NCAA
Goodbye to the college football bowl season: when is the 2024-25 National Championship Game?
The NCAA college football bowl season is approaching its climax, as Ohio State and Notre Dame prepare to do battle for the national championship.
After last week’s College Football Playoff semi-finals saw the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish set up a title decider in Georgia, football fans are now counting down to the climax to the bowl season.
All that remains on the 2024-25 college football schedule is the National Championship Game, which takes place in six days’ time.
When and where is the 2024-25 National Championship Game?
The 13-2 Buckeyes and the 14-1 Fighting Irish face off for the US championship on Monday, January 20, 2025. The title game, which will be the 11th of the CFP era, is to be played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT.
How can I watch Ohio State vs Notre Dame?
Viewers in the United States will be able to watch Ohio State vs Notre Dame on ESPN. If you’re tuning in from America, your streaming options include fubo, which offers new users a free introductory trial.
Ohio State vs Notre Dame: National Championship Game preview, head-to-head stats
After beating the Texas Longhorns 28-14 in the semi-finals on January 10, Ohio State is in the National Championship Game for the third time since the CFP format was introduced in 2014-15.
The Buckeyes lifted their last title with a 42-20 victory over the Oregon Ducks 10 years ago, but were beaten in their most recent appearance in the trophy decider: a 52-24 defeat to the Alabama Crimson Tide in 2020-21.
Notre Dame, meanwhile, is in the National Championship Game for the first time in the CFP era, after edging out the Penn State Nittany Lions 27-24 in the semi-finals. The Fighting Irish’s last national title came back in 1988.
Ohio State holds a convincing advantage in the head-to-head series with Notre Dame, having won each of the teams' last six meetings since 1995 to lead 6-2 overall. As is noted by CBS’s Will Backus, the Fighting Irish haven’t beaten the Buckeyes since 1936.
Ohio State vs Notre Dame: who’s favorite? National Championship Game betting odds
Having ousted No. 1 seed Oregon in the quarter-finals, and followed up that triumph with another convincing victory in the semi-finals, the Buckeyes are the bookmakers’ firm favorites for the championship.
Per DraftKings Sportsbook, Ohio State has moneyline odds of -360 to clinch the CFP crown in Atlanta. The Fighting Irish are valued at +280.
National Championship Game: What have the coaches said?
“This is going to be a complete battle, and we know that,” Ohio State boss Ryan Day told reporters on Monday, per Buckeyes Wire’s Phil Harrison.
The 45-year-old, who is in his sixth season as the Buckeyes' full-time head coach, added: “[Notre Dame] is a very, very good team - they are a very resilient team. They play together. I think [Fighting Irish quarterback] Riley Leonard is a tremendous leader and a tremendous player and a winner, and their coaching staff does a great job. [I’ve] got a lot of respect for their players and their coaches.”
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman, who is a former Ohio State player and assistant, rejected the suggestion that his team will be further fired up for Monday’s game by the opportunity to avenge last year’s regular-season defeat to the Buckeyes.
“We don’t need motivation to be prepared for this game,” Freeman said, according to the Dayton Daily News’s Marcus Hartman. “We’ve got a chance to play in the National Championship Game.
“This isn’t about the past. This is about this opportunity we have right in front of us, and we’ll continue to focus on this opportunity right in front of us.”
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