Next Monday night at 7:30 p.m. in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Ohio State Buckeyes will play for this year’s CFP National Championship. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
Notre Dame has won 11 college football national championships since they first began play in 1887, with their last coming 36 years ago in 1988 when Lou Holtz was the head coach.
Ohio State has 8 national titles, and are heavily favored to win their 9th just seven days from now.
Online college football betting sites have posted lines for the big game that favor OSU by a range of -8.0 to -8.5 points.
2024-45 CFP National Championship Betting Line
Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- Ohio State Point Spread: -8.0 (-105)
- Ohio State Moneyline: -360
- Notre Dame Point Spread: +8.0
- Notre Dame Moneyline: +280
- Over: 46.0 (-110)
- Under: 46.0 (-110)
Notre Dame has had a relatively easy path to the CFP finals when compared to OSU. In the first round, Notre Dame beat the Indiana Hoosiers 27-17, dispatching a program that was playing above their heads all season.
In the second round, the Irish beat the Georgia Bulldogs who were without their starting quarterback. They beat the Bulldogs by a final score of 23-10.
In the semifinals, ND faced Penn State, their toughest opponent yet in the College Football Playoffs. The Irish narrowly escaped thanks to a late interception thrown by PSU quarterback Drew Allar.
The Buckeyes had arguably the toughest road of any team to make it to the CFP Finals. In the first round, they drew the Tennessee Volunteers and dispatched them by a score of 42-17.
In the second round they had to play the Big Ten Champion Oregon Ducks, a then undefeated team that was ranked number one in the nation. The Buckeyes blew the doors off the Ducks 41-21.
In the semifinals, OSU faced the Texas Longhorns, a team that many online sportsbooks suggested would win it all before the CFP began. Ohio State won that contest 28-14.
Can Notre Dame’s run-heavy attack keep pace with Ohio State? Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman believes that will be the key to winning the game.
“For us, we have to be able to run the football, and we’ve got to find ways to do that.”
ND Head Coach Marcus Freeman
Ohio State will continue to throw the ball downfield, with coach Ryan Day allegedly removing screen passes from the playbook.
“I actually said to the coaches, we’re going to stop doing screen drill because we don’t call any dang screens.”
Ohio State Head Coach Ryan Day
This game will also represent the first time either program has played 16 times during the same season.
