Back ND To Advance To National Championship

Notre Dame vs. Penn State, 7:30 ET

Notre Dame vs. Penn State, 7:30 ET

For the most part this has been a pretty successful college football season for me. Unfortunately, the most recent plays, basically anything involving the college football playoff quarterfinals was a bust. I don’t know if I read them wrong, or the power ratings I have for each team are off, or what exactly caused me to fail, but I did. What I will say is that I’m not just going to stop writing about them. The books have some of my money and I want it back, so let’s get it back, together, as we put a play on Notre Dame vs. Penn State. 

Notre Dame is probably the more surprising team to still be alive in my opinion. It wasn’t a shock that they beat Indiana – I had that one correct – but it was an eye opener to see them take down Georgia with such ease last week. Again, maybe that shouldn’t have been that big of a deal considering Georgia didn’t have their starting quarterback. I have to imagine it is at least a little bit different of a game. Still, the Fighting Irish went in and took care of business. That’s about all you can ask a college team to do. I’m a Notre Dame hater, I fully admit to it, but they’ve had a really impressive season outside of their loss to Northern Illinois in the second game of the year. I don’t know that I would call their schedule the most difficult in the world, having played Texas A&M, Louisville, Navy, and Army as their only ranked opponents for the year, but they also had to beat USC in California, and Georgia Tech on a neutral field, so it isn’t like they had a ton of cupcakes either. In this one, Notre Dame will need to establish their running game once again – that seems to be what the team relies on anyway, so I can’t imagine they are going to have a different game plan. Penn State does have the defensive front that could stop the Irish, but the capability and reality are not always the same thing. 

Dec 21, 2024; University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Drew Allar (15) throws a pass during the first quarter against the Southern Methodist Mustangs in the first round of the College Football Playoff at Beaver Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O’Haren-Imagn Images

Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Penn State win this game, and potentially win the National Championship. However, I do think this is going to be a big challenge for them. When a team is relentlessly running the ball against you, your entire team gets worn down. There is the battle in the trenches, then there is the linebacker unit that has to help tackle, and even the cornerbacks and safeties have to come in and add protection which can lead to opportunities to be beat on the pass. Penn State has been able to coast in both of their first two playoff games. They cruised past SMU, winning by 28. Then last week, against Boise State, they took an early 14-point lead and never looked back. They played the best running back in the country and held him to just 104 yards last week. The defense for Penn State did what they needed two, and Boise State’s offense couldn’t do much to stop what the Nittany Lions wanted on offense. 

Once again, I’m not sure that I want to count on Notre Dame quarterback, Riley Leonard, to get the throws accomplished when needed. Though, to be fair, I don’t think Drew Allar is in a different tier than Leonard. These are really evenly matched teams, but I think Notre Dame has played better and a more complete game for a longer stretch. They seem completely locked in with each aspect of the game. I’m going to take Notre Dame at -130 to win the game. I do think the -2 is a safe bet, but I’d rather pay the little extra for just an outright win. 

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