The 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship has been off to a hot start, as both Notre Dame and Ohio State started the game off with touchdowns from their star players. In a game that means so much for both of these programs that haven’t won a championship this decade (or longer), every play matters in a game of this magnitude.
As is the case across all sports nowadays, the criticism of referees, umpires, and officials is common in all sports. While some sports have considered the implementation of using Artificial Intelligence to officiate, sports seem to be staying with humans and dealing with the potential errors they could make. In the first half of the CFP National Championship today, a long-standing streak of calls against the Ohio State Buckeyes was snapped.
According to College Football Insider Brett McMurphy, the holding call on Notre Dame snapped a 12-game and 747 consecutive play streak of opposing offenses vs. Ohio State’s defense not being called for holding. Given the talented defensive line the Buckeyes possess, it’s a shocking stat to think no opposing team was caught grabbing onto Ohio State players to try and keep their quarterback away from pressure.
The post on X sparked some comments from fans, such as one sarcastically posting, “To be fair, it's been since approximately 1947 that a Big Ten crew has called holding against OSU or Michigan when playing Indiana.”
Given the rushing ability of Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard and his ability to create outside the pocket, the Fighting Irish have to avoid grabbing hold of pass rushers like Jack Sawyer as a holding call is a major setback for any offense.
With halftime nearing, Ohio State currently leads 14-7 over Notre Dame with touchdowns from Quinshon Judkins and Jeremiah Smith. Already entering the game as underdogs and not receiving the ball at half, it continues to be an uphill grind for the Irish.