ESPN predicts Notre Dame vs. Ohio State in the College Football Playoff Championship game

Jan 9, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Micah Shrewsberry celebrates defeating the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Orange bowl at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

With a week until the College Football Playoff Championship game is played between Notre Dame and Ohio State, it’s interesting to see how experts will see the game playing out.

For ESPN, it might not be an expert, more data driven prediction to handicap the 2025 title game winner. The SP+ projection complied by Bill Connelly (subscription required) is not favorable for the Irish, as it has them losing to the Buckeyes, 27.6-21.7.

It seems like it will be a tight game, as both teams have a top-7 defense, with Notre Dame at seven and Ohio State as the best. Offensively, the Buckeyes are the metrics third best, while the Irish at sixth.

For all accounts, it an elite matchup between the two Midwest schools, but you can question some of the data. Ole Miss and Alabama were the second and third ranked team, and neither of them made the CFP.

This is a great reason why the game isn’t played on paper.

Notre Dame head football coach Marcus Freeman celebrates at the 90th annual Sun Bowl game against Oregon State on Friday, Dec. 29, 2023, at El Paso, Texas.

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This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: ESPN predicts Notre Dame vs. Ohio State in the College Football Playoff Championship game

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/espn-predicts-notre-dame-vs-104533071.html

Author : Fighting Irish Wire

Publish date : 2025-01-13 10:45:00

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