It all comes down to this. The College Football Playoff championship game will match Ohio State and Notre Dame on Monday in Atlanta. The expansion of the field to 12 teams has been an unqualified success in producing a national champion.
The path for both teams to reach the final has been different. The Buckeyes rolled through Tennessee and Oregon before getting pushed by Texas in the semifinals. The Fighting Irish handled Indiana and then fought through tough games against Georgia and Penn State.
There are some intriguing storylines for the game. Both proud programs have had long waits to win a national title. It was 1988 for Notre Dame and 2012 for Ohio State. Two of the younger coaches in the Bowl Subdivision – Marcus Freeman and Ryan Day – will be facing off, and one will become just the third active coach to have a championship on their resume. It’s also the second consecutive year an SEC team will not be in the final game, showing the recent strength of teams from the North.
Who will emerge victorious Monday? Dan Wolken and Paul Myerberg offer their predictions and discuss the coaching futures of Deion Sanders at Colorado and Bill Belichick at North Carolina in this week’s version of the College Football Fix.
NO FLUKE: Why Ohio State or Notre Dame will be most deserving champion
LOOKING BACK: How our too-early Top 25 from last season panned out
VALIDATION: Ohio State, Notre Dame show benefit of playoff expansion