Notre Dame football has had a dominant 2024-2025 season after their embarrassing loss to Northern Illinois, as they have won nine straight wins over ranked opponents, which is the longest streak in FBS, and have won 13 straight total wins, which is also the longest active streak in FBS.
In ND’s win streak they have outscored their opponents by a combined score of 518-185, and have won eight of their last 9 games by double digits, which is the longest streak in program history since 1949, when Frank Leahy won his fourth National championship title.
The Irish have been battle tested all season long, but will have their toughest challenge yet, as the Irish and the Buckeye’s will face off at 6:30 p.m. local time at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga on ESPN.
Here are five stats that proves Notre Dame will be crowned champions for first time in over three decades.
Notre Dame football’s insanely stingy scoring defense
ND has held their opponents to 25 points or less every single game this season, except one vs USC. Going back to last year, the Irish have given up 25 points or more only three times in the last 28 games. A huge key to this game is for Notre Dame to keep this game in the teens or low 20’s and this stat favors Notre Dame tremendously.
The Irish rank second in FBS in man coverage in the 2024 season, as ND runs man coverage near 57% of the time, which is just one of four teams to run man coverage higher than 50% this season. Al Golden and his defense ranks first in team passing efficiency at 99.5 and allows just 165.2 passing yards per game, which is second best in the nation and gives up only 14.3 points per game which is second best in FBS.
The Irish are led by Xavier Watts, Leonard Moore and Christian Gray as each have at least eight pass deflections this 2024 season. This secondary allows just a mere 51% pass completion against them which leads the nation. Against Penn State Notre Dame didn’t allow a wide receiver to catch the ball once.
When a wide receiver is targeted, Notre Dame has third best coverage grade according to PFF College Football in the Power four with a 90.3 mark.
The middle eight run
In a recent study from 2019, Sport Source analytics calculated that in the previous five years teams that won the middle eight minutes of the game won 74% of the time, and in the power 5 conferences an even more impressive 76% of the time.
The Fighting Irish are currently on a 27-0 run in the middle eight period of the game and the run is one of the main x-factors why this Irish team is in the National Championship. The Irish rank second with 11 points per game in the middle eight period in the CFP and rank third in opponents points per game and are tied for first with takeaways in this period of the game.
Throughout the whole season Notre Dame has dominated this time period, as have outscored their opponents 148-17 in the middle eight portion of the game.
Irish points off turnover lead FBS
Notre Dame defense has been one of the best in the nation this year as they are gritty and violent. They are led by First-Team All-American, Xavier Watts, who has intercepted 13 passes since the 2023 season, the most among FBS Defensive Players. The Irish have forced a total of 32 turnovers this year and have only given up the ball 15 times, as they have the third best turnover ratio in FBS. Notre Dame football has capitalized as they have scored 151 points off turnovers, which is the most points off turnovers in FBS by 45 points.
Irish recent dominance of the Big Ten
Notre Dame is 4-0 against the Big 10 this season as they have beaten Purdue, USC and Indiana and Penn State. Notre Dame dominated Purdue 66-7, defeated USC 49-35 and were even up 21 late, Indiana 27-17 in the first round of CFP and defeated Big 10 runner ups in Penn State, 27-24 in CFP semifinals.
Their perfection and four wins over the Big 10 this season are the most wins against the Big 10 by a team outside of the conference since Notre Dame back in1993. Irish look to etch their names in the history books once more this season, as no team outside the conference has ever won 5 games against the Big 10 in one year in the AP Poll era since 1936. Perhaps, all of that will help stop the recent slide against the Buckeyes.
Game changing sequences fuels Irish playoff run
A big part of Notre Dame football all season is playing with momentum. In every game of this  wild playoff run, the Irish have had a game changing sequence that led to Notre Dame to advance to the next round.
In round one against Indiana, Xavier Watts picked off Courtis Rourke in the redzone and next play Jeremiyah Love runs for a 98 yard touchdown, which is the longest rushing touchdown in College Football playoff history. Explosive runs is key to beat Ohio State, as Ohio State has only given up 100 yards to a running back twice this season, which came in their only two losses this season.
Against Georgia, blue and gold scored 17 points in 54 seconds of gametime. Mitch Jeter drilled his second field goal of the game at 48 yards with 39 seconds left in the first half to give ND a 6-3 lead. Georgia got the ball back but defensive linemen, Junior Tuihalamaka, strip sacked Stockton and led to an Irish Beaux Collins 13 yard touchdown. Irish scored 10 points in 11 seconds to conclude the half. ND would receive the ball to start the second half and Jayden Harrison returned a 98 yard kick for a touchdown and made Notre Dame go up 20-3.
Against Penn State Christian Gray secured an interception with 39 seconds which then led to the Mitch Jeter game winning field goal with 8 seconds remaining. So, this Notre Dame team can do things quickly and can flip the momentum and take advantage of opponent’s mistakes.
Irish and Buckeye’s have had some beef in past years, but Notre Dame football has the culture to get the job done. Notre Dame looks for their first championship in 36 years and to wake up the echoes and etch their name in the history books.
