SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) – At Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, where Notre Dame and Ohio State arrive ahead of the College Football Playoff national championship game.
For both teams, the reality is starting to sink in. They are one win away from claiming college football’s ultimate prize.
Notre Dame arrived first and they were early. The media schedule had the Fighting Irish arriving at 5:15 p.m., but they arrived approximately 20 minutes before the scheduled time.
Hilton Head Island alum Jalen Snead exited the plane, preparing for the biggest game of his life. He has eight tackles in the past two college football playoff games. After the team exited the plane, head coach Marcus Freeman addressed the media for approximately five to seven minutes. He was asked about what it’s like to coach Notre Dame in the national championship game after playing in college for Ohio State.
“Yeah, it has. It sunk in the minute after we beat Penn State and we won the Orange Bowl,” said Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman. “We knew what was what was next. And so all we’ve been talking about is this opportunity. It’s not about where I played college ball. It’s not about the previous games we played against Ohio State. It’s about the opportunity to play in a national championship versus a damn good football team in Ohio State. And any competitor is going to be excited for that.”
As for the Ohio State Buckeyes, they also arrived early, approximately 10 minutes ahead of their 7:15 p.m. arrival. Head coach Ryan Day saying his team was excited and that they enjoyed the send off they had in Columbus, Ohio. He said there was a four-year-old fan who was excited to see them as well as an eighty-year-old who held up a special sign for the players.
He said that really energized his players. I asked him specifically how he felt about the mental fatigue of a team playing in its 16th game of the college football season. That is something that has never happened in the history of this sport.
“Well, we talked about it all year,” Day said. “I think we our energy has actually picked up week in and week out. I feel the momentum. You know, when you have momentum, you got to keep it. I feel like we’ve continued to get stronger as the season has gone on. We’ve had a plan on how we were going to do that.
“And so now again,” Day said. “We have to be at our best. The whole plan has been to get to this point right now. And so we have, you know, a couple more days to get prepared to go do it. When we get on the plane, you fly to Atlanta and you get to the hotel. It’s a good time to reflect on the journey that you’ve been on personally.
“It’s everybody’s dream to play in the national championship, but also what the team’s been on in terms of their journey to get to right here. Because our first team meeting was today a year ago, and here we are a year later in the national championship.”
Monday is the national championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium starting at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday. Both teams will have media day. Notre Dame and Ohio State will meet with the media separately for about an hour at the Georgia World Congress Center.
