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Key events
Buckeyes 21-7 Irish, halftime
The Irish start at the 25. They have two timeouts.
Here’s a screen to Collins, but no timeout is called and so we head to halftime.
OSU have assert their dominance after ND’s long first scoring drive.
ND head coach Marcus Freeman is asked what they have to do to get back in this game by ESPN TV in the US.
“We just gotta relax man.”
Some points also.
TOUCHDOWN! Buckeyes 21-7 Irish, 0:27 second quarter
Howard has time, lots of time. Is he going to take himself? It looks like it, but then he fires towards the center of the endzone to an open Judkins! It’s another TD for OSU and that is an absolute killer.
This could get ugly.
Buckeyes 14-7 Irish, 0:30 second quarter
Howard takes it himself down to the ND 12, a gain of 11. Then Henderson runs for six more yards.
Now, with the ball at the six, OSU call timeout, their second.
OSU get the ball first in the second half, so it’s vital that ND keep the Buckeyes out of the enedzone. I don’t like their odds.
Buckeyes 14-7 Irish, 1:15 second quarter
Smith runs, stops, turns towards his quarterback, makes the catch and runs for a first down. Tough to defend. It’s 15 yards to the ND 23.
Now a pass to Henderson is broken up, incomplete.
Buckeyes 14-7 Irish, 1:25 second quarter
Howard in the shotgun – has time – fires to Tate, who slides in the middle of the field and makes the catch! OSU are batting 1000 on third down conversions tonight, 6/6.
Now Howard is sacked! ND break through and call timeout. It’s 2nd & 13 and ND want to save clock because they think they can stop this OSU train. Let’s see.
Buckeyes 14-7 Irish, 2:00 second quarter
Henderson runs up to the ND 45 as we hit the warning. And that sets up yet another important third down coming up after these messages.
Buckeyes 14-7 Irish, 2:14 second quarter
Howard is hit as he throws, but he finds Innis on a post route for a first down! That’s a killer for Notre Dame who brought pressure and were just a split second too late. And OSU, well, they have lots of options of offense.
Buckeyes 14-7 Irish, 3:53 second quarter
Do the Irish have enough gas on defense to stop this OSU multi-faceted machine? Well, right away, it’s 3rd & 7 and an important play coming up right here. Can ND force a punt?
Buckeyes 14-7 Irish, 4:53 second quarter
The TE is in motion and the snap hits Mitchell Evans! Evans is able to recover but that could have been a deadly turnover deep in their own territory!
So now a punt doesn’t seem that bad. ND kick it away, and OSU start from their 20.
Buckeyes 14-7 Irish, 5:37 second quarter
ND start from their 25. Leonard is back with another keeper. Is he gonna make it through this game? Gain of five.
Then he’s hit as he throws, incomplete. Big 3rd & 5 right here. The ND defense is not ready to come back yet.
How it happened!
He bounced and bounced and broke into the endzone.
Ten plays, 76 yards in 6:06. These teams have ripped off huge chunks of clock with these drives. ND needs to give their defense a breather with something sustained here.
TOUCHDOWN! Buckeyes 14-7 Irish, 6:15 second quarter
Judkins runs it in, and OSU are on top for the first time in this game!
That means ND are behind, and the narrative is that the Irish are not built for comebacks. Can they write a new story?
Buckeyes 7-7 Irish, 6:29 second quarter
Howard keeps it and has a first down. Gain of about three. Ball on the ND nine.
Buckeyes 7-7 Irish, 7:10 second quarter
Jenkins runs and is hit, before squeaking in for a few yards, just a bit deeper into the red zone.
Now it’s 3rd & 1 as Egbuka has yet another catch!
Buckeyes 7-7 Irish, 8:20 second quarter
Egbuka is back again and makes his third catch of the drive, and pays the price, getting crushed by the sideline. I missed who that was for the Irish, but Egbuka didn’t. Ouch!
Ball at the ND 20, timeout OSU.
Buckeyes 7-7 Irish, 9:07 second quarter
Howard in the shotgun, looks around and sees that nobody is anyone near him. “Oh, I should run”, he thinks, and so he does! It’s 11 yards, down to the ND32.
Buckeyes 7-7 Irish, 9:56 second quarter
Short gain for Egbuka sets up a big 3rd & 5! Can ND hold?
Buckeyes 7-7 Irish, 10:34 second quarter
Egbuka, towards the near sideline, finds the edge, turns the corner and has a 14-yard gain. His longest of the season!
Now Tate makes a sideline catch for 15 yards and the machine is in motion. Ball on the ND 48.
Buckeyes 7-7 Irish, 12:21 second quarter
A short pass to the tight end Evans isn’t nearly enough, and so the Irish will have to punt from their own 20.
Good 46-yard punt to the OSU 34. A holding penalty by the Buckeyes pushes them back another 10. So when we come back, State will start at their own 24.
Buckeyes 7-7 Irish, 13:19 second quarter
Leonard is in huge trouble, but he dances and escapes, then he fires complete to Beaux. But there’s a holding penalty and that pushes back the Irish even more! After a short run, it’s 3rd & 23!
Buckeyes 7-7 Irish, 14:03 second quarter
Alright, a lot of commercials, but we’re back. Let’s see how Notre Dame respond to the response. From the 25, the Irish start out with an incomplete pass, intended for Collins.
Now there’s a false start flag – this is different than the first ND possession.
How it happened!
TOUCHDOWN! Buckeyes 7-7 Irish, 14:10 second quarter
Howard sells the play action fake, and Smith is wide open on the near side! He makes a game-tying catch, and OSU have answered with a 75-yard drive of their own! It took 11 plays and 6:05 to level this game up!
Buckeyes 0-7 Irish, 14:44 2nd quarter
Judkins runs down to the five!
Buckeyes 0-7 Irish, end 1st quarter
Two great drives to start this game, but now OSU face a crucial third down – they need three at the Irish 18.
They have it – Howard shows he has some wheels himself and moves the chains!
And that’s the first quarter! That moved!
Buckeyes 0-7 Irish, 1:09 1st quarter
Howard finds his tight end, Gee Scott, on the near sideline. That’s four yards.
This is a lot more! Henderson has the ball and he cuts, runs through a hole, turns on the jets, and heads for the sideline! By the time he’s done it’s 15 yards!
Now Judkins takes a screen pass and then runs for 15. So OSU are at the Irish 25 and moving fast!
Buckeyes 0-7 Irish, 3:15 1st quarter
Henderson, a pair of runs. One goes for five, the other for no gain. It’s 3rd & 5 and Howard finds Smith! There’s the big name, making the big play at wide receiver to extend this drive for OSU! They’ll lean on him tonight.
David Timms is in NZ following along:
“Here at the bottom of the world we look on in envy at your sports. $4000 for the cheapest ticket? That would pay for a degree over here.”
Ha! That will get us about six credits!
Buckeyes 0-7 Irish, 5:15 1st quarter
Leonard looks absolutely exhausted, and with good reason. Has he ever had nine carries on a drive before? And against Ohio State?
OSU will start at the 25 after a touchback.
How it happened!
18 plays, 75 yards, 9:45. That’s right, nine minutes and fourty-five seconds.
TOUCHDOWN! Buckeyes 0-7 Irish, 5:15 1st quarter
Leonard’s ninth carry of this epic opening drive ends with him running for pay dirt! Notre Dame opens the game with a tone-setting TD! The extra point is good. Pretty special start for the Irish.
Now, how will OSU respond after getting smashed in the mouth and being down for the first time in the playoffs?
Buckeyes 0-0 Irish, 5:25 1st quarter
Leonard fakes the hand off and runs left, but is taken down just short. Here comes a huge 4th & 1!
And Leonard again! He runs right, has the first down and more! He’s down to the one yard line!
Buckeyes 0-0 Irish, 6:48 1st quarter
Notre Dame are just eating clock. It’s 2nd & 8, Leonard runs right, looks to throw and then keeps it, running out of bounds just short of a first down. It’ll be third and three.
Buckeyes 0-0 Irish, 8:31 1st quarter
Now Price is running to the far sideline and then turns the corner to the OSU 19! It’s 3rd and 1, and Leonard pushes the pile inside the 15. Macho!
What a start for ND! Can they get into the endzone?
Buckeyes 0-0 Irish, 9:23 1st quarter
Eli Rairdon has a catch after Leonard ran to his right and fired! It’s a 14-yard gain down to the OSU 28!
Buckeyes 0-0 Irish, 10:08 1st quarter
On 3rd & 1, Love runs wide but can’t find the edge – he’s stuffed. It’s 4th & 1 and ND are going for it!
And they have it! Leonard keeps it and has just enough space for a first down. The drive continues!
Buckeyes 0-0 Irish, 11:39 1st quarter
The Irish are moving against this stellar Buckeyes defense. Mitchell a first down catch. Then Love has a reception in the flat. They’re across midfield!
Buckeyes 0-0 Irish, 13:13 1st quarter
Leonard on 3rd & 3 and the QB sneaks for a second time this drive, this time, up the middle for a first down.
We’re off!
Riley Leonard is the captain and the QB for the Irish. Love has the ball on the first play from scrimmage and he is wrapped off for a short loss! Ball at the Irish 19.
Toin Coss
OSU call tails and it’s tails, but they deferred. Notre Dame will get the ball to start this national championship game!
Here they come
Notre Dame walk through a door donned with their traditional sign that reads “play like a champion today”. Then they are surrounded by lasers. So are OSU. Finally both teams are set free and run onto the field through a pathway of more sparkly fireworks. The bands play, the cheerleaders cheer. This is the pomp and circumstance of college football, once an amateur endeavor, now a paid gig. It’s supposed to feel big, but to be perfectly honest, it really doesn’t.
I’m sure it’s not you, it’s me.
National Anthem
Coco Jones is an R&B singer with seven Grammy nominations.
There’s a really big flag, which is standard, that they shake around so it waves, and a few lame fireworks, of course, because it’s indoors.
But Coco, wow! What a tremendous job! Best I’ve heard in a while! I give it a 9/10. Way to go Coco!
In slo-mo
If you didn’t see this, Jeremiyah Love’s run for Notre Dame v Penn State seemed to defy physics.
In honor of Notre Dame vs Ohio State Championship tonight, I give you the greatest 2 yard run in college football history.
In super slow mo. Even the tenth time watching it seems like he isn’t gonna make it.
Jeremiah Love shows what sheer will can do versus an army. ☘️ pic.twitter.com/EBThZSPOpj
— Rick Golfs (@Top100Rick) January 20, 2025
Notre Dame’s offense is about the running game – Love will have to have a big night if Notre Dame are going to steal this natty.
The big beef
Is it weird that there’s a war of words between an 88-year-old former head coach of Notre Dame, Lou Holtz, who was also an assistant at OSU, and the Buckeyes current head coach Ryan Day? Yeah, but it’s also weird that OSU’s payroll for this team is $20m.
Anyway, Lou Holtz, who everyone except Notre Dame fans absolutely hated while he was coach at South Bend, once said something about the lack of physicality of the Buckeyes. Then in September of last season, OSU beat Notre Dame, and on the field after the game, Ryan Day brought up Holtz’ comments, rambling on about how he would “like to know where Lou Holz is right now,” of which the answer was, probably at home because he’s almost 90. Now the rift has resurfaced, propelling Holtz to travel to Atlanta to see his Irish try to upset OSU. Perhaps Holtz will be the lucky charm the Irish need? Yes, I wrote that.
Ohio State has the talent, but Notre Dame has the heart, the culture, and the defense to win this game.
Stay patient, run the football, and trust the process.
Notre Dame wins a close one—by 3.
Remember, we’re Notre Dame and they ain’t! pic.twitter.com/uDKng78jNe
— Lou Holtz (@CoachLouHoltz88) January 15, 2025
Who needs tickets?
If it’s you, I hope you have deep pockets. Just getting into the big house in Atlanta will run you $4000 big ones, and that’s for a single upper deck seat. That’s about a dollar for every mile these jet setting college students have covered as they flew around the country playing this tourney. Gosh, I hope they’ve had some time to study!
Actually, it seems they have, as OSU’s team grade point average is 3.3, which is exceptional considering the lives these student athletes lead. It’s good news for OSU head coach Ryan Day, who gets a cool half million for his team scoring above a 3.0 GPA.
But I digress: if you want the best seats, you’re looking at close to $12k, which is a lot. If you’ve got the dosh, there’s still time! Or you can just follow along with us for the grand total of zero USD. It’s up to you!
We are live!
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff, national championship game: Notre Dame v Ohio State. Did I say that right? The branding is a bit complicated but that hasn’t stopped millions upon millions of football devouring Americans from watching these games in droves. This tournament, featuring some of the biggest collegiate programs in the nation, has been a complete commercial success, with those invested reaping the ratings and the rewards. It also must be the longest college football season ever, with both of these teams about to suit up for their 16th game, as the final continues to move farther and farther away from college football’s traditional New Year’s day sweetspot.
But never mind all that, we’ve got a ball game to play and for Notre Dame, it just doesn’t get any bigger. One of the most revered and historic football programs in the United States, the Fighting Irish were the very first program to get an “America’s Team” moniker, annoying just about everyone except Notre Dame fans. Even with all the glamor attached to the program, they haven’t won a national title since 1988, and that they’re in the final is something of a surprise, especially when you consider that they lost to Northern Illinois earlier in the season. Once upon a time, losing to a 28 point underdog, one who Notre Dame paid $1.4m just to come and play at South Bend, would have been a death sentence to national title aspirations. With 12 teams, rather than four now being invited to the playoffs, there’s now room for error. So the ensuing 13-game winning streak that these Irish ripped off earned them an invite, and then their stunning defeat of Penn State in the semifinals got them a spot in Atlanta for a shot at all the marbles.
As so often happens in college sports, with players coming and going more than ever, the head coach is the star. Marcus Freeman is just 39 years old, and one of only 16 black head coaches in the 134 teams known as the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. If he beats Ohio State he will become the first black head coach to win a national title:a significant milestone, and on Martin Luther King Day in the US no less. And if Notre Dame are to win, it’ll be their defense that makes the difference: the Irish have the no2 “D” in the nation.
Ohio State? Well, their defense is arguably even better than Notre Dame’s, which spells trouble for the banged up offensive line for the Irish. It’s one reason why the Buckeyes are favored to win this game by a healthy 8.5 points and to take their first national championship since 2014. Like Notre Dame, OSU also had their regular season pitfalls, suffering a shock defeat to their kryptonite, Michigan on the last regular season weekend of the season. The 21-point upset, at home, led to a players only meeting that galvanized the Buckeyes, who went on to score dominant wins over Oregon and Texas en route to the final in Atlanta.
The best player on the field tonight will wear red and white. Jeremiah Smith, the vaunted 19-year-old wide receiver punished defenses this season, slicing up the then-no1 ranked Oregon Ducks for nearly 190 yards and two touchdowns in the quarterfinal. Whether Notre Dame can slam the brakes on this future top-five NFL pick will have a lot to do with the ability of the Irish to hang close in this game.
So a big match-up? Absolutely: big enough to rival the inauguration of a United States President. So get your pom poms ready as we get set for the National Championship game. And if you get bored, X me or email me and I’ll make you famous!
Stand by for more coverage: stick with us!
David will be here shortly, here’s something from the AP on the significance of today’s game:
Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman felt more comfortable talking about the national championship his players have a chance to win Monday night than the history attached to it if they pull it off.
Still, it’s hard to ignore the connections between Freeman’s fate — he is trying to become the first African American coach to capture a college title at the highest level in America’s favorite sport — and all that’s happening in the U.S. on the day of the big game.
Monday 20 January is national-title day but also the day the United States celebrates Martin Luther King Jr., and inaugurates Donald Trump to his second term as president. King devoted his life to fighting for inclusion and equality, and today diversity initiatives are increasingly under scrutiny on college campuses.
“The timing of Marcus Freeman and Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a powerful symbol that should be viewed with cautious optimism,” said Joseph Cooper, the director of the Institute for Innovative Leadership in Sport at UMass. “And with the incoming administration and their professed commitment to undo DEI policies, it reflects the peril and the long journey we still have to go, beyond just breaking barriers with pioneers.”
That Freeman’s potential breakthrough comes more than 40 years after a Black basketball coach first did the same, and that it comes against a backdrop of a mediocre minority hiring record that has shadowed college sports for decades, is a sign of how far those sports still have to go.
“Today’s Black coach is the ‘70’s Black quarterback,” Rod Broadway, who coached at historically Black universities Grambling State and North Carolina A&T, said about the once-rare sight of an African American playing the sport’s most important position.