Joel Klatt reveals 'only avenue' Notre Dame can take to beat Ohio State

There’s really only one way Notre Dame beats Ohio State in the College Football Playoff National championship, according to Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt.

Basically, the Fighting Irish have to muck up this game and turn it into how Ohio State played against Michigan and to some extent, Texas. If it gets sloppy for the Buckeyes, Notre Dame can take advantage.

Get your team’s official College Football Playoff watch from AXIA by CLICKING HERE: “Watches that tell so much more than time”

Why? Ohio State can score at a ridiculous clip and their defense has been elite. But if Notre Dame slows the pace, watch out.

“The only avenue for Notre Dame to win is if they can take Ryan Day, and they can take these Buckeyes, and they can somehow bait them into the type of game that they played against Nebraska and Michigan and in some ways, Texas, that’s the blueprint for Notre Dame,” Klatt said on his podcast. 

“If they get an offense, if they get a Buckeyes team that is pedal to the metal ball out of the quarterback’s hands, quickly scoring multiple times in the first half, they will lose. This has to be a low scoring game for the Irish. They will not score more than 20 points, maybe even more than 17 points on this defense. This is the best defense in college football. Since the Oregon loss in the middle of the season, they have been phenomenal. They’ve got too much veteran talent and quality players that it’s even going to be tough for Riley Leonard to run around.” 

Riley Leonard can be efficient but the Notre Dame offense isn’t as explosive as Ohio State’s. In fact, is any offense?

“Notre Dame is going to have to create short fields,” Klatt said. “They’re going to have to steal a possession here or there. They got a bank on the fact that Ohio State’s going to have some penalties and knock themselves back with self inflicted wounds. They’re going to have to bait them into that game where they’re just running the ball on first down. When Ohio State just non-descriptively runs the football on first down, every Notre Dame fan should just be like, ‘Okay, that’s good for us. That’s good for us.’ 

“Because when it’s dynamic, when it’s horizontal, when it’s quick and when they get those speed players when they get the ball in their hands in space quickly. Man, it’s difficult to cover, it’s very difficult to cover.”