Ohio State Preparing to Match Physicality of the ”Toughest Team in College Football,” Notre Dame, in CFP National Championship Game

By Andy Anders on January 17, 2025 at 8:35 am
Josh Fryar
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Notre Dame will not be the most talented team Ohio State has seen these playoffs.

That honor probably goes to Texas or Oregon. Those rosters are comprised of more players likely to hear their names called in the NFL draft. It’s not that Notre Dame doesn’t have plenty of fantastic athletes, but between recruiting and the transfer portal, the Buckeyes, Longhorns and Ducks have assembled some of the most complete rosters in the sport.

But there are plenty of reasons beyond the quality of their players that the Fighting Irish possess the longest winning streak in college football, now up to 13 games. As qualitative and cliché as it may sound, Notre Dame has established an identity as one of the toughest and most physical teams in college football. It’s a challenge Ohio State will need to rise to in the College Football Playoff national championship game.

“With this front at Notre Dame, we just watch them and they play really hard and they play really tough,” Ohio State right tackle Josh Fryar said. “It’s going to be a challenge for us because I think they’re the toughest team in college football.”

The Fighting Irish have brawled their way to victory across their winning streak.

With a few blowouts of solid teams sprinkled in – see their 49-14 shelling of then-No. 18 Army – Notre Dame’s come out ahead in key contests by controlling the line of scrimmage and challenging opponents to match its relentless effort. None of the team’s trio of CFP wins were track meets. The Fighting Irish dispatched No. 10 Indiana 27-17, No. 2 Georgia 23-10 and No. 6 Penn State 27-24.

“Resilient, tough, well-coached,” Ryan Day said of Notre Dame. “That forces us to make sure we’re playing very, very efficiently across the board. We have to play a clean game. We can’t beat ourselves. We have to make sure that we’re the best version of ourselves in this game, that’s it. And be really, really aggressive and make sure that we’re running to the ball on defense, we’re tackling really, really well.”

The hair-on-fire nature of Notre Dame’s outfit starts on defense. The Fighting Irish are owners of the nation’s No. 2 scoring defense, trailing only Ohio State, and the nation’s No. 9 total defense. They are No. 3 in opposing yards per pass attempt and No. 28 in opposing yards per carry.

Man-to-man coverage is appropriately a huge part of their identity on that side of the ball. Zone and hybrid schemes will be mixed in by its defense, but Notre Dame plays the iconic man-to-man design of Cover-1 on 49% of its snaps per Pro Football Focus, the highest rate of any defense in college football.

“Al Golden does a great job with that defense,” Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly said. “They mix and match their coverages. I think they’re one of the top pass defenses in the country and it shows. I think they’re well-coordinated, their front and back end work really well together That’s a challenge that we’re going to have on Monday night.”

Ohio State’s offensive line will have to answer the call against Notre Dame’s defensive front, even without the services of defensive tackle and sack leader Rylie Mills. The good news is they’ve handled the tribulations of losing Rimington Trophy-winning center Seth McLaughlin and All-American-caliber left tackle Josh Simmons to pave the way for huge offensive outings against Tennessee and Oregon.

Texas’ elite defensive front curtailed the Buckeyes’ running game to the tune of 24 carries for 81 yards, but they still pieced together a 13-play, 88-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter to take a 21-14 lead in a 28-14 victory. 

“I think it just shows that our offensive line is resilient, tough,” Fryar said. “We look adversity in the eye and we just say, ‘F you, we’re gonna do it.’”

“We look adversity in the eye and we just say, ‘F you, we’re gonna do it.’”– Josh Fryar on Ohio State's offensive line

Fryar is ready for another challenge from Notre Dame’s defense.

“They play just relentless,” Fryar said. “Everybody’s flying to the ball.”

That being said, Ohio State should stick with the aggressive, pass-oriented game plans that bore so much success against the Volunteers and Ducks. Texas had the elite secondary and zone-heavy scheme to slow down Jeremiah Smith and company, but whether that’s replicable remains to be seen. Day is monitoring the game plan with a closer oversight than he did in the regular season.

“During the playoffs, I can tell you, full disclosure, I’ve been very much involved with it all and just making sure that the football is right,” Day said. “When you get in these playoffs, the football has to be right. ... These are the days I get the most worked up to make sure we have the right stuff for our guys to give them a chance to go play fast and aggressive.”

Consistent gains on the ground are how Notre Dame’s offense establishes its physicality on the opposite side of the football. The Fighting Irish are No. 4 nationally at 5.8 yards per carry running the football, with running back Jeremiyah Love leading the charge with 159 carries for 1,122 yards (7.1 per carry) and 17 touchdowns, but quarterback Riley Leonard sets the tone by getting involved on the ground plenty himself. He has 167 carries – that’s 11.1 rushing attempts per game – for 866 yards and 16 touchdowns.

“We’re going to have to be able to run the ball and we’re going to have to be able to stop the run,” Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said. “You know me well enough, I’ve said that for every game we play. But it won’t be any different for this game.”

The Buckeyes will aim to answer the Fighting Irish’s physicality when the two teams kick off in the CFP national championship game at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 20. ESPN will broadcast the contest.

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