CFP National Championship Preview: #8 Ohio State, #7 Notre Dame Captivate
It all comes down to this. #8 Ohio State vs. #7 Notre Dame. The 2025 CFP National Championship will be decided Monday night in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Buckeyes look for their ninth national title and to become the first and only CFP champion to win it all in two different formats: they won the inaugural four-team CFP in 2014. Now, they have a chance to win the inaugural 12 team format. Notre Dame also looks for its ninth title, and its first since 1988, a full 37-year drought.
But the Irish face a daunting Ohio State team coming off their escape of sixth-ranked Penn State in last week’s Orange Bowl. Notre Dame’s contest two weeks ago, a 23-10 win against number-two Georgia, was pretty good, but last week was a severe downgrade. Add to that their first game against Indiana, an underwhelming 27-17 grindout, and you see why the Buckeyes are the better equipped team. They’ve stomped through all three of their games by a minimum of two touchdowns, including against the likes of then-favorites Tennessee and top-seeded Oregon. If you thought the Ducks were unstoppable, you were very wrong. Nobody on a first-round bye would lose their subsequent opener by virtually three scores.
Why Ohio State Stomps Notre Dame

The Buckeyes put up the eighth-most points/game in the country while allowing the fewest from their opponents. Additionally, QB Will Howard is a proven champion by virtue of having two different conference championships under his belt. Surely he has room for one more. This season, Howard has racked up nearly 3800 passing yards and 33 touchdowns with just 10 interceptions. Compared to the Irish offense, which does admittedly put up the third-most points per game and allows the second fewest, QB Riley Leonard has only 19 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
So despite Notre Dame’s slightly stronger offense overall, Ohio State still has the advantage at the most crucial offensive position. The one big advantage ND has is their run game, holding the 12th most rushing yards/game compared to the Buckeyes’ 59th-ranked rushing offense, despite their dynamic duo of Quinshon Judkins and TreyVeon Henderson. But even those stats shouldn’t be taken with a grain of salt- this is still the same team with freshman superstar WR Jeremiah Smith, who could do some serious damage like he did against top-ranked Oregon. Over 1,200 receiving yards on 71 catches and 14 touchdowns and he didn’t make the Heisman finalists? For shame, NCAA.
Why Notre Dame Stuns Ohio State (In Dramatic Fashion)

Besides Notre Dame’s strong run game and top ranked defense, what else do the Irish bring to Atlanta to pull off a monumental upset? For them to nab their first national title in nearly 40 years, Riley Leonard will need to be on the top of his game, which means no throwing for only 1 score and a bit more than 200 passing yards like he did against Penn State’s secondary. He should also probably not get picked like he did twice in that game.
As for the rest of the Irish team, they need to win and do so in a rather convincing fashion. Two of their three CFP contests were won by less than double digits, something rather odd for a team that marched to the national championship game. And ND didn’t march anyway- that Georgia win was the lone outlier in an otherwise slog schedule. Winning by as little as a late FG is somewhat impressive, but not when you do it off a conveniently timed turnover by the opposing team. That’s what happened in the Orange Bowl, and I’m pretty sure most people wouldn’t want to see such a nail-biter like that for the second consecutive week.
Finally, Leonard’s offensive line must protect him a bit more. Leonard has been sacked at least twice in all three of the Irish’s games in this Playoff, while Howard was only taken down twice in last week’s Texas win. As for the rest of the team, the Irish must overcome the fact they are gargantuan underdogs to Ohio State, being a whole 9.5 points separated. That is not a good opening odds line for someone looking for their first national title in 37 years.
Prediction: Ohio State 41, Notre Dame 27

The talent pool for the Buckeyes is just too deep for Notre Dame to do anything to counter it. Ohio State’s QB, RB duo, and WR1 are all players most teams have massive trouble dealing with, whether or not it’s the postseason or a regular season game. Expect Ohio State to remain as tough to crack as Buckeyes are in real life. Not to mention, they’re hazardous, just like how this Buckeyes team has been all postseason long.
Related: Ohio State coach Ryan Day Has A Solid Opportunity to Beat Notre Dame, But Can He Actually Do It?