Colin Cowherd reminds Ryan Day & Co. of the $20 million pressure ahead of their Notre Dame clash

Ryan Day and Ohio State will roll into Atlanta next Monday needing just one more win to cap a journey that at one time felt improbable. The Buckeyes will square off with Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff national title game, coming into the clash having gone through a gauntlet of Tennessee, Oregon, and Texas.

No matter the momentum or what Day and Ohio State have looked like over the past month, sports talk personality Colin Cowherd believes the burden is on the Buckeyes' shoulders.

"Just think about that national championship game," Cowherd said Friday night on "The Colin Cowherd Podcast." "The pressure is gonna be on Ohio State. They're the ones that have $20 million in NIL money, they've got 12 five-star guys — Notre Dame has one. So, Notre Dame comes in, underdog, excellent defense, great secondary, excellent coach, smart team, doesn't make a lot of mistakes." [08:47 onwards]

"They're banged up on the offensive line, but so is Ohio State. I think Ohio State should be a 7-point favorite. I think Ohio State's gonna win, but they make enough mistakes, so Notre Dame will have a fighting chance."

As of Monday, the Buckeyes are an 8.5-point favorite according to FanDuel Sportsbook. Cowherd doesn't think the game will get out of hand, though, thanks mainly to a few facets of the Fighting Irish's game.

"I think Notre Dame's defense and run game can sustain some drives," Cowherd said. "It's gonna have to be a low-scoring game, but Ohio State, they make enough mistakes. You can pressure Will Howard into mistakes. He's not exceptional. He's not a big play maker. They had some penalties tonight."

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Sizing up Ryan Day and Ohio State's title matchup

The Buckeyes had nine penalties that cost them a total of 75 yards against the Longhorns. Standout freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith was smothered by Texas' defense, which keyed in on him and allowed him just one catch for three yards.

Notre Dame will have to use a similar blueprint against a Buckeyes offense that has a wealth of weapons, including veteran wideout Emeka Egbuka and the ground pairing of TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins.

To Cowherd's point about the Fighting Irish's run game, Ryan Day and the Buckeyes haven't been generous in giving up real estate. The Longhorns managed just 58 rushing yards. Before them, the Ducks couldn't even break even on the ground, totaling negative 23 yards. You read that right. A then-undefeated team couldn't run the ball in a playoff game — at all.

The Buckeyes' fuel has been their disappointing loss to Michigan to end their regular season. Ryan Day and the Buckeyes' main goals this season were to beat the Wolverines, win a Big 10 crown, and then a national one. The latter objective is still on the table, and it's in reach.