By Michael Germanese
All eyes are now focused on the College Football Playoff title game with two iconic brands getting ready to play for the sport’s biggest prize. The comparisons between the two Ohio State Buckeyes and Notre Dame Fighting Irish this season is astonishing, considering both dealt with massive upsets, both lost the belief of their fans that they could be here, and have transfer quarterbacks and never played in a game that was this important. But in the end, Ohio State and Notre Dame have made it to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia to play for the national championship.
Ohio State comes in as a balanced offense, that can run and pass the ball effectively, and they pair that with one of if not the best defenses in the country ranked, first in both yards and points allowed a game. Notre Dame on the other hand comes in as a run-first team wanting to pound the rock and pass generally when needed. Like OSU, Notre Dame brings a top defense to Atlanta ranked third in points a game allowed and ninth in yards a game allowed. Notre Dame’s biggest treat is their ability to create takeaways averaging 2.1 a game, which ranked them fifth in college football.
Notre Dame has been looking to win its first national championship since 1988. Here are three things Notre Dame will need to do to take down Ohio State.
Hold OSU to a Slow Start
In their last 4 games, Ohio State has looked from an unbeatable giant to an average team at best. After losing to Michigan, Ohio State beat both Tennessee and Oregon and had the game all but over by halftime. In the last game against Texas, it took a late 83-yard fumble return by Jack Sawyer to put the game away.
In two of the games, against Oregon and Tennessee, the Buckeyes were able to jump out to a huge lead letting their defense and offense play relaxed. In those two games combined, Ohio State has managed six touchdowns, a field goal, an interception, an two punts in their first five drives. In the games at Michigan and Texas meanwhile, Ohio State only had two touchdowns and 1 field goal while punting the ball five times, throwing one interception, and a missed field goal.
If Notre Dame is going to make this a game and, in the end, pull the upset, they can’t play from behind. Notre Dame is built to run, not pass the ball, if Ohio State goes up early 14 or more points the Irish will be forced to play a style of football they can’t play.
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Who Will Step up for the Irish?
Notre Dame’s offense is simple: run, run, and more run, this season the Irish have 3162 yards rushing to only 2915 yards passing. Notre Dame has 22 touchdowns in the air and 44 on the ground, telling the whole story on what their offensive mentality is. The Irish come into the championship game ranked 101st in passing yards per game, averaging 196.4. If the Irish are going to win, they will need someone to step up and make big plays in the receiving game. Against Ohio State, Notre Dame can’t just count on Jeremiyah Love, Riley Leonard, or Jadarian Price to make plays other players will have to.
The question is will it be Mitchell Evans, Jaden Greathouse, Beaux Collins, or someone else who steps up to make the plays necessary to keep the top-ranked OSU defense guessing? Ohio State’s defense only gives up an average of 89.9 yards per game rushing. If Notre Dame can’t find a way to pass the ball with consistency it will be a long night for the Irish.
Limit the Buckeye Big Plays
Ohio State, one of if not the most talented teams offensively will look for a home run and then follow up with the kill shot right after. When Ohio State can hit on passes of 15 plus yards and runs of 10 plus yards they become their most dangerous. In their last four games, the ones OSU generated several big plays were the ones they pulled away.
In the Michigan and Texas games, Ohio State had only six big plays in each. Against Michigan, they only had 60 yards in passing and 42 rushing on those big plays. Against Texas, they had four passing and two rushing with 123 yards gained in the air and 40 on the ground. Michigan had three plays come on first or second down with none going for a touchdown. Texas had three on first downs and gave up one TD on those plays.
The Tennessee game OSU had 14 big plays with four of the plays ending up in the endzone. The Buckeyes had nine in the air for 213 yards and five on the ground for 90 yards. Of the 14 plays, 13 of them came on first or second down, and six were in the first quarter. Oregon was almost a mirror image they had 13 big plays with four touchdowns. They had 270 yards in the air and 111 on the ground from just those 13 plays.
If Notre Dame hopes to win this game, limiting Ohio State’s big play ability and forcing them to sustain drives to get in the endzone is non-negotiable. In the same four-game stretch, Ohio State scored 15 touchdowns with five coming on drives with one-to-three plays, six on four-to-seven plays, and four on eight or more plays. Ohio State scored 73 percent of their touchdowns on drives they ran less than eight plays.
Notre Dame is heading into Atlanta as an 8.5-point underdog and many people believe that this game is Ohio State’s to lose. For the Irish it’s simple, if they want to win, they need to turn this game into a street fight, and they can’t let it become a shootout. Ohio State wants to hit fast and often makes teams play their game, under no circumstance can Notre Dame let that happen and win. And fans will know early in the game if the Irish can pull the upset, if the game is a tough watch Notre Dame has a shot, if it’s a street race with big plays they don’t.
