College football fans are loving the quick, efficient starts by Notre Dame, Ohio State
It’s hard to ask for a better start to a national championship game.
Sometimes in important games like this, one side (or both sides) struggles greatly out of the gate. But not this time around. No, Notre Dame’s first drive was nearly perfect, taking 9 minutes and 45 seconds off the clock across 18 plays. Riley Leonard, who rushed for 34 yards on Drive No. 1, found the end zone with the below play:
🔟 MINUTE MASTERPIECE
TOUCHDOWN IRISH#GoIrish
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) January 21, 2025
Ohio State took the punch well, though. The Buckeyes turned around and posted their own dominant drive – ending with star freshman Jeremiah Smith in the end zone. It wasn’t quite Notre Dame’s first stint, but Ohio State took 6 minutes off the clock with their 11-play touchdown drive.
Fans from around the country are loving the pace of this game so far. After just under an hour of real time since kickoff, we’re already well into the second quarter.
Take a look at some of the best reaction to the start to this national championship bout.
Now can Riley Leonard run the ball 40 times tonight while killing 45 minutes of game clock because that’s what he’ll have to do after that equally as perfect Ohio State first drive https://t.co/FsgdWdWIMl
— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) January 21, 2025
Good start. Fun.
— Wes Rucker (@wesrucker247) January 21, 2025
A 26-minute first quarter? Not even two full possessions?
Are we watching Army?
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) January 21, 2025
Head on a swivel for commercial breaks with a game flowing like this
— Josh Pate (@JoshPateCFB) January 21, 2025
Notre Dame's opening drive had the most plays (18) and time (over 9 minutes) of any drive in the #CFBPlayoff National Championship game history.
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) January 21, 2025
First quarter over before we have two full possessions. What decade is this?
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) January 21, 2025
That was a 25-minute first quarter.
That'll do.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) January 21, 2025
I don't know how many games I've seen in my life where we start the second quarter and one team is still on their first drive of the game
— JaguarGator9 (@JaguarGator9NFL) January 21, 2025
For college football standards, that was an incredibly quick first quarter
— Football Analysis (@FBallAnalysisYT) January 21, 2025