When the Notre Dame Fighting Irish take the field against the Ohio State Buckeyes in Monday night's national championship game, the Irish will be more than an eight-point underdog in the matchup.
Ohio State has one of the sport's best rosters, littered with five-star talent throughout. Notre Dame's roster is plenty talented enough to be here on this stage, unlike the last time the Irish made a title game in Jan. 2013. However, the Irish lack the quantity of top-end talents that the Buckeyes possess heading into Monday night's matchup.
ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit believes that Notre Dame has a chance to capture the program's first national title since 1988, but it will come down to a few keys to the game.
"Notre Dame is like that typical team that they make a movie out of, like, 'How'd they win the national championship?' kind of thing," Herbstreit said on The McShay Show. "They have good players, but they're a better team. They're a great team. ... Notre Dame will have to win the turnover margin. They'll have to win the field position battle with special teams, whether they get a blocked punt or make a big play in that area. And they're going to have to find a way to get to that fourth quarter and look up and it's 20-17 or it's 17-14, whatever it is. And it's like, 'Alright, we've got them where we want them. Let's go find a way to win this game.'"
Notre Dame and Ohio State kickoff Monday night at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Kirk Herbstreit Explains Keys for Notre Dame to Upset Ohio State for National Title.
