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2025 College Football Playoff National Championship presented by AT&T
11th College Football Playoff National Championship
Ohio State Buckeyes Notre Dame Fighting Irish (13–2) (14–1) Big Ten Independent Head coach:  Ryan Day Head coach:  Marcus Freeman AP Coaches CFP 6 7 6 AP Coaches CFP 3 3 5
Date	January 20, 2025
Season	2024
Stadium	Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Location	Atlanta, Georgia
Favorite	Ohio State by 8.5
National anthem	Coco Jones with Adam Blackstone
Referee	Steve Marlowe (SEC)
United States TV coverage
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Chris Fowler (play-by-play), Kirk Herbstreit (analyst), Holly Rowe and Molly McGrath (sidelines)
International TV coverage
Network	ESPN Deportes Brazil: ESPN Brazil/Disney+ Canada: TSN1/4/TSN2 Latin America: ESPN/Disney+ United Kingdom: Sky Sports Oceania: ESPN
Announcers	ESPN Brazil: Matheus Pinheiro (play-by-play), Weinny Eirado (analyst), Eduardo Zolin (analyst) and Giane Pessoa (rules analyst) ESPN Deportes: Eduardo Varela, Pablo Viruega, Katia Castorena and Ciro Procuna
College Football Playoff National Championship  < 2024  2026 >

The 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship is an upcoming college football bowl game that is scheduled to be played on January 20, 2025, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The eleventh College Football Playoff National Championship, the game will determine the national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for the 2024 season. It will be the final game of the 2024–25 College Football Playoff (CFP), the first national championship under the 12-team CFP format, and, aside from any all-star games afterward, the culminating game of the 2024–25 bowl season. It is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. EST and will be televised nationally by ESPN. Sponsored by telecommunications company AT&T, the game is officially known as the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship presented by AT&T.

The game will feature the No. 8 seed Ohio State Buckeyes from the Big Ten Conference and the No. 7 seed Notre Dame Fighting Irish, an FBS independent.

Background

Host selection

On January 7, 2022, the College Football Playoff (CFP) awarded the rights to host the 2025 championship to Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada. However, Allegiant Stadium had to relinquish hosting duties due to a conflict with the Consumer Electronics Show, which was not able to be moved to a later date. As a result, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, was named as the replacement host site on May 5, 2022. (Allegiant Stadium will host the 2027 championship.) As Mercedes-Benz Stadium hosted the 2018 CFP national championship, the 2025 game will make Atlanta the first city to host the CFP national championship twice. The stadium, built to replace the Georgia Dome in 2017, is also the annual host of the Aflac Kickoff Game, SEC Championship Game, and the Peach Bowl. The 71,000-seat retractable roof stadium is also the regular host of the Celebration Bowl, the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL), and Atlanta United FC of Major League Soccer (MLS). Additionally, it has hosted the 2018 MLS Cup, Super Bowl LIII, and two matches during the 2024 Copa América; in the future, it has been selected to host matches during the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup and the 2026 FIFA World Cup, including a semifinal during the latter. In October 2024, the NFL announced that the stadium will host Super Bowl LXII.

College Football Playoff

The game will be the 11th national championship in CFP history and will be the first national championship game under the expanded playoff format, which features twelve teams instead of four.

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Teams

The game will mark the ninth meeting all-time between the Buckeyes and Fighting Irish; Notre Dame won the first two games, in 1935 and 1936, while Ohio State has won each of the last six meetings. The teams last met as part of a home-and-home series with the Buckeyes earning victories of 21–10 and 17–14 on September 3, 2022, and September 23, 2023, respectively. It is the teams' sixth consecutive meeting in which both are ranked in the top ten by the AP Poll. The game will be their third postseason meetings following Ohio State victories in the 2006 Fiesta Bowl and the 2016 Fiesta Bowl.

Ohio State enters the game seeking their ninth national championship and their second of the CFP era following their win over Oregon in the 2015 College Football Playoff National Championship Game. Notre Dame enters seeking its twelfth title, with the last coming in 1988. Both teams appeared in championship games more recently, though: Ohio State fell to Alabama in the 2021 College Football Playoff National Championship, while Notre Dame similarly lost to Alabama in the 2013 BCS National Championship Game.

Ohio State Buckeyes

Ohio State finished the regular season with a 10–2 record overall and a 7–2 record in Big Ten Conference games. Their only losses were to Oregon and archrival Michigan. Ranked sixth in the final CFP poll, the Buckeyes received the eighth seed in the playoff. They played and defeated Tennessee 42–17 in their first-round game in Columbus, Oregon in a rematch the Rose Bowl quarterfinal 41–21, and Texas in the Cotton Bowl semifinal 28–14. As a result, the Buckeyes will enter the championship game with a 13–2 record.

Sixth-year head coach Ryan Day enters with a 69–10 record with the Buckeyes; this marks his second championship game appearance.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Notre Dame finished the regular season with an 11–1 record, with their only loss being a major upset against Northern Illinois on September 7. The Fighting Irish were seeded seventh in the CFP and won a first-round home playoff game over Indiana 27–17, the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal over Georgia 23–10, and the Orange Bowl semifinal over Penn State 27–24 to earn a berth in the championship game. The Irish enter the game with a 14–1 record; their 14 wins mark the most in school history.

The game will mark the first championship appearance for third-year head coach Marcus Freeman, who enters the game with a 33–9 record at Notre Dame. He is one of five Ohio State alumni to coach a game against the Buckeyes.

Starting lineups

Source:

Game summary

Scoring summary

at Mercedes-Benz Stadium • Atlanta, Georgia

• Date: January 20, 2025
• Game time: 7:30 p.m. EST
• Game weather: n/a (game played indoors)
• Referee: Steve Marlowe (SEC)
• TV announcers (ESPN): Chris Fowler (play-by-play), Kirk Herbstreit (analyst), Holly Rowe and Molly McGrath (sidelines)
• Box score

Statistics

Broadcasting

The game will be televised in the United States on ESPN and is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. EST. In the United Kingdom, the game will be broadcast on Sky Sports.

Notes

1. ^ The game was originally scheduled to be played at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada.

See also

• College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS

References

1. "SEC officiating crew assigned to the National Championship". Football Zebras. January 12, 2025. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
2. https://x.com/weinnyeirado/status/1881429011865436464
3. https://espnpressroom.com/us/press-releases/2025/01/theres-never-been-a-playoff-like-this-expanded-12-team-college-football-playoff-on-espn-reaches-blockbuster-conclusion-on-championship-monday-jan-20/
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22. Benatar, Orri (January 20, 2025). "Ohio State vs. Notre Dame: Facts to know before the CFP Championship kickoff". WAVY-TV. Retrieved January 20, 2025.
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27. Duffy, Patricia (December 8, 2024). "College Football Playoff 2024-25: Final 12 team bracket revealed, with Oregon top seed, SMU in, Alabama out". NBC Sports. Retrieved January 20, 2025.
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29. Crepea, James (January 3, 2025). "10 takeaways from No. 1 Oregon football's loss to No. 8 Ohio State in College Football Playoff quarterfinal at Rose Bowl". The Oregonian. Retrieved January 20, 2025.
30. "Ohio State getting shot at 6th national title after 28-14 win over Texas in CFP semi Cotton Bowl". ESPN. Associated Press. January 11, 2025. Retrieved January 20, 2025.
31. ^ Kassim, Ehsan (January 20, 2025). "Ohio State vs Notre Dame live score updates, highlights, how to watch CFP national championship". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved January 20, 2025.
32. ^ Bishop, Chad (January 19, 2025). "Everything to know about Notre Dame ahead of national championship". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved January 20, 2025.
33. Harrigan, Sam (December 22, 2024). "No. 7 Notre Dame handles No. 10 Indiana, wins 27-17 in CFP first round matchup". National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved January 20, 2025.
34. "Georgia's season comes to end with CFP loss against Notre Dame". Southeastern Conference. January 2, 2025. Retrieved January 20, 2025.
35. Adelson, Andrea (January 9, 2025). "Jeter's clutch FG lifts Notre Dame over Penn State in CFP semi". ESPN. Retrieved January 20, 2025.
36. ^ "Notre Dame Football - National Championship Postseason Guide" (PDF). Notre Dame Fighting Irish athletics. University of Notre Dame. January 16, 2025. Retrieved January 20, 2025.
37. "2024-25 college football bowl game, CFP schedule". ESPN. June 6, 2024. Retrieved December 1, 2024.
38. "Sky Sports secures rights to show NCAA college football and basketball". Sky Sports. November 18, 2023. Retrieved December 1, 2024.

External links

• Game statistics at statbroadcast.com

• 2024–25 College Football Playoff
• 2024–25 NCAA football bowl games
• 2025 in Atlanta
• January 2025 sports events in the United States
• College Football Playoff National Championship
• Ohio State Buckeyes football bowl games
• Notre Dame Fighting Irish football bowl games
• Current sports events