win Ohio State a national championship for the first time in ten years.
Overall, both teams have had historic seasons and will go on to be remembered for a long time but I believe Ohio State has too much talent and experience for the Fighting Irish to handle. They have standout players like edge-rusher Jack Sawyer, quarterback Will Howard, and true freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith, who has the potential to be one of the best college football wide receivers of all time.
I can’t see a way that Ryan Day and the Buckeyes lose this game and that’s why the Ohio State Buckeyes will be your 2025 college football national champions.