Urban Meyer will be watching Monday night’s national championship game between Notre Dame and Ohio State very closely.
Meyer has close ties to both programs. He spent five years at Notre Dame as an assistant coach from 1996-2000 and later was the head coach at Ohio State from 2012-18. In 2014, Meyer led the Buckeyes to their most recent national championship, the first of the College Football Playoff era.
Looking ahead at the upcoming national title matchup, Meyer shared his thoughts on the latest episode of “The Triple Option” podcast, which he hosts alongside Fox Sports colleagues Mark Ingram and Rob Stone.
In terms of a prediction, Meyer is going with the Buckeyes, who are currently favored by eight points.
“Ohio State covers the spread,” Meyer said, via Notre Dame Fighting Irish on SI. “I think Notre Dame is going to, the defense is going to keep this thing close… I think this is a low-scoring game at halftime, and I think the Buckeyes walk away in the second half.”
Delving deeper, Meyer praised Notre Dame for their intangibles, including a “a refuse-to-lose mentality,” but cautioned that “rarely does the less-talented team beat a more-talented team.”
“I’d always meet with the staff after I did a thorough evaluation because, man, that changes the whole world of how you plan a game. If that team across the sideline has better dudes than you got then, once again, that changes it. And I look at roster-roster,” Meyer said.
“Remember, Notre Dame lost either three or four really good players on [defense]…Offensively? I just – this is not a talent-equated game on paper. It’s not. And, on film, I would say it’s not.”
Meyer’s view is not a shocking one. Ohio State is widely-regarded as possibly the most talented team in the country, and has played like it through its first three College Football Playoff games.
Notre Dame, which is looking for its first national championship in 36 years, is on a 13-game winning streak and won’t bow down easily, but the Irish will need their “A” game and then some in order to win on Monday.
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