Buckeyes Must Match Notre Dame’s Will To Win

There is something to be said for a team that just finds ways to win.

Ohio State won a national title that way back in 2002. That team also turned out to be one of the most-talented teams of the decade, but they also had a will to win that was unmatched when the games were on the line.

This year’s Notre Dame team is now looking for one last way.

The Buckeyes and the Irish will meet in Atlanta on Monday to play in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, and they’ll do it with different expectations surrounding them.

Ohio State is favored by more than a touchdown, but Notre Dame enters this game 2-0 this season as an underdog. The Irish were three-point underdogs in their season-opening win over Texas A&M, and they were one-point underdogs in last week’s semifinal win over Penn State.

More importantly, Notre Dame is now 3-0 in playoff games this year. They hosted Indiana and came away with a 27-17 win. In the quarterfinals, they bested Georgia 23-10, and then in the semis they overcame a 10-0 deficit to beat Penn State 27-24 in the game’s final minutes.

There wasn’t much in those three games that would be considered fancy. That’s not who this Notre Dame team is, which is also what makes them exceedingly dangerous.

“Yeah. Resilient, tough, well-coached, and so that forces us to make sure we’re playing very, very efficiently across the board,” Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said on Wednesday. “We have to play a clean game. We can’t beat ourselves. We’ve got to make sure that we’re the best version of ourselves in this game. That’s it.”

Facing an offense that isn’t exactly explosive, nor above making mistakes, might seem easy for a defense, but this is not your typical offense. Notre Dame will run the ball, then run it again, then get quarterback Riley Leonard involved on third and short.

Against Penn State, that plan led to the Irish picking up all eight third downs that were three yards or under.

So how do you defeat an opponent that refuses to die and just continues to find a way?

“You’ve gotta match their physicality. You’ve gotta match their will,” said OSU linebacker Sonny Styles. “I mean, when you say they find a way, I think that has to do something with their will, and it starts with their head coach, Coach Freeman. I think he does a great job with that team. And it flows all the way down to the players.”

Leonard is the epitome of Notre Dame’s will. Just ask Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles.

“He’s a guy that he’ll scrape himself off the ground and keep playing,” Knowles said. “He’s just going to keep coming at you.”

Having now watched every Notre Dame this season, Styles has seen evidence of Leonard’s ability to fight week after week.

“I think he’s a huge part of that will to just get it done,” Styles said. “So you see a lot of times, him on fourth-and-ones, fourth-and-twos, or third-and-threes, third-and-sixes, they give him the ball. I think that’s their guy. I think he’s a great competitor. He’s a great leader. I think the offense feeds off of him.”

This Notre Dame team isn’t much for odds. They know what people are saying. They’ve heard it since their early-season loss to Northern Illinois, where they were favored by more points than in any other game this season.

Since that loss in the second week of the season, however, they have marched on. Fights don’t worry them, and they have answered every challenge.

And now they pose the greatest challenge of the season for the Buckeyes.

So how do you fight a team that enjoys the taste of its own blood?

“Be really, really aggressive,” Day said. “And make sure that we’re running the ball. On defense we’re tackling really, really well. Getting off the field on third down. Running the football and being physical and controlling the game. And when it’s time to make plays downfield, we’ve got to make them. 

“Special teams will be a challenge. They do a great job. They’re creative in what they do and you’ve seen them run fakes and different things. So we have to be on high alert for different things. They’re trying to steal a possession. So they challenge in a lot of different ways and they’re a very good team.”

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