ATLANTA— As the teams got closer to Monday night’s College Football Playoff national title game, Ohio State and Notre Dame arrived in Atlanta on charter planes on Friday.
The Fighting Irish may have an edge, but the Buckeyes are the clear favorites. This season, coach Marcus Freeman’s squad has already played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium and Atlanta.
On October 19, the Fighting Irish defeated Georgia Tech 31–13, with quarterback Riley Leonard scoring two touchdowns in a game that bolstered Notre Dame’s playoff aspirations.
Does Notre Dame have an advantage because of its familiarity with the stadium?
We hope so,” Freeman said at the Atlanta airport. “Now we are on the other side of the field and in a different locker room, but we have played here. We know what it’s like. Each team will have two opportunities to go into the stadium and practice so by the time Monday gets here I think both teams will be comfortable with the environment.”
According to BetMGM Sportsbook, the Buckeyes were 9.5-point favorites at the start.
Atlanta is known as the “Capital of College Football” and is home to the College Football Hall of Fame. The Peach Bowl, the SEC championship game, and other high-profile events like the Chick-fil-A Kickoff game are held in the city.
Athens and the University of Georgia, which took home the national titles in 2021 and 2022, are both within a short drive of Atlanta. Notre Dame also traveled from the Midwest, and Ohio State might give the Big Ten its second consecutive national title, casting doubt on the South’s claim to be the game’s center of power.
The Big Ten won their first football national championship since Ohio State’s 2014 victory when Michigan defeated Washington in the previous year’s championship game.
Both Ohio State (13-2) and Notre Dame (14-1) advanced to the championship game after surviving the first 12-game playoff.
Ryan Day, the coach of Ohio State, stated that he thinks his team is well-prepared for the lengthy season.
We talked about it all year,” Day said minutes after exiting the plane. “I think we are. Our energy actually picked up week in and week out. I feel the momentum. You know, when you have momentum, you’ve got to keep it. I feel like we’ve continued to get stronger as the season’s gone on.
“We’ve had a plan on how we are going to do that. And so now again, we have to be at our best. The whole plan has been to get to this point right now. And so we have got more days to get prepared to go do it. “
Freeman said the playoff timetable included “a lot of meaningful games.”
“You don’t play in the national championship every week,” Freeman said. “We know that. But we’ve played in a lot of meaningful games and we understand what the expectations are. Monday will be different. We know the excitement and the lights will be brighter.”
