The college football regular season is just weeks away, and several player and team predictions have been doing the rounds. Ohio State has the momentum heading into the season, especially with the expected growth trajectory of Julian Sayin. Surprisingly, a former Buckeye has another college football team winning the national championship and defeating Ohio State along the way.

“This is a tough one, guys,” former Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones said as he gave his national championship analysis on CBS Sports College Football. “I like my bracket a lot more than you guys. And the matchup I’m excited about in this first round is Ohio State versus Texas Tech. I think that’s going to be true hard-nosed football, and the winner’s going to go play that Georgia team. But I think if you literally look at this matchup, the one in the second round I’m going with is the U versus Notre Dame; a second time they’re going to match up this season, but I think Notre Dame gets them this time. And then this is another tough matchup from earlier in the season with Ohio State [vs] Indiana.

“Ohio State edges them this time, but I do think in Bloomington earlier in the season, it may be different. Notre Dame [vs] Ohio State. I got to go with Notre Dame. I think this is the best team that Marcus Freeman has had since he’s been a head coach there. And it’s a consolation prize because he’s a Buckeye.”

The Buckeyes and the Fighting Irish may not be traditional rivals. However, they last faced each other in January 2025 in the national championship game, where the Buckeyes won 34-23. As such, Jones’ picking the Irish to defeat Ohio State in the national championship game is surprising, to say the least, especially given that the Irish lost Jeremiah Love and Jadarian Price to the pros. At the same time, the Buckeyes have also lost significant production on defense.

Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish were unable to make the College Football Playoff last season with a 10-2 record after losing their place to the CFP finalists: the Miami Hurricanes. And while tipping them to go as far as winning the national championship may be a stretch, there is the fuel of revenge that their players and coaches have been speaking about since their playoff snub.

Their morale has been further boosted by college football analyst Josh Pate, who has the program going undefeated in the regular season as it pursues a national championship for the first time since 1988. Pate shared a chart outlining his College Football Playoff prediction, in which Notre Dame is the national champion. His prediction features a final of Notre Dame and the Texas Longhorns, with the Longhorns knocking out the Buckeyes in the semifinal and the Indiana Hoosiers.

However, Jones’ prediction differs markedly from ESPN’s preseason top 25, which ranked the Buckeyes No. 1. ESPN has the Oregon Ducks ranked behind the Buckeyes and the Georgia Bulldogs at third. Notre Dame is ranked fourth, placing them in a spot to automatically qualify for the playoffs. While that is more likely, they must go the extra mile to win the championship to justify Jones’ prediction.

Jones played as a quarterback for the Buckeyes from 2012 to 2015. He famously starred in Ohio State’s 2014 national championship win against Oregon, recording 280 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns. After his collegiate career, he was selected with the 138th overall pick in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL Draft.