Sam Avellone
Show Bio
All eyes will be on Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia on Monday night when the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Ohio State Buckeyes meet in the college football National Championship game. Both of these offenses lit up the scoreboards all season long, and tonight’s title game will provide these players with one final opportunity to find the end zone – this time on the sport’s biggest stage. With a total around 46 points, oddsmakers don’t expect this to be a very high-scoring game. However, there are a couple of touchdown scorer props that struck me as valuable. Let’s get into our touchdown scorer best bets for Ohio State vs Notre Dame, while you can also get all of our college football picks for the game.
Read our full Ohio State vs Notre Dame predictions to find out our expert’s 3-star best bet
Ohio State vs Notre Dame touchdown scorer best bet: TreVeyon Henderson (+110)
Odds available at DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publishing.
Wide receiver Jeremiah Smith has been a touchdown machine for the Buckeyes this season, but Notre Dame has been very good against opposing wide receivers in its playoff run – and Texas put somewhat of a blueprint on how to defend Smith on film for coach March Freeman and the Irish defense leading into Monday’s matchup. That being said, I shifted my focus to Ohio State’s backfield – which offers a little bit more value than Smith in the touchdown scorer market – and landed on TreVeyon Henderson.
The senior back has scored 5 touchdowns in Ohio State’s playoff run, 4 of them on the ground and 1 of them being the highlight 75-yard catch-and-run against Texas in the semifinal. He is a dynamic runner and pass-catcher out of the backfield, and is a big-play threat almost any time he touches the ball – as shown by his 7.3 yards per carry and 10.5 yards per reception. At better odds than Smith and Quinshon Judkins, I’m in on Henderson to score against a Notre Dame defense that has given up 5 running-back touchdowns in the College Football Playoff.
Lock in our expert’s best Ohio State vs Notre Dame player prop bets for the National Championship
Ohio State vs Notre Dame touchdown scorer best bet: Riley Leonard (+150)
Odds available at FanDuel Sportsbook at time of publishing.
FanDuel’s current price on Riley Leonard is almost an instant click. Most of the market is around +120, which I still like, but +150 is just too good to pass up. Leonard has been heavily involved as a runner in Notre Dame’s last 4 games, carrying the ball an average of 13.75 times per game in that span. Furthermore, he has 16 rushing touchdowns this season, which is just 1 shy of Jeremiyah Love’s team-leading 17.
Ohio State hasn’t played many quarterbacks that possess the rushing ability of Leonard. His ability to scramble away from pressure is going to be key against the Buckeye pass rush, as he is top 10 in scrambles and scramble yards according to PFF. I’m sure we’re going to see more of that from Leonard in this game given Notre Dame’s injuries across the offensive line against OSU’s defensive front. As long as Notre Dame can get into scoring range a few times, I like Leonard to be the one to find the end zone for the Irish.
Add some extra spice to this matchup with our Ohio State vs Notre Dame Same Game Parlay picks at +776 odds
