Welcome back college football fans to the FBS Championship game featuring two storied programs. Tonight at 7:30 Eastern in Atlanta, the Ohio St Buckeyes (13-2/2) take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (14-1/1) in the first 12-team playoff final.
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Ohio St brings a 9-2 record against bowl/playoff teams, and they were 5-2 vs GCR Top 25 teams. They lost at Oregon (13-1) by 1 point in the regular season but won the playoff rematch soundly 41-21. They also lost to Michigan (8-4) by 3 points. Outscoring their opponents 35.8-12.2 per game, the Buckeyes sported an Offensive Efficiency Rating (OER) of 159 (2nd in the nation) which means they scored 15.9 points for every 10.0 points their opponents normally allow. Their Defensive Efficiency Rating (DER) was 230 (1st) meaning allowed 10.0 points for every 23.0 points their opponents normally score. They did it facing the 5th most difficult schedule with their opponents (not including Notre Dame) going 126-73 (.633).
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Notre Dame brings a 10-1 record against bowl/playoff teams, and they were 5-0 vs GCR Top 25 teams. Their only loss was a 2-pt defeat in week 2 to N Illinois (8-5). Outscoring their opponents 37.0-14.3 per game, the Irish sported an OER of 157 (4th) and a DER of 196 (3rd). They did it facing the 28th most difficult schedule (not including Ohio St) going 116-81 (.589).
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They shared 2 opponents with both teams winning both. OHST beat Indiana 38-15 and Penn St 20-13, both in the regular season. ND beat Indiana 27-15 and Penn St 27-24, both in the playoffs.
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Vegas has Ohio St-8.5, and I understand why. They have been angry since the Michigan loss. The GCR, however, has the Fighting Irish winning the championship by a tiny slim margin of 50.05%. That’s 0.2 points. If this was a regular season game, I would just put “pick”, but there is no getting out of choosing a victor. The Irish end of 15-1 and take the crown.
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That’s it for today. Thank you for reading and sharing with others, G
