The Ohio State Buckeyes and Notre Dame Fighting Irish square off Saturday in a week 1 college football showdown from Ohio Stadium. Notre Dame is coming off a solid 11-2 season in 2021, ultimately falling in a close Fiesta Bowl versus Oklahoma. As for Ohio State, they managed to go 11-2 as well last year with an 8-1 Big Ten record. The Buckeyes took a Rose Bowl win over Utah in their final game.
Notre Dame had a couple of unfortunate occurrences in their otherwise successful 11-2 campaign last year. The Irish had the best record among independents (ahead of BYU at 10-3) but did see head coach Brian Kelly resign on November 29 before the bowl game.
The Irish came out of the gate with four straight victories before their first defeat October 2 versus Cincinnati 24-13. Notre Dame got right back to business with seven straight wins, but ultimately fell in the Fiesta Bowl January 1 to Oklahoma State in a heartbreaker 37-35.
Over on the Ohio State side, their 11-2 season was something of a disappointment. It marked the first time since 2018 that the team didn’t make the College Football Playoff and the first time since 2016 that they missed out on the Big Ten Championship game.
Still, the Buckeyes were co-champions of the East Division and posted a solid 8-1 run in a tough conference. The 42-27 loss to Michigan was quite devastating, but the Buckeyes bounced back with a Rose Bowl victory over Utah 48-45.
The Irish are 4-0 ATS in their last four road games and 7-1 ATS in their last eight overall. Notre Dame is 4-1-1 ATS in their last six versus the Big Ten.
Meanwhile, the Buckeyes are 5-2-1 ATS in their last eight in September and 1-4 ATS in the last five non-conference games.
PICK: I’m probably staying with Ohio State. This is going to be a really fun matchup though, and you certainly wouldn’t be crazy to think the Irish can keep it close. The Buckeyes are going to want to hit the ground running here, and their defense will be under the microscope. Sure, the numbers weren’t all that bad, but the defensive unit took a lot of the blame for the failures of last season. Notre Dame’s offense may be a tough nut to crack, though; they’ve got great receivers (including tight end Michael Mayer) and a pretty good-looking offensive line.
All of that said, Ohio State shouldn’t have a ton of trouble putting up points. In fact I’d imagine each team will hang up at least a few touchdowns, but with a talented and determined Buckeyes offense playing at home I don’t believe the Irish will be able to keep up.