Paul Finebaum openly admits he never would have expected Notre Dame in the national title

When Notre Dame lost to Northern Illinois 16-14 in Week 2 of the regular season, everyone in the country put the Fighting Irish’s national championship hopes to bed — except for Notre Dame.

SEC analyst Paul Finebaum, who has been critical of Notre Dame over the years, gave head coach Marcus Freeman, his coaching staff and their roster for running the gauntlet and currently boast the nation’s longest active winning streak and are one victory away from winning it all. All they have to do is beat the Buckeyes.

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“I would have easily believed Ohio State. I would have never believed Notre Dame, because it just seemed like Georgia was the team. Maybe Texas.” Finebaum told ESPN’s Matt Barrie ahead of the national title game. “Maybe there were a couple other ones that you would have figured into the conversation.

“… But the point is, you know, Notre Dame has been one of those rare, surprising teams and usually you don’t see that in the national championship game.”

Since facing defeat against NIU, Notre Dame went on to win eight of its next 10 games by three scores or more. That success bled into the postseason, as the Fighting Irish beat both Indiana and Georgia by two scores to advance in the College Football Playoffs.

They followed that up with a 3-point win over Penn State — a nail-biter that came down to a 41-yard go-ahead field goal by place kicker Mitch Jeter. He nailed it, thus kicking the Fighting Irish to the national championship game for the first time in over a decade.

“Ultimately, [Notre Dame] is one of the great stories we have seen. College Football doesn’t often provide stories like this,” Finebaum continued. “It’s too often about the $20 million payroll, or winning another title at Alabama, or something like that. This is fantastic. I don’t think it’s a seminal moment in sports, I think some people are trying to make it out to be that Notre Dame has always been a brand name.

“And a lot of people including myself have wondered, maybe they do need to be in a conference now. They’ll live another 50 years saying, We don’t need to be in a conference.'”

Winning the national championship will only further validate those claims. Notre Dame looks to take that next step on Monday, Jan. 20 inside the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta when they take on Ohio State, Marcus Freeman’s alma-mater, for the College Football Playoff championsip.