This year’s College Football National Championship took place in Atlanta, Georgia at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The two teams that faced off in this duel were Ohio St. and Indiana’s own Notre Dame both the 7th and 6th seed. These teams have been both underdogs at points in the season, with Notre Dame’s week two loss against NIU at home. Ohio St. also had an upset occur on their home field with 7-5 Michigan beating them 13-10, which shocked the country.

The journeys of these teams in the playoffs are what has been most impressive. Notre Dame started their playoff run by defeating IU at home in a dominant 27-17 win. In the Sugar Bowl they went on to have another masterclass performance against #2 ranked SEC Champion Georgia, winning 23-10.
In the game to send Notre Dame to the National Championship, they faced Penn State in a back-and-forth match that ended in Notre Dame kicker Mitch Jeter hitting the game-winning field goal. Ohio St.’s path was just as hard with their first game being against Tennessee at home. Ohio St surprised the world by crushing Tennesse 42-17. The next game was against the team they had lost to in the regular season, the Oregon Ducks. Yet again, they go into the Rosebowl winning in a 42-21 blowout fashion. The game that sent OSU to the National Championship was versus SEC runner-up Texas. In the fourth quarter, Texas was on Ohio St. red zone, and senior, Jack Sawyer got a forced fumble that led to a game-sealing touchdown.
Everyone knew going into this game that it was gonna be close regardless of the 9-point differential in betting odds favoring Ohio St. The first quarter started with defensive stands on both sides going into the second quarter 7-0 ND leading. The second quarter was a different story. Ohio St. came out swinging scoring 21 points and letting Notre Dame’s offense get nothing.
Going into halftime Ohio St. was up 7-21. Marcus Freeman was not daunted though, telling his team: “Ain’t no need to be nervous! Its a fight! It’s a seven-point ball game, and we get the ball first. It’s a fight! Go out there and fight!” With that speech, they were ready for a competitive second half and sure made it that way. Notre Dame went on to score 8 points in the 3rd quarter with the help of the run game and QB Riley Leonard. Notre Dame’s defense still struggled against the offense of Ohio St., giving up another 10 points making it 15-31 OSU going into the last act. Notre Dame put up a fight scoring another touchdown and converting the 2-point conversion making it a one-score game, 23-31. With less than 3 minutes Ohio St. has the ball on 3rd down, if Notre Dame stops them they get a chance to tie. On 3rd down they go with a risky 56-yard throw to none other than star freshman wide receiver, Jerimiah Smith which connects sealing the game.
The final score was 34-23. Regardless of the loss, ND triumphed through their rough start at the beginning of the season quieting doubters by steamrolling through the first three rounds. It is shown that Notre Dame has found their coach in Marcus Freeman. He gave this team hope when down 21 at one point. These two teams will continue to thrive for the next year with performances like this.