What do Ohio State & Notre Dame uniforms mean? Unique designs for the 2024 national championship game explained

The Ohio State Buckeyes will face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the national championship game at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, on Monday. Coach Ryan Day's team has been the standout team in the college football playoffs. They have routed all the teams on their path to the final while the Fighting Irish have had the meanest defense.

So, which uniforms will the teams wear for the highly-anticipated clash and what do they mean?

Ohio State uniforms for national championship game

The Buckeyes will start as 8.5-point favorites for the game. They will don the throwback 'heritage stripes', which were styled as a tribute to the 1986 championship-winning team. The first time Ohio State wore the unique uniform was during the 2015 Sugar Bowl when they defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide. They also beat the Oregon Ducks in the national championship game while wearing the road version of the 'heritage stripes.'

The Buckeyes uniform will be white and will feature scarlet and grey sleeves paying tribute to previous OSU champions. It will feature a Golden Nike logo as opposed to the usual silver to blend in with the college football playoff's theme for this year. In addition, the uniforms will feature a '2025' patch in a nod to the CFP.

OSU last wore the unique set of 'heritage stripes' in 2022 at the same Mercedes-Benz Stadium venue when they lost to eventual champions, the Georgia Bulldogs 42-41.

Ohio State has a 2-3 record while wearing the classic uniform featuring losses in the 2017 Fiesta Bowl to the Clemson Tigers and the 2021 national championship game to the Alabama Crimson Tide. They also had wins in the 2015 and 2021 Sugar Bowls over the Crimson Tide and the Tigers.

Notre Dame national championship game uniforms

Coach Marcus Freeman's Notre Dame Fighting Irish team will wear their traditional Blue and Gold uniforms for the national championship game against the Ohio State Buckeyes. They have featured the most uniform combinations in program history this season with six different stripes.

The Gold in the uniform stretches back to when the team used actual gold paint on the team helmets to pay tribute to the school's legacy. In an interview with Sports Illustrated in October, Notre Dame's apparel supplier, Under Armour's Senior Graphic Design Manager of Team Sports Apparel, Adam Dougherty revealed the historical importance of the Fighting Irish colors on their uniforms.

"Notre Dame presented to us their new branding strategy that they were using across all sports in schools, and their main point that they wanted to make was that metallic shiny gold they considered to be their official school color," said Dougherty.

The Fighting Irish's uniform will also contain a '2025' college football playoff patch like their opponent's.

Ohio State Buckeyes last won the national championship in 2014 under former coach Urban Meyer. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish last won in 1988 under former coach Lou Holtz. Whichever team wins this contest will likely have their uniform enshrined in the legend of the program for time immemorial.