The inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff is set to crown a national champion on Monday as 7-seed Notre Dame takes on 8-seed Ohio State at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium. This will be the ninth meeting for two of college football's most storied programs and marks the third consecutive season the Buckeyes and Fighting Irish will face off -- the longest such streak in the series' relatively brief history.

When the Ohio State and Notre Dame football teams meet on Monday for the right to claim the College Football Playoff Championship, it’ll be just the ninth meeting between the two. In fact,

A Buckeyes win would give the Big Ten back-to-back national champions for the first time since 1942, when the league was called the Western Conference. Paul Brown-coached Ohio State went 9-1 that year and was the third straight national champion from the conference. Voters crowned Minnesota in 1940 and ’41.