Ohio State’s Dominant Performance Over Notre Dame Summed Up in Two Wild Stats

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The Buckeyes took the lead with their initial score on Monday's national championship game. Since that opening drive, control of the game has remained with Ohio State.

They tied the game at 7-7. On their next drive, Quinshon Judkins scored a nine-yard touchdown to end a 10-play, 76-yard drive. Howard threw a pass to Judkins on the Buckeyes' third drive, putting OSU up 21-7 at the half. After getting the ball back in the second half, Judkins ran 70 yards and then scored a one-yard touchdown three plays later to make the score 28-7.

The Fighting Irish had allowed just three touchdown drives of 75 or more yards in a single game this season, with one of those games being their 49-35 win against USC.

Notre Dame was able to limit Ohio State to only a field goal on the Buckeyes' fifth-drive, thus snapping their touchdown streak. Unfortunately for them, they weren't able to do this until after Ohio State made another notable achievement in college football history.

No team in the College Football Playoff (formerly the BCS) era, which spans back to 1998, has ever scored touchdowns on its first four drives, according to ESPN's Heather Dinich.

For every national championship game that lives up to its billing as a classic, there is a blowout like the one the Buckeyes are dominating the Fighting Irish with right now. However, even in prior years when national champions excelled, none of them managed to put up a performance as strong as Ohio State's over the first 30-plus minutes of Monday's game in Atlanta.

1. According to MeterWare ratings, the full strength and confidence indices of teams draw from a mean, school-wise schedule, collected not only by pollsters but also by rating systems. While some ratings include distance traveled and canceled games, none make concessions for squad excusal or 60-plus starts from notable clubs spring spring repertoire members.

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