Can Notre Dame beat Ohio State? Predicting best possible result for Fighting Irish against Buckeyes

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will go head-to-head against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the national championship game on Monday. According to ESPN Bet, Ryan Day's Buckeyes are 8.5-point favorites for the clash. Wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and quarterback Will Howard spearhead their rampant offense.

Can Notre Dame beat Ohio State?

In many quarters, the Ohio State Buckeyes are overwhelming favorites, but can the Notre Dame Fighting Irish cause an upset?

The Buckeyes' most potent weapon in offense, wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, was kept quiet by the Texas Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl. He was limited to one reception, resulting in three yards.

The Fighting Irish have one of the best safeties in college football, consensus All-American Xavier Watts. He could be a safety net for the Fighting Irish in the game against the talents of running backs Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson.

The Longhorns used a two-high safety in 56% of the snaps while utilizing zone defense in the rest, giving coach Marcus Freeman a blueprint to slow down Smith. This would give his team a fighting chance to win the game, as evidenced by the Longhorns only losing in the last minutes of the fourth quarter.

According to ESPN, Freeman's team played the most man-to-man coverage in the FBS, with man coverage on 57% of dropbacks vis-a-vis 25% of Ryan Day's team.

Mike Mickens, Notre Dame's defensive pass-game coordinator, backed cornerback Leonard Moore's announcement that the Fighting Irish would play man coverage against the Buckeyes.

“Our system is our system," Mickens said on Saturday. "That’s just what we do. We play it to our scheme. That’s what we have to do. That’s how it’s been all year. That’s just one of the things we do. We prepare and we get ready to compete. They’re a great team with great receivers, but we have to go for a challenge.”

Freeman's team leads the FBS in defensive pass efficiency this season, and cornerback Christian Grey's interception in the Orange Bowl was their 19th and 35th in the past 28 games.

Should the Fighting Irish execute their man coverage as well as the statistics predict, they could be celebrating a sensational national championship win that looked unlikely after losing to Northern Illinois in Week 2.

Marcus Freeman's team will open the national championship game as overwhelming underdogs. However, the Fighting Irish beat the odds before when they upset the Georgia Bulldogs 23-10 in the Sugar Bowl two weeks ago.