Notre Dame football is set to take the field Monday night against Ryan Day and his Ohio State Buckeye’s team.
Many media outlets aren't even giving Marcus Freeman and his team a chance, but they have been overlooked all season long, and entering the National Championship game disrespected is almost poetic to their season.
The Notre Dame football and Ohio State have been two of the most dominant teams this season, as both teams are top five in multiple stats. However, one stat in particular separates Notre Dame and Ohio State as Marcus Freeman and his Irish look to keep this explosive streak alive and use this x-factor to win their first National Championship since 1988.
Notre Dame football’s middle eight mastery
In a recent study from 2019, Sport Source analytics calculated that in the previous five years teams that won the middle eight minutes of the game won 74% of the time, and in the power 5 conferences an even more impressive 76% of the time.
When referring to the middle eight portion of the game, it is the time frame of the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half. The top 10 FBS teams with the highest positive scoring differential in the middle eight minutes of the game had an impressive, combined record of 512-160, according to Sport Source analytics.
Well, Notre Dame has owned the middle eight category in the 2024 College Football playoffs and throughout their entire season.
The Fighting Irish are on a dominant middle eight run that is flying under the radar that College Football fans and analysts need to realize. ND leads College Football in the middle eight points scored and the points margin.
When strictly talking about the CFP, Notre Dame dominated this middle eight concept. Against Georgia, the score was 3-3 at the start of the middle eight time frame, and at the end it was 20-3. Notre Dame, Junior Tuihalamaka, forced fumble and led to a Beaux Collins touchdown to end the half and Jayden Harrison had a 98 yard kickoff touchdown to start the second half and capped the middle eight period off on a 17-0 run.
Against Penn State they trailed 10-0 entering the middle eight period and scored 10 unanswered and tied the score at 10-10 coming out of the middle eight. Eventually the middle eight momentum led to 17 unanswered points for the blue and gold and completely changed the momentum and outcome of the game, as Irish won 27-24.
The Fighting Irish are currently on a 27-0 run in the middle eight period of the game and the run is one of the main x-factors why this Irish team is in the National Championship. The Irish rank second with 11 points per game in the middle eight period in the CFP and rank third in opponents points per game and are tied for first with takeaways in this period of the game.
Throughout the whole season Notre Dame has dominated this time period, as have outscored their opponents 148-17 in the middle eight portion of the game.
Ohio State has dominated all their opponents in the CFP in the first half, as OSU at half has led 21-10, 34-8 and 14-7. Notre Dame football has to play to their strengths and continue this middle eight domination if Riley Leonard and this Notre Dame squad want to the shock the world and secure their first National Championship since 1988.