ATLANTA — Notre Dame spent the first quarter of Monday night’s College Football Playoff National Championship game trying to play keep-away from Ohio State, taking a seven-point lead in the process, only for the Buckeyes to make it not matter.
The Fighting Irish turned their quarterback Riley Leonard into a running back with nine runs for 34 yards, allowing them to eat at the clock and drive their way down the field. They’d thrown a quality first punch that told their opponent that they weren’t going down without a fight.
The only problem, that might’ve been their best punch, and OSU was just getting started.
Ohio State responded with a six-minute touchdown drive. Then the defense adjusted as Notre Dame spent its second drive going backward en route to a three-and-out. And the Buckeyes came back out with another six-minute drive for a touchdown.
That’s how the first half went on Monday night, and it’s been the story of the College Football Playoff. An opponent winds up for its best swing, and Ohio State chuckles at it before throwing a barrage of haymakers the opponent is helpless to do anything about.
It’s not quite time to start the party if you’re an OSU fan. Notre Dame choosing to waste so much time in the first half has allowed this game to still be within reach, at least to start the third quarter. But the writing might already be on the wall.
-The Buckeyes have been an inevitable force all postseason that everyone else needed to play perfectly against to even have a shot. Texas held on longer than anyone, and the Longhorns still walked away with a 14-point loss.
Notre Dame finds itself already looking that deficit in the face, and OSU will get the ball to start the second half.
Notre Dame put up a good fight to start the game as coach Marcus Freeman and his staff clearly had a plan for how they wanted this game to start. But it wasn’t enough.
Now it’s up to Ohio State to put the finishing touches on what could be a magical season despite so many highs and lows.
Morocco
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