ATLANTA — Notre Dame and Ohio State have first- and second-year players they hope will make impacts when the teams meet in the College Football Playoff Championship Game on Monday.
The No. 7 seeded Fighting Irish point to cornerback Leonard Moore, named last week the defensive freshman of the year by the Football Writers Association of America, who will go against the No. 8 Buckeyes receiver Jeremiah Smith. With 71 catches for 1,227 yards and 14 touchdowns on the season, Smith was a surprising snub for the award on the offensive side.
But head coaches Marcus Freeman of Notre Dame and Ryan Day of Ohio State said on Sunday that the success of both teams is due to the veterans in the program.
Day can cite defensive ends Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau and running back TreVeyon Henderson among the dozen seniors or graduate students who opted not to enter the NFL draft for an opportunity to win a championship.
The benefits are many.
“I think just maturity, physical maturity to be able to withstand the length of the season, mental maturity to be able to wipe the slate clean on a week-to-week basis and start a new game plan,” Day said. “And then just the emotional maturity of handling the ups and downs, and certainly we know we’ve had a few of those this year, and being able to steady the boat and get back to work and learn from those and rally the troops. And I think it’s a great example for our young players.”
Freeman relies on his veteran group for leadership, a group that includes offensive lineman Pat Coogan, tight end Mitchell Evans, quarterback Riley Leonard, defensive lineman Howard Cross III and All-American safety Xavier Watts.
“I think young people want to be valued, and that’s important,” Freeman said. “So, I think you’ve also got to show them stories of examples of guys that have stayed the course and have turned into great football players.
“You look at a guy like Xavier Watts that redshirted and moved to wideout his first year and moved to DB his second year and played very little, and then his first year starting was just okay and his fourth year he wins the Bronko Nagurski award (2023 best defensive player).”
–A nod to history
That the game is on Martin Luther King Jr. Day is significant for Freeman, the first Black and Asian American to be the head coach of a team in the FBS national championship. His father is Black and his mother is Korean.
“What I don’t want to do is lump the national championship game with what Dr. King has done for our country,” he said. “January 20th, MLK Day, is about celebrating the life of Dr. King and the impact he’s made on our country. None of that light should be taken away by this national championship game.
“As far as me being the first Black or Asian head coach to be in this game, again, I am grateful. I am so grateful to help represent a lot of guys, especially our players and coaches that look like me. But I’m going to make sure the attention is turned on the team because I’m not in this position without the team and without the other coaches getting the job done.”
–Day dreaming
It’s been well documented that some Ohio State fans have been vocal in their contempt for Day after a fourth straight loss to Michigan on Nov. 30. A championship might quiet some, but not all, of his critics. The players have rallied around their coach.
“Yeah, we’d love to win this for him,” left tackle Donovan Jackson said. “He’s the ultimate competitor. He wants to win games more than anyone else in the building. The stuff he and his family has gone through is ridiculous, in our opinion.
“We understand the magnitude of the games we play, but some of the stuff he goes through, I don’t quite understand. We’re here now trying to win a game, not just for him, but for everybody related to the program in the state of Ohio.”
Wide receiver Jeremiah Smith added: “To win this national championship with Coach Day would mean a lot. You see everything he’s been through this year, people saying he should be fired, this and that. …
“I wasn’t here when he first got the head coaching job, but I know this year for sure we’ve definitely got to win this for him.”
–Fan conversion?
Evans has added reason to be excited about the game.
“Obviously, just playing a Natty itself is a pretty surreal experience,” he said. “But playing Ohio State, the state that I’m from, it’s kind of like a full-circle moment.”
He’s from Wadsworth in northeastern Ohio but he wasn’t a Buckeye fan despite his surroundings.
“Everywhere you go, you’re going to see an Ohio State flag in somebody’s front lawn. Go into restaurants, there’s memorabilia, whether it’s a jersey, shoes, you name it, something in there of Ohio State,” Evans said. “So hopefully, I’m trying to turn that tide, put some Notre Dame stuff in people’s places.
“Some people text me, say, ‘I’m rooting for you but rooting for Ohio State.’ It’s one of those type of feelings. Yeah, I’m pretty much deep in Ohio State country where I’m from.”
–Third time the charm?
Why Notre Dame will win: Freeman is in his third season as head coach of the Fighting Irish. Frank Leahy (1943), Ara Parseghian (1966), Dan Devine (1977) and Lou Holtz (1988) all won their first national championships in their third season. Also in their third year, Knute Rockne went 9-0 in 1920 and Brian Kelly was 12-1 in 2012 but lost to Alabama in the BCS title game.
Why Ohio State will win: Since losing the first two games vs. Notre Dame in 1935 and 1936, the Buckeyes have won the past six in the series (1995, 1996, 2006, 2016, 2022 and 2023), including the previous two games on a neutral field at the Fiesta Bowl in 2006 and 2016.
–Craig Merz, Field Level Media
