The most anticipated game of the college football season is just about a week away – the National Championship – featuring the #7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the #8 Ohio State Buckeyes playing January 20, 2025 at 6:30 in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.
This season the 2024-2025 season is the first time the college football playoff featured a 12 team bracket with the top 4 seeds getting an automatic bye to the quarterfinals. Ironically though, all 4 top seeds were knocked out in the quarterfinals by first round teams.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish led by head coach Marcus Freeman had a successful season going into the playoffs, with only a single loss to the Northern Illinois Huskies which was a big upset. Starting in the first round of the playoffs, the Fighting Irish defeated the #10 Indiana Hoosiers 27-17. Then in the quarterfinals plowed through #2 Georgia Bulldogs 23-10. Most recently, in the semi-finals to advance to the national championship they just edged out #6 Penn State 27-24 with an interception in the final seconds to kick a field goal.
The Ohio State Buckeyes led by head coach Ryan Day went into the playoffs with a record of 10-2 with a devastating loss to the Michigan Wolverines knocking them out from playing in the Big 10 Conference Championship Game. In the first round, the Buckeyes crushed #9 Tennessee Volunteers 42-17. After advancing to the quarter finals, the Buckeyes defeated the #1 Oregon Ducks 41-21 and finally in the semi-finals also defeated the #5 Texas Longhorns 28-14 to secure their spot in the national championship.
With just a week away, the teams are preparing for their biggest game of the season. Ohio State is favored to win the game, but just like with the games already played, anything can happen.
