Ohio State vs. Notre Dame early picks, predictions, odds for College Football Playoff National Championship

The 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship is set as 7-seed Notre Dame will face 8-seed Ohio State in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Monday, Jan. 20 with the sport’s most illustrious prize on the line. The Fighting Irish are gunning for their first national title since 1988, while the Buckeyes haven’t won a national title since 2014 — the debut season of the College Football Playoff under the four-team format. 

Notre Dame secured its spot with a thrilling 27-24 win against Penn State in the Orange Bowl. The Irish erased two deficits and held off a 14-0 Penn State run in the fourth quarter to nail the game’s decisive field goal with less than 10 seconds left. That result came after Notre Dame won its first two playoff games by an average margin of 11.5 points. 

In a few short weeks, Ohio State coach Ryan Day went from a scorching-hot seat following yet another loss against Michigan to the precipice of the first national title in his tenure with the Buckeyes. It no longer matters that Ohio State failed to contend for the Big Ten title for the fourth consecutive season — because this team has much bigger goals in mind.   

Let’s take a look at where each team stands ahead of the CFP National Championship before our CBS Sports college football experts provide their first-look picks for the game.

(7) Notre Dame — Sugar, Orange Bowl champion

Notre Dame has battled through tremendous odds to get to this point. The Fighting Irish suffered a huge early setback with their Week 2 loss against Northern Illinois as 30-point favorites, which added tremendous pressure to win down the stretch. On top of that, Notre Dame has had to deal with several impactful injuries throughout the year. The Irish have been without…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/ohio-state-vs-notre-dame-early-picks-predictions-odds-for-college-football-playoff-national-championship/

Author : Will Backus

Publish date : 2025-01-11 06:25:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.