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For the SEC, it’s a “what do I do with my hands” national championship. No SEC representation isn’t unprecedented, but it’s the first time that happened in consecutive years since 2004-05.
You know. In case you haven’t heard.
Ohio State is an 8.5-point favorite vs. Notre Dame, per DraftKings Sportsbook.
It’s the first national championship game involving 2 Midwest teams since they started having an official national championship game in 1998. Nonetheless, there are still plenty of SEC ties that await us.
Here are the 10 that are most noteworthy:
1. Former Alabama star Caleb Downs put the icing on top of the SEC’s elimination cake
In this scenario, I’m crediting Jack Sawyer with baking the cake with his scoop-and-score of Quinn Ewers to close out Texas in the Playoff semifinal. Downs, who transferred from Alabama after he was a freshman All-American, did the final damage with the game-closing interception of Ewers. That had to be a tough pill for Alabama fans to swallow, especially with the inconsistent defensive showings the Tide had in the first year of the post-Nick Saban era. Downs would’ve been the best player on Alabama’s roster, and perhaps the best player in the SEC had he stayed in Tuscaloosa instead of bolting during the 30-day transfer window following Saban’s retirement. He could go down as the toughest transfer loss in Alabama history by the time his college career is finished.
2. Quinshon Judkins left Ole Miss for a shared backfield in Columbus
To be clear, Kirk Herbstreit, it’s pronounced “JUD-kins,” not “JUN-kins.” I’m not sure why that’s been such an issue considering that Judkins was an All-American tailback at Ole Miss. He caused a major stir when he reportedly left for a bigger NIL deal at Ohio State, who was set to return the accomplished TreVeyon Henderson. It’s been a true committee. They’re separated by just 7 rushing yards and 2 rushing scores. Judkins took the lead when he bulldozed his way to a pair of rushing scores against Texas. Ole Miss had atypical struggles in the backfield this season, and an inability to close out games cost Lane Kiffin’s squad a shot at the Playoff. Judkins could’ve helped that effort, but instead picked a lightened workload — he never had more than 17 carries in a game after he had at least 17 carries in his final 9 games in Oxford — and a shot at a title.
3. Speaking of former Ole Miss-to-Ohio State transfers … starting CB Davison Igbinosun
That’s right. Two of Ohio State’s starters are former Ole Miss standouts. Igbinosun earned freshman All-America honors at Ole Miss in 2022 and transferred to Ohio State, where he’s become a key piece of the nation’s top pass defense. He surrendered just 2 touchdowns all year on 57 targets, and he only surrendered more than 45 yards once. Penalties were a significant issue for Igbinosun in the regular season. He had 13 coverage penalties in the first 11 games, but he’s had just 1 in the past 4 games, and he allowed just 26 yards after the catch in that stretch. He might not get the love of fellow Buckeye secondary stars like Downs or Lathan Ransom, but Igbinosun has been a key part of this Playoff run.
4. You know about the Marcus Freeman-Brian Kelly connection, but go back a little further with Freeman and LSU
Remember when Ed Orgeron nearly pulled off a massive heist for the 2021 season when he seemingly had Freeman set to replace Bo Pelini with a 4-year, $10 million deal to become LSU’s next defensive coordinator. Freeman instead had a change of heart and stayed in his native Midwest and left Cincinnati for Notre Dame to become Kelly’s DC. Could that have saved Orgeron’s job? The irony is that Kelly would’ve likely been able to bring Freeman with to LSU after replacing Orgeron, but Notre Dame’s internal push to give him Kelly’s job kept him in South Bend. It’s a fascinating sliding-doors moment for LSU and Notre Dame. Needless to say, the latter is relieved that things worked out the way that they did.
5. Former South Carolina kicker Mitch Jeter has gone from an Achilles’ heel to a Notre Dame hero
Jeter transferred from South Carolina to Notre Dame in hopes of making big-time kicks, but struggled while nursing a midseason hip and groin injuries. It’s easy to forget that entering the Playoff, he was 1-for-5 since the calendar turned to October. In the Playoff, he’s been nearly perfect. He’s 7-for-8 with multiple made field goals in each of the Irish’s 3 Playoff victories, with 6 coming from between 40-to-49 yards. That included the 41-yard game-winner against Penn State in the semifinals. Jeter was an accomplished kicker at South Carolina, but he’s got more games with multiple field goals in the Playoff alone (3) than he had all of last season in Columbia (2). Whatever he got in NIL money was worth it.
6. We need to talk about Marcus Freeman’s 3-0 record vs. the SEC
Is now the part where I mention that Freeman already has more wins vs. the SEC than Kelly did in his 12 years at Notre Dame? Sure. Freeman is 3-0 vs. the SEC. That includes a 2022 bowl game victory vs. South Carolina after it knocked off top-10 Tennessee and Clemson, a 2024 season-opening win at Texas A&M and most recently, the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal vs. Georgia. That’s 3 games vs. ranked SEC competition away from home, and Freeman won by an average of 10 points. Not too shabby. That’s a different story than Day, who just got his first win vs. SEC competition after an 0-3 start vs. the conference. Still, those 3 losses were in the 2020 title game vs. Alabama, the 2022 Peach Bowl vs. Georgia and the 2023 Cotton Bowl vs. Mizzou, which set the wheels in motion for the $20 million roster. In other words, the SEC can claim a national title if Ohio State wins on Monday night.
7. Each team has a former Alabama quarterback
Technically, there are 2 former Alabama quarterbacks who’ll be on the sidelines Monday night. One is Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin, who left Tuscaloosa during the 30-day, post-Saban retirement transfer portal window. All hell has broken loose if the 5-star freshman sees the field because OSU backup Devin Brown, who announced his intentions to transfer, stuck with the Buckeyes for the Playoff. Then there’s the curious career of Tyler Buchner, who won that aforementioned bowl game vs. South Carolina when he was Notre Dame’s starter in 2022. Buchner’s time at Alabama included 1 start, which was the 2023 USF mess. He then transferred back to Notre Dame to play football and lacrosse for the Irish. He’s a wide receiver now with the No. 26. Buchner doesn’t have a catch, but he perfectly executed a pivotal fake punt pass in the win at USC and he pulled off a field-goal fake run. How? He wears the same No. 26 as holder Chris Salerno. Don’t be surprised if Buchner is responsible for a momentum-swinging trick play.
8. Former LSU OC Mike Denbrock went from Jayden Daniels to doing a masterful job with Riley Leonard
We know that Daniels and Leonard aren’t going to be confused for each other anytime soon. But it speaks to Denbrock’s schematic ability that he returned to Notre Dame and got the best version of Leonard. The mobility we’ve seen from Leonard has been a huge factor for a somewhat limited Irish passing offense. To be fair, Notre Dame doesn’t have receivers like Malik Nabers or Brian Thomas Jr. It shows. A year after leading the No. 1 scoring offense and the Heisman Trophy winner, Denbrock adapted extremely well to his personnel and turned it into one of the nation’s top rushing attacks. His task will be as difficult as the one he faced 2 years ago in the SEC Championship vs. eventual-national champ Georgia.
9. Who was a critical piece in Riley Leonard transferring to Notre Dame? Jimbo Fisher
Think about this: If Texas A&M doesn’t pay more than 3 times the richest coach buyout in college football history to fire Fisher, Mike Elko stays at Duke. Ergo, Leonard stays at Duke, where he was excellent as Elko’s starter when he stayed healthy. It’s an interesting domino effect because Notre Dame was always going to be dipping into the portal for its next starting quarterback post-Sam Hartman, but what if it ended up with someone else like … DJ Uiagalelei? That wouldn’t have been crazy, especially with how well Uiagalelei played in South Bend in relief of Trevor Lawrence in 2020. The Irish signed Leonard in the second week of December — after his only official visit, so we never really had much time to speculate about Hartman’s replacement. But it’s fascinating to think about A&M setting the wheels in motion for Leonard, who then beat the Aggies in the opener to begin this season.
10. Regardless of what’s said, the national championship still runs through the SEC
Why? Well, look at every year that a non-SEC team won a national title since this run of dominance began in 2006:
- 2013 Florida State: Beat Auburn in BCS National Championship
- 2014 Ohio State: Beat Alabama in Playoff Semifinal
- 2016 Clemson: Beat Alabama in Playoff National Championship
- 2018 Clemson: Beat Alabama in Playoff National Championship
- 2023 Michigan: Beat Alabama in Playoff National Championship
- 2024 Notre Dame or Ohio State: Beat Georgia in Playoff quarterfinals, beat Texas in Playoff semifinals
If Notre Dame wins, it would mark the first time since 2005 Texas that a team won a national title without facing an SEC team in the semifinal or the national championship. Obviously, semifinal games weren’t possible in the BCS era. Still, though. Even after this year, 13 of the past 19 national champs came from the SEC and the other 6 champions beat SEC teams in some sort of Playoff/title game scenario.
Don’t confuse a down SEC season with the notion that it’s about to fall off the face of the Earth.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
