With the new 12-team playoffs, NIL Deals and the National Championship where Ohio State was crowned victorious against Notre Dame winning 34-23, the 2025 College football season will forever go down in history as an experimental and exciting season.
The Ohio State vs. Notre Dame game was played on January 20, 2025 and was watched by 22 million people. Early on during Notre Dame’s first drive the Irish took the lead after quarterback Riley Leonard fought down the field, rushing in and opening the game with the first touchdown. Soon after the Ohio State Buckeyes responded with a pass to true-freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith who flipped the momentum of the game. Ohio State dominated the rest of the game and the Buckeyes defended their lead and won the National Championship for the first time since 2014. The Buckeyes were nine-point favorites to win the National Championship and did so winning by 11.
The National Championship was the last game of the hard-fought season and the last chance to play on the biggest stage. Ohio State’s quarterback Will Howard proved himself in the playoffs, not folding under pressure and improving his draft stock. Running back Quinshon Judkins was unstoppable on the ground and rushed for 100 yards and two touchdowns averaging nine yards per rush. True-freshman wide receiver Jeramiah Smith, who dominated the regular season, did not slow down and continued to perform, having five catches for 88 yards and a touchdown.
In previous matchups the Buckeyes were seven and two against the Fighting Irish. The last time Notre Dame was victorious over Ohio was in 1936. Ohio State and Notre Dame rarely play each other even though they are some of the oldest teams; however some bad blood between both teams arose before the game when former Notre Dame head coach Lou Holtz said if Notre Dame doesn’t win, it’s because they wanted to preserve Buckeye coach Ryan Day’s job. This isn’t the first time Holtz has come after Ohio’s coach, as he previously judged the Buckeyes’ strength and fitness.
The 2024 season introduced the New 12-team playoff. Previously playoffs consisted of the top four teams but would leave teams that sometimes were undefeated out of the playoffs. The newly expanded playoff is the reason why Notre Dame and Ohio State had a chance to play in the championship, despite being ranked fifth and sixth respectively.
Ohio State’s regular season ranking had them at number six in the country heading into the playoffs. They no doubt deserved their ranking after having big wins against Penn State, Indiana and Iowa, all Big 10 opponents. Ohio State only fell short twice during the regular season, by one point against Oregon after some clock mismanagement and losing for the fourth time in a row to rivals the Michigan Wolverines who had a lackluster 2024 season only going 7-5 in the regular season. The Michigan game raised some serious doubts for the Buckeyes but that all went away when Ohio dominated Tennessee in the first round and embarrassed number-one ranked Oregon.
Going into the playoffs some people believed Notre Dame shouldn’t be there, especially after their early regular season defeat against NIU, but the main reason why people believed they should be there is because Notre Dame is one of the three schools that aren’t in a conference. This means Notre Dame played no conference games and no conference championships. However Notre Dame keeps a very exciting schedule, always playing some of their rivals such as USC, Navy and Stanford. Notre Dame’s big wins this year came against Texas A&M, Louisville, Navy, Army and USC. Notre Dame has been and most likely always will be an independent school and has only played in a conference one year in 2020 when they moved over to the ACC because of COVID-19. Notre Dame is a very traditional school and a part of their tradition is to be independent.
Overall the National championship helped both schools immensely, making both teams 20 million dollars each for getting to the championship. Ohio State ranked number four in recruiting this year and Notre Dame number 12. As the NFL draft begins on April 24 the Buckeyes aren’t losing too many of their stars. The future looks bright for both teams and history has been written with this season.
