The College Football Playoff began with 12 teams, and now it’s down to the final two: Notre Dame and Ohio State. Both teams are led by transfer quarterbacks and elite defenses.
The Fighting Irish opened with a dominant win against Indiana and eliminated Georgia and is coming off a tight victory against Penn State.
The Buckeyes, meanwhile, are the hottest team in the postseason. Ryan Day’s squad cruised past Tennessee and Oregon and pulled away late against Texas.
Who will win the national championship? Stay with NBC News all night from Atlanta.
Notre Dame vs. Ohio State
Date: Monday, Jan. 20
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
How to watch: ESPN or stream on ESPN+
CORRECTION (Jan. 20, 2025, 5:10 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated who won last year’s national championship. It was Michigan, not Georgia.
With just one game to go to close out the 2024-25 college football season, we’ve seen enough to call it: The inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff has been an undeniable success.
There are minor issues that need to be addressed or tweaked, but the overall format change has been a net positive for the sport. More teams were in Playoff contention throughout the final month of the season than ever before, which meant more meaningful games played each Saturday down the stretch. College football still got its usual, spirited debate about which teams should get the final spots in the bracket. And there were 11 CFP games instead of three at the end of the season — with four of those games played in electric campus environments.
Interest in the sport has been strong all season long, with 11 regular-season games topping 9 million viewers. First-round CFP games averaged 10.6 million viewers, the quarters averaged 16.9, and the semifinals (played on Thursday and Friday nights) averaged 19.2. With Monday night’s national championship matchup featuring two of the bluest of blue bloods in Notre Dame and Ohio State, the title-game audience is also expected to be massive.
Reporting from Atlanta, Ga.
Ohio State’s offense can overwhelm. But Notre Dame’s defense can stifle.
The Irish own the top-ranked defense in passing efficiency, turnovers gained and defensive touchdowns. They also own the country’s second-ranked scoring defense (14.3 points allowed per game) and passing defense (165.3 yards per game allowed). It’s that last category that could determine the outcome of Monday night.
Ohio State quarterback Will Howard throws to perhaps the nation’s deepest corps of pass-catchers and has averaged 308.3 passing yards in three playoff victories. Howard is completing 73% of his passes during the playoff, with Emeka Egbuka (15 catches), Jeremiah Smith (14 catches) and TreVeyon Henderson (10th catches) his most frequent targets.
Ryan Day chats about Ohio State’s path to the College Football Playoff National Championship, the Buckeyes’ keys to victory against Notre Dame and why his team is ready to make more school history.
Not that long ago, Marcus Freeman bled scarlet and gray.
A linebacker for Ohio State from 2004-08, Freeman appeared in 51 games with 37 starts. He helped the Buckeyes reach the national title game twice and was part of four straight Big Ten championships. When he declared for the NFL Draft in 2009, he ranked 19th in program history with 268 tackles (140 solo).
So when Freeman steps on the sideline ahead of the national championship game Monday night, the Notre Dame coach might feel a bit conflicted. After all, he’s trying to win the biggest trophy in college athletics — and stop his beloved alma mater from doing the same.
Freeman, asked this week about facing the Buckeyes, quickly shot down the notion that his heart lies anywhere but South Bend.
“This has nothing to do with the past and where I went to school,” he said. “This is about this opportunity that lies right ahead of us.”
