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Comparing Ohio State vs. Notre Dame at Every Position

Published

11 months ago

January 19, 2025

Comparing Ohio State vs. Notre Dame at Every Position

Ohio State is one game away from proving it’s the best team in college football this year, but it has to beat one more elite opponent first.

While the overall talent gap between Ohio State and Notre Dame might be a little bigger than it was between the Buckeyes and their last two opponents – Texas and Oregon – that’s not to say the Fighting Irish don’t have plenty of great players who are capable of challenging the Buckeyes. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be in the national championship game having won their last 13 games in a row.

Given that, Ryan Day has repeatedly emphasized in the days leading up to the national championship game that Ohio State needs to play its best game of the season to hoist the trophy on Monday night.

“We know we have a great challenge ahead of us. Notre Dame’s a very, very good team and very disciplined, a lot of good players, very well-coached, as you know. Certainly complementary in all three phases, put pressure on you,” Day said Friday. “So we know we have to be at our best, and that’s the goal in this game is to play our best game of the season. I still don’t think we’ve done that, and that’s the goal.”

With that in mind, we take a look at how the two teams that will meet in Monday night’s national championship game compare at every position group – with an assessment of which team is stronger at each position entering the national title game – and put together what a composite starting lineup could look like if both rosters were combined.

Quarterback

There are several similarities between the two quarterbacks facing off in the national championship game. Will Howard and Riley Leonard each drew interest from both Ohio State and Notre Dame when they entered the transfer portal last offseason, and both seniors have drawn considerable praise for the leadership and competitiveness they’ve brought to their respective teams in the buildup to the national title game.

That said, Howard has been the considerably more consistent passer between the two this season, completing 72.6% of his passing attempts for 3,779 yards (9.4 yards per attempt) and 33 touchdowns with 10 interceptions compared to a 66.4% completion percentage with 2,606 yards (seven yards per attempt), 19 touchdowns and eight interceptions for Leonard. The Notre Dame quarterback has done more damage as a runner, gaining 866 yards and 16 touchdowns on 167 carries compared to 169 yards and seven touchdowns on 89 carries for Howard, but Howard has still been a capable dual-threat when the Buckeyes have needed him to be.

Advantage: Ohio State

Running Back

Both Ohio State and Notre Dame have elite tandems at running back. Ohio State’s TreVeyon Henderson and Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love are two of the most explosive ballcarriers in the country, while OSU’s Quinshon Judkins and ND’s Jadarian Price have been highly productive complements to Henderson and Love.

Cumulatively, Henderson and Judkins have combined for 1,927 yards and 22 touchdowns on 315 carries (6.1 yards per carry) while Love and Price have totaled 1,855 yards and 24 touchdowns on 276 carries (6.7 yards per carry). Love has battled through a knee injury in Notre Dame’s last two games, but has been the most productive RB between the two teams for the season as a whole, and Notre Dame also has strong depth with freshman Aneyas Williams, who caught five passes for 66 yards in the Fighting Irish’s CFP semifinal win over Penn State.

Assuming Love will be fully healthy after practicing without a knee brace this week, the slight edge goes to the Fighting Irish at running back with how efficient and productive their running backs have been.

Advantage: Notre Dame

Wide Receivers

There’s no more lopsided edge for either team when comparing the position groups in this game than Ohio State has at wide receiver.

Carnell Tate has been Ohio State’s third-most productive receiver this season (50 catches for 698 yards and four touchdowns), yet he has 13 more catches, 234 more yards and one more touchdowns than Notre Dame’s leading wide receiver in each category. The Fighting Irish don’t have any downfield weapons who can come close to comparing to Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Egbuka, and that gap is one of the biggest reasons why Ohio State is favored to win this game.

Advantage: Ohio State

Tight End

While tight end has been an advantage position for the opponent in most of Ohio State’s matchup games this season, the argument could be made in the Buckeyes’ favor for this game. Gee Scott Jr. and Will Kacmarek have been playing their best football of the season in the CFP, and Notre Dame’s Mitchell Evans – who looked like a budding star when he caught seven passes for 75 yards against Ohio State last season – hasn’t had overwhelming production this year.

The Fighting Irish’s tight end depth has also been thinned as their best blocking tight end, Cooper Flanagan, suffered a season-ending injury in Notre Dame’s Sugar Bowl win over Georgia. Evans is still the top receiving tight end in this game (39 catches for 369 yards and three touchdowns) and Eli Raridon is a solid backup for the Fighting Irish, but the gap here isn’t as big as Notre Dame might have hoped it would be.

Advantage: Notre Dame

Offensive Line

Both Ohio State and Notre Dame have been snakebitten by injuries along the offensive line this season, and the left tackle position is a particular position of concern for the Fighting Irish after Anthonie Knapp went down with a season-ending injury against Penn State. They’ll now be counting on Charles Jagusah – who was expected to be their starting left tackle entering the season but had missed the entire season due to injury before filling in at right guard in the Orange Bowl – to play the premier position on the offensive line in just his second career start.

Assuming Rocco Spindler is able to return to action after leaving the Orange Bowl with an injury of his own, Notre Dame still has one of the nation’s best interior offensive lines along with a strong right tackle in Aamil Wagner. The Fighting Irish’s strength at those positions gives Notre Dame the edge when comparing the two teams’ offensive lines as a whole, but that edge is contingent on Jagusah being the player Notre Dame thought he could be entering the season, along with Spindler’s health.

Advantage: Notre Dame

Defensive End

Like wide receiver, this is another position where Ohio State has a massive advantage. While Notre Dame has lost two of its best edge rushers, Jordan Botelho and Boubacar Traore, to injuries suffered in the regular season, Ohio State’s defensive end tandem of Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau has been dominant in the CFP.

In three CFP games alone, Tuimoloau and Sawyer have combined for 10 sacks. Notre Dame’s available edge rushers have combined for seven sacks for the entire season. That’s not to say the Fighting Irish can’t still generate pressure off the edge, but they don’t have anyone who can take over a game like Sawyer or Tuimoloau.

Advantage: Ohio State

JT Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer have combined for more sacks in the CFP than Notre Dame’s uninjured edge rushers have had all season. (Photo: Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

Defensive Tackle

This is another position where injury has changed the equation for Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish’s best defensive lineman, Rylie Mills, suffered a season-ending injury in their first-round playoff win over Indiana.

Notre Dame still has one excellent defensive tackle in Howard Cross III, and Gabriel Rubio has stepped up well in Mills’ absence. With Mills on the sideline, however, Ohio State might have the two best defensive tackles in the national championship game in Tyleik Williams and Ty Hamilton, with Williams being the biggest game-wrecker on the interior defensive line for either team.

Advantage: Ohio State

Linebacker

Both teams feature an excellent veteran leader at linebacker with Cody Simon leading the way from the Mike linebacker spot for the Buckeyes and Jack Kiser doing the same from the Will linebacker position for Notre Dame.

Simon and Sonny Styles have been the most productive linebackers between the two teams this season; Simon has recorded 104 tackles with 11.5 tackles for loss, seven sacks and seven pass breakups while Styles has recorded 94 tackles with 9.5 tackles for loss, five sacks and five pass breakups. Notre Dame has a deeper rotation at linebacker, however, with four linebackers who have each recorded at least 50 tackles and four tackles for loss this season.

This is the tightest comparison of any position on defense, with Simon and Kiser being the two best all-around linebackers between the two teams, but I’m giving the slim advantage to Ohio State based on how impactful Simon has been this year.

Advantage: Ohio State

Cornerback

This is another position where Notre Dame suffered a major injury loss as Benjamin Morrison, an All-American candidate at cornerback, went down with a hip injury in the middle of the regular season. Despite that loss, the cornerback position has continued to be a strength for the Fighting Irish with Leonard Moore earning FWAA Defensive Freshman of the Year honors and Christian Gray giving Notre Dame another difference-maker on the outside of its secondary. Jordan Clark, the son of former NFL safety Ryan Clark, has also been an active playmaker for Notre Dame at nickelback.

The cornerback position certainly isn’t a weakness for Ohio State either as Denzel Burke, Davison Igbinosun and Jordan Hancock have led the way for OSU to lead the nation in passing yards allowed per game. But with Burke coming off an injury that sidelined him for the second half of the Cotton Bowl and penalties being a recurring issue for Igbinosun this season, cornerback is a slightly greater position of strength for the Fighting Irish.

Advantage: Notre Dame

Safety

National championship game viewers will be treated to watching the two best safeties in college football, Ohio State’s Caleb Downs and Notre Dame’s Xavier Watts. Both of them lead their respective defenses from the free safety spot, with Downs moving all over the field to make plays while Watts – who’s tied for second nationally with six interceptions this season – is the linchpin of Notre Dame’s Cover 1 defense.

Both teams have impactful strong safeties, too, with Lathan Ransom joining Downs to form an elite tandem over the middle for the Buckeyes while Adon Shuler has had an excellent redshirt freshman season for Notre Dame. Both teams’ safety tandems make it tough to throw the ball over the middle of the field, but there’s no better pair of safeties against the run in college football than Downs and Ransom, which gives Ohio State the overall advantage here.

Advantage: Ohio State

Projected Composite Lineup

Pos	Player	Team
OFFENSE
QB	WILL HOWARD	OHIO STATE
RB	JEREMIYAH LOVE	NOTRE DAME
WR	JEREMIAH SMITH	OHIO STATE
WR	EMEKA EGBUKA	OHIO STATE
WR	CARNELL TATE	OHIO STATE
TE	MITCHELL EVANS	NOTRE DAME
LT	DONOVAN JACKSON	OHIO STATE
LG	BILLY SCHRAUTH	NOTRE DAME
C	PAT COOGAN	NOTRE DAME
RG	ROCCO SPINDLER	NOTRE DAME
RT	AAMIL WAGNER	NOTRE DAME
DEFENSE
DE	JACK SAWYER	OHIO STATE
DE	JT TUIMOLOAU	OHIO STATE
DT	TYLEIK WILLIAMS	OHIO STATE
DT	HOWARD CROSS III	NOTRE DAME
LB	JACK KISER	NOTRE DAME
LB	CODY SIMON	OHIO STATE
CB	LEONARD MOORE	NOTRE DAME
CB	DENZEL BURKE	OHIO STATE
NB	JORDAN HANCOCK	OHIO STATE
FS	XAVIER WATTS	NOTRE DAME
SS	CALEB DOWNS	OHIO STATE

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4-star 2026 recruit released from agreement with Tennessee, set to sign with Ohio State football

Published

8 hours ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

4-star 2026 recruit released from agreement with Tennessee, set to sign with Ohio State football

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Four-star 2026 recruit Legend Bey has been released from signing with Tennessee and quickly flipped his decision to Ohio State.

As reported by Rivals on Tuesday, Bey no longer was a member of Tennessee’s program by the evening and quickly joined the Buckeyes’ 2026 class. He is free to play immediately in Columbus.

Bey committed to Tennessee before his senior year began, but flipped his decision to Ohio State in November, after he took an official visit. He then flipped his decision back to Tennessee on Wednesday, Dec. 3, on National Signing Day, in a dramatic flip that seemingly came out of nowhere.

Reports then surfaced that his mother, and other family members, influenced Bey’s decision to attend Tennessee.

Bey posted on X (formerly Twitter) a statement that was quickly deleted a day after signing with the Volunteers. His post read: “Good Afternoon, I was just recently logged out of my IG and probably will be logged out of this account as well by my older brother who has access to my account because I won’t sign to the school him and my mother wants – Legend Bey”

A week later, he posted pictures of himself on Instagram with the caption, “Imma do my own thing.”

Now, Bey is a member of Ohio State’s class.

From North Forney High School in Texas, he’s the No. 175 overall prospect and No. 9 athlete in the 247Sports composite rankings. He’ll come to Columbus with the positional versatility to be used in a hybrid running back/receiver role, as former Buckeye Curtis Samuel was, and should be an immediate contributor on special teams.

Bey is Ohio State’s 28th member of the 2026 recruiting class. Barring any more surprises, he should be the last addition.

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Ohio’s secretary of state shows “cognitive dissonance” on election integrity – again

Published

20 hours ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

Ohio’s secretary of state shows “cognitive dissonance” on election integrity – again

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose is once again demonstrating that he operates not based on principles but on his loyalty to President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, say the hosts of the Today in Ohio podcast.

Tuesday’s episode took aim at LaRose’s recent announcement that Ohio is joining the EleXa Network, a system where states share voter data to combat fraud—nearly identical to the ERIC (Electronic Registration Information Center) system LaRose abandoned after MAGA criticism.

“This was the case that — for anybody that wanted to see it — showed just how lily-livered LaRose is, that he doesn’t stand for anything,” said Chris Quinn. He noted how LaRose was full-throated in supporting ERIC “until all of a sudden ‚the MAGA folks said it’s bad. And then like you said, hot potatoes.”

Lisa Garvin explained that LaRose had previously championed ERIC as an essential tool for maintaining accurate voter rolls and preventing fraud. However, when conservative media outlets began claiming the system favored Democrats and undermined election integrity, LaRose abandoned it—only to now join a nearly identical system with a different name.

Quinn didn’t hesitate to predict LaRose’s future behavior: “And watch, if MAGA comes out and says, ‘Oh, we hate this system,’ he’ll immediately turn tail again. And it shows you everything. He doesn’t stand for anything except supporting MAGA and the Republicans.”

Garvin said LaRose’s decisions are part of his pattern on election integrity.

“He’s always trumpeted the integrity of Ohio’s election system. And then he turns around and said, ‘well, there’s fraud everywhere.’” She said. “This is like cognitive dissonance?”

Both Eric and EleXa allow states to share information on people who may be registered in multiple states or who have died, helping to keep voter rolls accurate and prevent people from voting twice. Ohio is joining with nine neighboring states, including Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

Of course, as podcast hosts noted, voter fraud is extremely rare.

Listen to the episode here.

Listen to full “Today in Ohio” episodes where Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with Editorial Board member Lisa Garvin, Impact Editor Leila Atassi and Content Director Laura Johnston.

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Leaders from dozens of states in Ohio to fight federal overreach

Published

1 day ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

Leaders from dozens of states in Ohio to fight federal overreach

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The Ohio Statehouse hosted a historic gathering of legislative leaders from across the country Monday, discussing concerns about the increasing power of the federal government.

Senate presidents and House speakers from about 40 states met in the chambers of the Ohio House of Representatives, unanimously adopting a nonbinding declaration for the restoration of federalism and state empowerment.

“The states are not instrumentalities of the federal government; the states created the federal government, the states created the constitution,” said Bryan Thomas, spokesperson for the National Conference of State Legislatures (NSCL), which organized the assembly.

In addition to the federalism declaration, the inaugural Assembly of State Legislative Leaders unanimously adopted rules and frameworks for future assemblies. These rules were submitted by a bipartisan steering committee made up of five Democrats and five Republicans. Likewise, the Assembly’s proposal process requires bipartisan support in order to get a vote.

“Coming from a blue state and minority [party] in the current federal government, it’s really important for us to find partners to work with,” Hawaii Senate President Ron Kouchi (D) said. “What better partners than our fellow legislators?”

Ohio Speaker of the House Matt Huffman (R-Lima) has been working to organize an assembly of legislative leaders to reassert the tenets of federalism for years.

“What we’ve done in the last 50 years or so, I don’t think that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and John Adams would recognize,” Huffman said. “There are some things that the states do better and some things that constitutionally the states are required to do.”

According to Thomas, there are several specific issues where many states feel their power has been usurped by the federal government—particularly with regard to Medicaid policy.

“With changes to Medicaid coming down the pipe from Congress, what is the state role?” Thomas said. “What flexibility can states have in administering this program?”

“Medicaid is the Pac-Man of the state budget. It is costing the state more and more money each year, it’s completely unsustainable,” Ohio Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) said. “It’s necessary for us to have these conversations about Medicaid because every state’s dealing with the same challenges.”

The Assembly did not end up voting on a proposed declaration regarding Medicaid, which would have urged Congress to “avoid unfunded mandates” and assert that states should “retain the authority to customize eligibility, benefits, and delivery systems.”

Although Thomas said planning for the Assembly has stretched between presidential administrations, President Donald Trump has made several moves during the first year of his second term to assert federal authority over the states — most recently by signing an executive order limiting states’ ability to regulate AI, and attempting to pressure the Indiana state legislature into redrawing congressional maps.

“There’s no specific action here of the current administration or the past administration that spurred this,” Thomas said. “This is more about a real grounding in principles.”

“Anybody has the ability to voice their opinion or their concerns on a variety of these issues,” McColley said of Trump’s campaign to influence the Indiana legislature. “I think the administration is free to talk about it and be involved in the process.”

It is not clear when or where the Assembly will meet next, but Kouchi suggested a meeting could be held at July’s NCSL conference in Chicago. With a framework in place, Kouchi said he hopes the next assembly will get into the “meaty issues” concerning state legislative leaders.

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