Booger McFarland describes path to Notre Dame beating Ohio State for national title

Booger McFarland believes the path to success for Notre Dame is narrow but he does see a path. During an appearance on Andy & Ari On3, the ESPN analyst revealed how the Fighting Irish could upset Ohio State in the National Championship on Monday.

“To me, it’s really simple,” McFarland said. “It’s Will Howard, a couple of turnovers. It’s Chip Kelly and Ryan Day kind of getting away from the things that got them here, which is being explosive, getting the ball to those receivers, getting the ball to [Carnell] Tate, getting the ball to [Emeka] Egbuka, getting the ball to [Jeremiah] Smith. Like, get the ball to your playmakers.

“If they turn in to say, ‘OK, we want to feature TreVeyon [Henderson] and Quinshon [Judkins] this game, and we want to run it 40 times,’ then if that’s the case, they’re playing right into Notre Dame’s hands. I don’t think they’re going to do that, but even then, they’re still going to need a couple of turnovers. Notre Dame’s got to get a defensive score. Notre Dame has got to get a couple of explosive plays down the field from Riley Leonard, and if they can do that, then I think we could have a ball game.”

It’s certainly not impossible. Ohio State quarterback Will Howard has thrown an interception in two of the Buckeyes’ three wins thus far in the College Football Playoff.

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Alas, it’s far less likely that Ryan Day and Chip Kelly will stray away from the passing game. Ohio State’s aerial raid has been key to its success in the postseason after the team threw for just 175 yards in its loss to Michigan in the regular season finale.

Of course, Notre Dame won’t make it easy for the Buckeyes. The Fighting Irish’s defense only allows 165.3 passing yards per game, the second-least in the country. Nonetheless, with so many options in Ohio State’s arsenal, Booger McFarland doesn’t love Notre Dame’s chances.

“That’s a lot of things that they need to happen because if this game is played straight up, if this game is played turnover-free, if this game is played both teams playing to their potential, I think it’s a nine to 10-point game where I favor Ohio State,” McFarland said. “Football is never played that way though, so let’s see how the ball bounces on Monday night.”

Notre Dame and Ohio State will square off at 7:30 p.m. ET on Monday. The game will air live on ESPN.