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Ladies and gentleman, we are down to two. After a drama filled Thursday and Friday, Ohio State will play Notre Dame for the College Football National Championship, the first of the new 12-team playoff era.
Keep reading for my thoughts on the semifinals, as well as my prediction for the 2024-25 National Championship Game.
There isn’t much to say for this one. James Franklin choked again. Drew Allar played horrible and threw an egregious interception that ended the Nittany Lions’ season. Allar had just 135 passing yards, and no touchdowns to go along with it. Yikes. I said this before, and I’ll say it again, Penn State has no business being considered a top team in football until they beat a top-5 team. Notre Dame QB Riley Leonard battled adversity, coming back from a mid-game injury to lead the Irish in scoring 10 points in the final 5 minutes. He will have to orchestrate another gritty game vs. the Buckeyes.
Play of the Game:
To me, this was the National Championship. The Buckeyes and the Longhorns are two of the most talented teams in the country, if not the top-2. In this one, the better team came out on top. Ohio State’s $20 million dollar team had finally figured it out and this run will most likely save coach Ryan Day’s job. The Buckeyes harassed former QB Quinn Ewers all night, though the veteran signal caller had many brilliant plays in what may have been his final college game. In a defensive battle, Texas contained star freshman WR Jeremiah Smith to just 3 yards, and had Will Howard confused most of the game.
In the end however, Texas allowed too many big plays, like the ill-fated screen pass from Howard to TreVeyon Henderson to close out the first half. But the play of the game was on 4th and goal, Texas had the ball inside the ten, down by a touchdown, almost the same situation as the semi final last year. Ewers drifted to his right, and of all people, edge rusher Jack Sawyer, Ewers’ friend and former roommate at OSU, strip sacked him, running the ball back to the house for the game-sealing touchdown. As a Texas fan, I was in disbelief while watching, but this was a great season from the Horns. While Ohio State will play for the natty, I will release a breakdown of the drive in a piece about Quinn’s time in Austin.
Play of the Game:
Notre Dame’s Outlook: Notre Dame has squeaked out wins by running the ball effectively. That would be a surprise vs. Ohio State. OSU has played 3 dominant ground teams in Tennessee, Oregon, and Texas. They have shut those offenses down completely. While Leonard is a threat with his legs, he has just 3 TD’s to 3 INT’s in the Playoff. Considering that the Buckeyes have dominated Nico Iamaleava, Dillon Gabriel, and now Ewers, the Irish will need a herculean effort from Leonard to win.
Ohio State’s Outlook: Run the ball early, open it up with the air. Notre Dame allowed a whopping 204 rushing yards to the Penn State duo of Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen. Ohio State sports possibly the best one in the country of Henderson and Quinshon Judkins. Combine that with the trio of Smith, Emeka Egbuka and Carnell Tate, as well as the generally good decision making of Howard, and the Fighting Irish will be fighting all night long. Howard will have to play better than he did vs. Texas, but if the run game gets going, all he has to do is play better than Allar.
Game Prediction: The loss to Michigan on their home field was the kick in the ass that Day and his coaching staff needed, and he rallied his troops quite well. When you have the best roster in the country, they finally start getting coached right, and the game plan is figured out, you create a buzz saw, which is what Ohio State is. Just the way the 4-team CFP era started with a Buckeye natty, the 12-team era will do the same. Give me Brutus to claim the trophy once again.
Score Prediction: Ohio State - 28, Notre Dame - 10
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