Ohio State Buckeyes Receive Another National Championship Prediction

FOX Sports analyst and former quarterback Matt Leinart picked the Ohio State Buckeyes to win the inaugural 12-team playoff.

Brady Quinn, Matt Leinart and Joel Klatt speaks on a Big Noon Kickoff pregame show before a NCAA football game between Iowa and Ohio State, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022, at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. 221022 Iowa Ohio St Fb 0120 Jpg / Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen /

The intrigue of the new 12-team College Football Playoff is leading to a common theme as the season approaches, many college football analysts and even fans are trying to predict the 12 teams to make the inaugural 12-team playoff. The other common theme with these predictions is that most seem to expect the Buckeyes to fare pretty well this season.

The Ohio State Buckeyes received another National Championship prediction on Monday and even got a former USC Trojan to hit an O-H-I-O at the end of the video. Matt Leinart is familiar with making trips to Columbus as a member of the Big Noon Kickoff pregame show on FOX Sports. The former USC and NFL quarterback seems to believe that the Buckeyes will be adding a major trophy to their extensive trophy cabinet.

12 team CFP predictions. Let’s get it! pic.twitter.com/JHVKhQJYbq

— Matt Leinart (@MattLeinartQB) July 29, 2024

Leinart drew a bracket on a whiteboard and the lefty asked viewers to excuse his penmanship. In that bracket the Buckeyes not only were one of the four teams to receive a bye, but Leinart had them listed as the No. 1 seed. Georgia, Clemson and Utah were his other three teams to get byes. No. 12 Liberty versus No. 5 Oregon, No. 9 Penn State versus No. 8 Ole Miss, No. 11 Florida State versus No. 6 Notre Dame and No. 11 Alabama versus No. 7 Texas were the first-round matchups.

Following the first round, Leinart's semifinals were set with No. 5 Oregon versus No. 4 Utah, No. 8 Ole Miss versus No. 1 Ohio State, No. 6 Notre Dame versus No. 3 Clemson and No. 7 Texas versus No. 2 Georgia.

Now down to the final four teams, Leinart chose two semifinal matchups of Oregon versus Ohio State and Clemson versus Georgia. If this were to happen, this could potentially be the third time that the Ducks and Buckeyes would be meeting after one regular season game and likely a Big Ten Conference Championship matchup based on Leinart's seeding.

With the Buckeyes once again beating the Ducks and the Bulldogs defeating the Tigers, the Buckeyes have an opportunity for revenge against Georgia following a heartbreaking defeat in the semifinal two seasons ago. Leinart not only says that the Buckeyes get it done and win it all, but that they also beat Michigan this year.

Ohio State coach Ryan Day huddles with his players before facing Maryland. / Barbara J. Perenic/The Columbus / USA

"Ryan Day finally gets over the hump," remarked Leinart, prior to hitting that O-H-I-O.

Fall camp starts for the Buckeyes with fans in attendance on Thursday. The path to Leinart's prediction is nearly set to get underway.