The stage is officially set for the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
One week from today, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will take on the heavily-favored Ohio State Buckeyes for all the marbles.
Both teams more than earned their spot in the title game.
In the semifinals, Notre Dame pulled out a gritty win over the Penn State Nittany Lions down at the Orange Bowl in what was an instant classic.
Meanwhile, Ohio State outlasted Texas in a nail-biter at the Cotton Bowl.
Of course, the highlight of the game (and the season for that matter) was provided by Buckeyes captain Jack Sawyer.
“The resiliency of this team from a month ago has been incredible,” Sawyer said after the win. “We sat up here last year with a sore taste in our mouth and heard a lot of things. We come back and heard the same things a month ago. But we kept swinging.”
The title game will feature an intriguing quarterback matchup as Notre Dame’s Riley Leonard will square off against Ohio State’s Will Howard.
As it turns out, the two veteran quarterbacks were actually roommates at the famous Manning Passing Academy last summer.
This fascinating tidbit was shared by Archie Manning, via his son Eli…
“FYI – Riley Leonard and Will Howard were roommates at Manning Passing Academy last summer!” Archie texted Eli.
(Of course, the more interesting revelation was that Archie signs his personal text messages…)
Needless to say, Eli’s screenshot of the text went viral on social media and fans had a whole lot to say…
“You try to poke fun at your pops and it gets played back at you for not having him listed as ‘dad’ in your phone … Even your Tweets get picked off.”
“Even better is adding your Dad’s full name in Caps in your contacts. How about ‘Dad.'”
“Well, to be fair, You do have him saved in your phone as Archie & not Dad.”
“My dad starts text with ‘It’s Dadβ¦..'”
“I cannot love your dad (& your mother!) enough! Such sweeet kind people.”
“Its also good that he puts FYI at the top. It lets you know that the text he sending to you is for your information.”
As for the actual game, what is your early prediction?
Ohio State is currently listed as a 9.5-point favorite, which is a very large spread for a title game.
Do you give Leonard and the Fighting Irish any chance at pulling off the upset???
