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It has been a very fun college football season full of controversy and a parody that has allowed many different teams to shine. My friend JD posted yesterday about how he thought Ohio State will win the championship. He made some great points but I will dispute all of them and tell you why Notre Dame will win this game.
I know that Ohio State is the sexy pick and is a heavy favorite. They have a fantastic offense and a really good defense as well. However, Notre Dame has been a totally different team since their loss to Northern Illinois. They have not lost a game since and has continued to get better.
One of JD’s points was Chip Kelly leads the offense and he does not know the Notre Dame OC. That’s a valid point but let’s really examine Chip Kelly. He is continuing to ride on his success at Oregon where he ran an offense like it was a game of Madden. However, I am a Philadelphia Eagles fan and remember how he was ran out of Philly and then ran out of San Francisco. His time in UCLA was very mediocre as well. So let’s not pretend that he is this offensive guru. Since his time in Oregon he has basically become an afterthought.
In his post JD brought up rushing stats and posted one game where Henderson rushed for like 134 yards and had 2 td’s. We can all bring up one game where someone shows out but let’s examine his performance against real defenses. Ohio State has played 3 really good defense this year. Those teams were Michigan, Penn St and Texas. Against Texas Henderson rushed for 42 yds and 0 td’s. Against Michigan he rushed for 21 yds and against Penn St he rushed for 54 yds. Right now Notre Dame is allowing only 65 rush yds per game and their scoring defense has them allowing 14 points per game. It is easy to say how great their offense is but when they have played great defenses that offense was not nearly as efficient.
His next point was Jeremiah Smith. I will admit that Jermiah Smith is a stud and is going to be an elite wr. However, not in this game. In those same 3 games that we discussed Jeremiah Smith only had 4 combined in all 3 games. Marcus Freeman is a defensive mastermind and will put together a package to keep him in check again. One of the biggest things is that a Marcus Freeman team win the turnover battle and Will Howard has thrown for 10 int’s this season. In a game like this the team that wins the turnover battle will win and this is where Notre Dame specializes.Xavier Watts is an All American safety and Adon Shuler is a rising star at the other safety. Both of these guys can handle that potent Ohio State offense.
Notre Dame will literally control the clock with their rushing attack. Love rushed for over 1,000 yds and Leonard himself has 800 yds. So, he can manage the game well and keep that offense off the field. If Ohio State doesn’t have the ball then they cannot win. Finally, Mitch Jeter is money at kicker. In a game this close special teams is key and Mitch Jeter has no fear. Since his injury he has not missed a fg including a game winner against Penn St. If it comes down to it then I will have faith in Notre Dame’s kicking game to kick that game winner.
In closing, while JD tried to give you smoke and mirrors to tell you how great Ohio State is I am in here to give you the facts. The facts are that Ryan day struggles in these games and this one will be no different. If you want to beleive in the Ohio State hype then that is great but when you examine this team then they are not matched up well against Notre Dame. Irish will win by 3.
Please take the time to follow me on X @MarkLiving407007 and please subscribe to JD’s show Southern Fried Sports where we have a lot of fun discussing sports and having fun banter.
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