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00:00We are now less than a week away. Six days out from a
00:03college football playoff national championship game in
00:07Atlanta. Inside Mercedes Benz Stadium between two powerhouse
00:11programs in the sport. Two standard bearers of success in
00:16college football and two historic universities. Ohio
00:20State and Notre Dame. The Buckeyes, an eight and a half
00:23point favorite against the Fighting Irish. A total of
00:26forty-five and a hook. Joe, a projected hypothetical national
00:30championship matchup between Ohio State and Notre Dame
00:33featured a nine and a half point spread. After the
00:36Buckeyes beat Texas in the Cotton Bowl and Notre Dame had
00:40dispatched of Penn State in the Orange Bowl on Thursday and
00:44Friday night. The actual line opened up at nine and a half.
00:47It has worked back to the Fighting Irish ever so
00:50slightly but still north of a touchdown. In your estimation,
00:55Germonary, for Monday's national championship game
00:58between the Irish and the Buckeyes, will the game be
01:02more competitive than this large eight and a half point
01:05spread might indicate? Uh no, I don't uh I I think here Ben
01:12that if it's gonna be competitive, it's gonna be
01:16because Ohio State has reverted back and shoots itself in the
01:20foot uh to give Notre Dame an opportunity uh in this game but
01:25if the Ohio State that is uh we have seen in the playoffs over
01:30these last three or four games shows up uh then I don't see
01:33how that I think this game has all the makings of a absolute
01:39train wreck here. Uh not that Notre Dame doesn't deserve to
01:43be here but I just don't believe that Notre Dame is
01:47going to be great playing from behind. Uh I think if Ohio
01:51State plays error-free football, does not uh shoot
01:55themselves in the foot. I think that there might very well be a
01:59laddering situation available to people uh lay the seven, lay
02:04the eight, lay the nine, lay the ten. It could be absolute
02:08two touchdowns or more when it's all said and done and Ohio
02:11State wins. Yeah, listen, that's what we are expecting
02:15from the odds perspective. Ohio State and its three college
02:18football playoff games is nearly outscoring opponents by
02:22sixty total points. One eleven two fifty-two. You divide that
02:27by three. You do the quick math. That's an average margin of
02:30victory for the Buckeyes of nineteen point seven points per
02:34game. They have won each of their three in the CFP by now
02:39two touchdowns but Notre Dame also has been pretty darn good.
02:44They closed as a slight underdog against Penn State in
02:47the Orange Bowl. They won that game outright. In fact, under
02:50Marcus Freeman, seven times now, the Irish as an underdog,
02:55five, one, and one against the spread with four outright
03:00victories including two games they played against Ohio State
03:04in which they were a dog both in early 2022 and last year in
03:092023. Notre Dame understands the opponent on the other side.
03:14In fact, it's their head coach's alma mater and where he
03:17played his college football as well for Marcus Freeman. Joe,
03:21let's talk about that total. Forty-five and a hook. It
03:24matches the lowest number we have seen for any over under
03:28throughout the college football playoff. In fact, the last
03:32three games that Notre Dame has played including this one.
03:35Sugar Bowl against Georgia against Penn State in the
03:38Orange Bowl. First game against the Dogs Under. Second game
03:42because of a thirty-one point fourth quarter in Miami last
03:45week did go over. If the total is correct, if it's around that
03:51number, maybe a few points under, perhaps even just a few
03:55points over. How difficult is it then for Ohio State to cover
04:00as an eight and a half point favorite? Well, it's if you
04:06like Notre Dame, then you like the under in this game because
04:10I don't see a game script that can unfold that sees Notre
04:15Dame winning this game in some sort of shootout. Then they
04:19just do not and are not built to go toe to toe in that kind
04:24of game, but we have seen teams against this Ohio State
04:28defense that were built and did have the weapons on the
04:32outside to stretch the field and had the passing game and
04:36you know how that worked out for him yet. Not well, Oregon,
04:39not well, Texas, not well, Indiana. I mean you can go down
04:43the list here. Notre Dame's defense is going to have to
04:48turn over Will Howard and Ohio State and keep this game under
04:53forty-five and a half. If you like Ohio State to win this
04:57game and cover well, then there's one obvious way Ben
05:01that I think you have to look. I would avoid the forty-five and
05:04a half in case of like a late empty netter that could very
05:08well happen and push this thing over. I would then look at the
05:11Ohio State team total and look to back that over in this game
05:16and just tracking down that number quickly here for Ohio
05:19State's team total for a national championship. It is
05:23twenty-seven and a half a slight bit more juice on the
05:26under, but that's expecting around four touchdowns scored
05:30by Ryan Day's Ohio State team. It did score twenty-eight
05:34courtesy of the Jack Sawyer. 83 yard fumble return touchdown,
05:38of course in the cotton ball against Texas to elite defenses
05:42two of the three best scoring defenses throughout the entirety
05:46of this season as they have both put on display throughout
05:50the college football playoff. The Buckeyes as we have seen the
05:53best red zone defense in the country in Notre Dame has been
05:57pretty good as well defending the entirety of the field.
06:01Thirty-two takeaways for the Irish this year. That's the most
06:05at the FPS level 151 points off those thirty-two turnovers
06:10that again the most at the FPS level to critical throughout
06:14the college football playoff. The strip sack of Gunner
06:17Stockton that led to a touchdown just one play later
06:20for Notre Dame at the end of the opening half in New Orleans
06:23and of course the interception of Drew Aller with just over
06:26thirty ticks remaining in regulation that set up Mitch
06:29Jeter for the national championship clinching field
06:33goal for the Irish a great great match up in my estimation
06:38in Atlanta. I do believe it'll be slightly more competitive
06:43than that eight and a half point spread. Ultimately, I
06:46believe the Buckeyes do win a national championship. Joe, I
06:50bet Ohio State to win the national title back on October
06:53sixth in the week leading up to the Oregon game. So I've got
06:57them in a plus 290 price. Of course, they are a hefty
07:00favorite now to get that done four to one before this year
07:03got underway. I bet Notre Dame that plus 550 is the college
07:07football playoff bracket was unveiled. You see the 18 to one
07:11number on the Irish before the season got started again. I
07:15feel pretty good entering Monday night in the end.