The earliest line for the Notre Dame vs Ohio State national title game has the Buckeyes as a 9.5 favorite over the Irish. And for good reason. The Buckeyes have been the most dominant team in the CFP field thus far with playoff victories of 42-17 over Tennessee,

Notre Dame's Anthonie Knapp has been ruled out of the College Football Playoff championship game against Ohio State with an ankle injury, but coach Marcus Freeman said Sunday Rocco Spindler is on track to play.

At BetMGM, the Buckeyes opened up as 9.5-point favorites to defeat Notre Dame in Atlanta on January 20th, marking just the second time all season the Irish have opened as underdogs. The only other instance was a Week 1 matchup at Texas A&M (-3) in the season opener for both schools. The Irish won outright, 23-13.

Ohio State has a loaded roaster full of top-end talent. Despite some offensive line concerns, the Buckeyes are a much healthier team entering this contest than the Irish are. It makes perfect sense that they are a decent favorite.

Ohio State's Ryan Day knows his football team has some stuff to clean up before the CFP national championship game with Notre Dame.

Here's a look at the early betting odds for the College Football Playoff championship between Ohio State and Notre Dame on Jan. 20:

The College Football Playoff is down to the No. 7 seed and No. 8 seed. The national championship game in the inaugural 12-team CFP will pit the No. 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish up against the No. 8 Ohio State Buckeyes.

Marcus Freeman has shown us his game plan, and our early college football expert predictions are leaning toward a closer final score than the oddsmakers predict.

Ohio State continued its run through the College Football Playoff, topping Texas in a semifinal in the Cotton Bowl