The 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship Game is set with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish taking on the Ohio State Buckeyes. With these two college football blue bloods facing off against each other, it’s sure to be an exciting game with lots of fireworks.
It wasn’t easy for the Fighting Irish to reach this point, but here’s how Notre Dame booked its championship game berth.
How Notre Dame Made the National Championship Game
Notre Dame has always been a program that hangs around the top 10, and this year was no different. They came into the preseason ranked seventh in the country. Marcus Freeman took over the Fighting Irish in 2022 and led the team to a 9-4 and 10-3 record in his first two seasons.
Between year-on-year improvement and an expanded College Football Playoff format, expectations were high, and Notre Dame fans were hoping that they could secure a playoff berth by year’s end.
Things started according to plan, with the Irish taking down the Texas A&M Aggies in College Station to start their year 1-0. The result moved Notre Dame up to the fifth-ranked team in the following week’s AP Poll.
In Week 2, everything fell apart for the Irish. They hosted the Northern Illinois Huskies, a MAC team, at home and suffered their first loss of the year falling to 1-1 on the season.
Notre Dame Down But Not Out
Every pundit, expert, and analyst wrote Notre Dame off with some even calling for the firing of Marcus Freeman. Riley Leonard looked uncomfortable and overall played sloppy. No one even thought about the Fighting Irish as a playoff team for the next six weeks.
But slowly and surely, Notre Dame began to pick up momentum. They racked up wins over the 15th-ranked Louisville Cardinals, the 24th-ranked Navy Midshipmen, and the 19th-ranked Army Black Knights.
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In their final game of the college football regular season, the Fighting Irish made a statement with a win over the long-time rival USC Trojans, defeating them 49-35 and closing their season out on a 10-game winning streak and an 11-1 record.
The College Football Playoff Selection Committee decided to reward Notre Dame’s turnaround by giving them the seventh seed in the college football playoff. But most of the nation was still casting the Irish aside and almost no one saw them as serious title contenders.
Notre Dame’s Journey Through the College Football Playoff
Notre Dame drew the 11-1 Indiana Hoosiers as their first-round playoff matchup, and from the first snap looked like the better team. Even with a garbage time touchdown from the Hoosiers, the scoreboard still reflected the Irish’s domination as they went on to win 27-17.
Notre Dame moved on and was slated to play the Georgia Bulldogs next. A lot of people still questioned their ability to compete with some of the best teams in football, but once again, the Irish silenced the doubters with a dominating defensive showing against the Bulldogs, holding them to 10 points and winning the game 23-10.
After the Georgia game, Notre Dame moved on to the semifinals to play the Penn State Nittany Lions. The Irish had proven themselves as serious contenders at this point, but needed to get one more win to make their first title appearance since 2013.
After falling behind 10-3 by halftime, Freeman’s team came out and fought their way back into the game. They went on to win 27-24, with a last-second field goal sealing their trip to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
Most people believed Notre Dame’s season was doomed after the second game, but the Irish fought and clawed their way back into the college football playoff and found themselves on the verge of winning it all. The Fighting Irish have made it this far due to their determination and trust in one another, and they are going to do everything in their power to finish the season on top.
Head coach Freeman has done a phenomenal job this season and his players might be the most tight-knit group in the sport. With one game left and everything on the line, expect an unreal game on Monday, January 20.
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