Notre Dame football punched its ticket to their first-ever College Football Playoff National Championship. It is their first National Championship appearance since 2013, and they seek their first title since Lou Holtz in 1988.
Notre Dame had a thriller victory over Penn State in the semifinals and they learned their opponent Friday night, as Ohio State defeated Texas in the Cotton Bowl 28-14. Ohio State was a top favorite to win the championship and is a whopping 9.5 point favorite to win on Jan. 20.
However, after watching the Cotton Bowl Ohio State showed glaring weaknesses that Notre Dame can take advantage of and pull off the Championship upset and continue this historic win streak.
Here are three glaring Ohio State Cotton Bowl weaknesses that will lead to Notre Dame football first national title since 1988.
What Notre Dame football has in store against Ohio State
Ohio State’s third down efficiency plummets in CFP
Ohio State only converted three third downs in their semifinal victory over Texas. The Buckeyes went just 3-10 against the Longhorns, which doesn't favor OSU in their matchup with the Fighting Irish. Ohio State 3rd down efficiency has not been good all playoff long as they are 11-30 in their 3 games.
This favors the Irish tremendously as ND is one of the best teams in the nation to get the opposing team offense off the field. The Irish are top five in third down efficiency, where Notre Dame has allowed just a mere 9-35 , which is just a 25% success rate on third down in the playoffs. Notre Dame has best defense in 3rd and long as teams have completed just 7-78 3rd and 8+ plays.
The Blue and Gold held Penn State to just 3-11 in the semifinals. Notre Dame defense also ranks sixth at allowing just 34% conversion on 4th down in case Ryan Day decides to be bold and go for it on 4th down.
The Ohio State secondary
Denzel Burke and Davidson Igbinosun. These two cb’s have been underwhelming all season long and is the main area the opponent's offense has attacked. The Irish are a heavy dominant run team, but ND saw against Penn State that they do have playmakers in Jaden Greathouse and Jordan Faison. These wideouts have been unsung heroes all season long, especially in these playoffs. Greathouse is coming off a career day, 7 catches for 105 yards and a touchdown.
Faison had a career day the first two rounds, where he had 7 catches for 89 yards against Indiana and four catches for 46 yards against Georgia. Notre Dame playmakers have been stepping up big time in these playoffs, and would not be surprised if they are able to put some points on this Ohio State defense.
College football analyst David Pollack spoke up on this Ohio State weakness.
"I don't see a lot of game wreckers," David Pollack stated. "But I don't see a lot of weaknesses, except at the cornerback spot. I've got to address the cornerback spot as a weakness. I've seen enough to know. There are enough penalties back there, enough flags, enough big plays that it's not a strength."
Ohio State struggles with penalties
The Buckeyes offense and defense struggled with penalties and were clearly a little bothered by Texas scheme. Irish have a few games to use to bother the Buckeyes, but in this semifinals, Ohio State had 9 penalties for 75 yards.
Al Golden is one of the best at drawing up schemes and pressure on the opposing quarterback and offense. The Irish rank second in FBS in man coverage in the 2024 season, as Notre Dame football runs man coverage near 57% of the time, which is just one of four teams to run man coverage higher than 50% this season. Playing man allows Golden to draw up blitzes and makes the opposing team either to start early for a false start or use a time out. Irish wide receivers also have stepped up and draw many flags down the field, as the Irish athletic wide receivers are quick off the line and often times draw a hold or PI on the opposing teams corners.