2025 National Championship Preview: Ohio State vs Notre Dame Prediction

The first National Championship of the 12 team play-off era has finally arrived and will take place tonight in Atlanta. Kick-off is set for 7:30 ET and we have you covered with a game preview and pick to win, let's dive in...

Ohio State @ Notre Dame (Neutral Site)

We have a classic match-up for the National Championship this year between two historic programs in Ohio State and Notre Dame. The Buckeyes are favored by 8.5 points, with the total sitting at 45.5 points. 

If there’s anything we know about the current landscape of college football, it’s that it’s usually clear who is going to win the title game. It’s been seven years since an underdog has won outright in the national championship game – and the favorite has failed to cover in the national championship game just three times in the last 27 years. Ohio State has the best team top to bottom in the country and that’s been evident all season. It appears that loss to Michigan woke them up, and they’ve been absolutely rolling since. The same can be said for Notre Dame, however, who are on an 11 in a row ATS streak under Marcus Freeman. Something has to give here, and my lean would be with the better team. Notre Dame is a good team, but they have not faced a passing attack like Ohio State has all season. They’ve played an extremely weak schedule, even in the play-off and I think that’s going to come back to haunt them if they get down early to the Buckeyes. I’m going to ride with history, and back the favorite in a big way on Monday night. 

Score Prediction: Ohio State 31, Notre Dame 13

Touchdown Prediction: Emeka Egbuka 

For what it’s worth, I think Caleb Downs is going to find his way into the end zone somehow tonight but that’s not something you can wager on, so I’ll go with Egbuka as my pick. Texas gave out the game plan to contain talented Freshman Jeremiah Smith…simply double him with bracket coverage as much as you can. There were even three players paying attention to Smith at times and the Longhorns were comfortable letting literally any other player beat them. Assuming Notre Dame follows a somewhat similar plan, that’s going to free up Egbuka. Egbuka is my favorite WR in this draft class behind Tet McMillan. He fits the exact mold of players I think can succeed in today’s NFL combining elite separation with high efficiency and great route-running. Notre Dame is going to play man to man on the back-end and if they are hyper focused on Smith, I think Egbuka can have a monster day against a secondary that has not been tested in multiple weeks.

Written by Ben Hossler