If Ohio State beats Notre Dame and wins the national title, it'll be first time in the modern era it has done so as the preseason favorite.

Jesse Temple: Ohio State has been a juggernaut during a three-game winning streak in the Playoff, embarrassing Tennessee and Oregon. Notre Dame has won 13 straight games and put together a fantastic season. But Ohio State’s balance and overall talent should emerge. … Ohio State 24, Notre Dame 14.

Notre Dame and Ohio State rest somewhere in the middle on roster construction, leaning toward high school recruits.

Ohio State has been favored in every game throughout this postseason. The Buckeyes opened as 7.5-point favorites over Tennessee, 1.5-point favorites over Oregon and six-point favorites over Texas. That will not change for OSU in the national title game,

Ohio State is hours away from meeting Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff championship game, capping a season that just in the past eight weeks has seesawed between the depths of another loss to Michigan and the potential high of claiming the program first championship since the debut of the four-team format a decade ago.

A fter Ohio State suffered its fourth consecutive loss to Michigan, the Buckeyes faced a crossroads. In a team meeting led by head coach Ryan Day, the players and staff laid every

When Ohio State lost to Michigan on Nov. 30, it legitimately felt like the end of an era for Ryan Day. And yet, he managed to bounce back from that loss and get the Buckeyes all the way to the national championship game.