After slaying the four-time defending gold medalists from the Soviet Union in the Miracle on Ice, the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team still had to defeat Finland to clinch a gold medal.
American forward Mike Eruzione recounted the pregame speech of legendary head coach Herb Brooks before the match in the 2001 documentary "Do You Believe in Miracles? The Story of the 1980 U.S. Hockey Team." It was 15 words long but all that needed to be said before a 4-2 win for Team USA.
"If you lose this game, you'll take it to your f—ing grave," Brooks said.
He took two steps toward the locker room exit, turned back and repeated, "your f—ing grave."
That's what this College Football Playoff national championship game feels like for Ohio State. No disrespect due to Notre Dame, a quality team to be sure, but after one of the most shocking Michigan losses in program history, the Buckeyes are one win away from their ninth national title, featuring perhaps the best run of any of the nine.
#7 Notre Dame
Fighting Irish
It's a game Ohio State and Ryan Day simply must win. Not only as significant favorites, but as storytellers and brothers in arms.
"There will be time to tell the story after the season, but the only way the story is told is if we win," Day said on Sunday. "That's the sobering message to our team. So we need to understand that."
So, Ohio State can't get swept up in the stakes and pomp and circumstance like articles such as these do. It must focus on preparing the same way it did before it beat No. 9 Tennessee, No. 1 Oregon and No. 5 Texas in the first three rounds of the CFP to get here.
"We've got to get to work and make sure we're having great meetings, great preparation, great practice, great walk-through, and that's it," Day said. "I wish I could tell you there's some magic recipe, but that's the formula that we've got."
While on paper perhaps not as complete a team as the Ducks or Longhorns, the Fighting Irish are still owners of the longest winning streak in the country. They've taken their own impressive ride to the national title game, defeating No. 11 Indiana, No. 2 Georgia and No. 6 Penn State in the CFP.
Led by rising head coach Marcus Freeman – a former Ohio State linebacker, as most reading this will know – the Fighting Irish feature a fearsome defense and downhill rushing attack that will pose threats.
Some Redemption of Their Own
Those outside of South Bend, Indiana were dancing on the graves of the Fighting Irish on Sept. 7.
That day then-No. 5 Notre Dame lost to Group of Five school Northern Illinois 16-14, a brutal loss to put on a CFP résumé early for a team without a conference. The Huskies outgained the Irish 388 yards to 286, kicked a go-ahead 35-yard field goal with 31 seconds to play and watched as Notre Dame missed its own longshot boot of 62 yards.
After falling to No. 18 in the AP Poll and 1-1 on the season, Notre Dame slowly worked its way back into the CFP picture. The Fighting Irish beat then-No. 15 Louisville to get back to 4-1, then saddened some servicemen by handing then-No. 24 Navy and then-No. 18 Army their first losses of the season in kind.
The Black Knights were ultimately the lone team that finished ranked in the CFP that Notre Dame beat in the regular season, but the final three wins of the Fighting Irish's 13-game winning streak are the most impressive. They smothered both Indiana and Georgia, who was without starting quarterback Carson Beck, in 27-17 and 23-10 CFP victories that didn't feel as close as those score lines.
Notre Dame's semifinal clash with Penn State in the Orange Bowl was one of the most intense back-and-forth contests of the first 12-team CFP. The Nittany Lions leapt out to a 10-0 lead before the Fighting Irish battled back to tie things at 10. What ensued was a 31-point fourth quarter that saw Notre Dame tie the game two more times before Penn State quarterback Drew Allar tossed an interception with 33 seconds to play that set up a game-winning 41-yard field goal from Mitch Jeter.
Beyond their redemption arc this season, the Fighting Irish are also looking for vengeance against Ohio State after the Buckeyes beat them in 2022 and 2023, the latter on a last-second touchdown that pulled a 17-14 victory from the jaws of defeat for OSU on the road.
Love for the Running Game
A hard-nosed running game sets the tone for Notre Dame's offense. The Fighting Irish are No. 4 nationally with 5.8 yards per carry on the ground, picking up 210.8 rushing yards per game.
Running back Jeremiyah Love leads the way with 1,122 rushing yards at a clip of 7.1 yards per carry. He's especially effective down around the goal line with 17 rushing touchdowns on the season. Jadarian Price mixes in for relief frequently, with 117 carries for 733 yards (6.3 per attempt) and seven touchdowns.
Notre Dame was able to establish a modest ground game that paved the way to its victories over Indiana and Georgia, picking up 5.5 and 4.2 yards per carry in those contests, respectively. Penn State was able to hold the Fighting Irish to just 117 yards on 42 carries, however.
Ohio State has been excellent at stopping the run in the CFP, holding Oregon to -23 yards on 28 carries and Texas to 58 yards on 29 attempts. The Buckeyes possess the No. 3 run defense in college football (89.9 rush yards allowed per game) and are No. 2 in yards per carry allowed (2.7). Notre Dame will also be without the services of starting left tackle Anthonie Knapp.
Another Stifling Defense
Safety Xavier Watts anchors the last in a long line of vaunted defenses Ohio State's faced in the CFP. (MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
Texas and Tennessee were both playoff teams driven by defense and Oregon presented plenty of firepower on its own ball-stopping unit. If Ohio State is to hoist the CFP national championship trophy above its head, then it must scale one final brick wall when its offense takes the field.
Notre Dame is No. 6 nationally surrendering 4.6 yards per play on defense this season, nestled just behind the Volunteers (4.56). The Fighting Irish rank ninth in total defense (298.3 yards allowed per game) and second in scoring defense (14.3 points allowed per game), the latter number sitting behind only the Buckeyes' own top-ranked unit.
The Longhorns featured perhaps the nation's best secondary but Notre Dame's defensive backfield is also among the country's elite. The Fighting Irish are No. 3 in yards allowed per pass attempt (5.8) and have yet to surrender 270 passing yards in a game.
Safety Xavier Watts is the focal point of it all. Joining Caleb Downs as a 2024 consensus All-American at the position, the ballhawking Watts has collected 74 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, six interceptions and nine pass breakups this year. Redshirt freshman Adon Shuler makes a nice complement with Watts back deep, collecting 55 tackles and three picks of his own.
Cornerback Christian Gray is the anchor on the outside with 32 tackles, three interceptions and nine PBUs this season, and the Fighting Irish often trust he and fellow cornerback Leonard Moore to hold up on islands in coverage. Notre Dame runs Cover 1 50% of the time per Pro Football Focus, meaning one safety playing deep over the top of the rest of the defense in a man scheme.
Ohio State has wide receivers more than capable of beating man coverage, not the least of which is Jeremiah Smith. Texas constantly dedicated two and sometimes even three defenders from its zone to curtail the freshman phenom and held him to one catch for 3 yards in the Cotton Bowl, though Carnell Tate ended up with a career-high seven catches for 87 yards.
The Fighting Irish defensive front is headlined by linebacker Jack Kiser, with a team-high 85 tackles to go with four tackles for loss, two sacks, two forced fumbles and two fumbles recoveries. Notre Dame is a less dominant 28th in opposing yards per carry, giving up 3.7 yards per carry.
Generating pressure on Will Howard will be a key for the Fighting Irish, but they'll be without defensive tackle Rylie Mills, who leads the team with 7.5 sacks. He suffered a season-ending knee injury against the Hoosiers.
Mobile Quarterback, Pass Game Inconsistencies
Riley Leonard has been flawed as a passer at times but is still dangerous, particularly with his legs. (Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck – Imagn Images)
Veteran transfer quarterbacks have made a habit of appearing in national championship games of late. Last year, it was Washington’s second-year quarterback Michael Penix Jr. who took the Huskies to the summit after four seasons at Indiana. This year, it's Howard and Leonard, who spent the first three years of his college career at Duke.
Leonard dealt with injuries as a freshman and junior so his career stats aren't as eye-popping as they otherwise would be, but he completed 63.8% of his throws for 2,967 yards, 20 touchdowns and six interceptions as a sophomore in 2022. He was linked briefly to Ohio State upon entering the transfer portal before landing in South Bend.
While Leonard has a career-high completion rate of 66.4% this season, some of his other metrics aren't as impressive. He’s picked up just seven yards per pass attempt, which would only be tied for 10th among Big Ten quarterbacks if he played in the conference. Notre Dame is a meager 102nd in passing offense nationally with just 194.3 yards per game through the air. Leonard's also tossed a career-high eight interceptions.
It doesn't help that the Fighting Irish lack standout weaponry at the wide receiver position. Despite having played 15 games at this point, no wideouts have broken the 500-yard receiving barrier for Notre Dame this year. Sophomore Jaden Greathouse had a breakout performance against Penn State, though, collecting seven receptions for 105 yards and a touchdown.
Where Leonard gives Notre Dame a boost is in his leadership and his mobility. Leonard is sixth among quarterbacks in rushing yards nationally with 167 carries for 866 yards (5.2 per carry) and 16 rushing touchdowns. His legs help equalize numbers in the box for Love and Price, too.
"He's somebody that I've respected from afar and just the way that he competes, and he's a great athlete," Day said of Leonard. "He's got a great mindset. Again, watching him play this year and the toughness and leadership that he brings, you can tell the offense and the entire team feeds off of him. So a lot of respect for his game."
Storied Histories
This final section is just to take a moment to appreciate the pageantry of the first-ever national championship game between Ohio State and Notre Dame.
There are three juggernauts of the Midwest historically, being those two schools and Michigan, and two of them will play for all the sport's marbles. The Fighting Irish claim 11 national championships to the Buckeyes' eight, making for a combined 19 national titles. It's the first time two teams with at least eight claimed natties have met in a title game since Ohio State played Alabama for it all following the 2020 season.
These are the two schools with the most consensus All-Americans all-time, Notre Dame with 109 and Ohio State with 93. They are tied for the second-most Heisman Trophies with seven each.
Despite their close proximity, this is actually a rare matchup in the annals of college football, too. The home-and-home between the Buckeyes and Irish in 2022 and 2023 were just their seventh and eighth meetings all-time as the two sides went almost 60 years from 1936 to 1995 without facing one another. Ohio State leads the series 6-2 all-time, winning all of the last six matchups, including two previous postseason matchups in the 2006 and 2016 Fiesta Bowls.
One more postseason win to cap a storybook season is the objective for the Buckeyes next Monday.
