(Photo Courtesy of the Orange Bowl)

Notre Dame will play for the national championship Monday night against Ohio State.

Let that sink in.

It was something almost impossible to imagine if you go back back four months to when the Irish lost on their home field to Northern Illinois in week 2 of the regular season.

“It means a lot, knowing that we were the embarrassment of college football at one point when we lost to NIU, and now we’re coming back bigger, badder, stronger than ever,” explains Irish linebacker Jaylen Sneed. “We just can’t wait for our opportunity to play.”

Notre Dame has been in must win mode since that loss to NIU. The Irish took a while to click but now have the longest winning streak in all of college football, having won 13 in a row.

“What this team has kind of bought into all this season,” Jaden Greathouse says about what this run to the national championship game shows about this team. “Having to go to class with the first playoff game on the weekend, fighting through all the adversity that we’ve had with the NIU loss, just this team being a tough team, this team being together and built and having the chemistry that we have, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen, and this team has really bought into winning this entire thing.”

Coming back from the Northern Illinois loss has been the top headline and something Irish coach Marcus Freeman speaks to a lot but Notre Dame’s ability to overcome a high amount of injuries this season is a testament to this program as well.

“We have a lot of depth, and it’s really shown with all the injuries we’ve had,” Irish defensive lineman Joshua Burnham says. “But it’s a huge credit to [strength and conditioning coach Loren Landow] and all the trainers being able to work with us and help us throughout all of these injuries. I think it’s been a huge step forward for the program, being able to go in like after practices and going to the weight room and get recovery as a unit. It’s really shown in the long run that we’re good to go.”

That’s coming during the longest college football season ever with the new 12-team playoff format as Notre Dame and Ohio State will each play an unprecedented 16th game Monday in the national title game. The ‘next man in’ was on full display for all to see in the national semifinal win over Penn State as Notre Dame saw two offensive linemen and quarterback Riley Leonard go down in a span of moments and the Notre Dame offense mustered its first scoring drive of the game without them. While Leonard returned, the offensive linemen did not and yet Notre Dame still found a way to rally to victory.

The Irish have grown this season as their head coach Marcus Freeman has grown. Freeman has a special bond with his team. It was evident from the first video that was released when he was promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach and the Irish players swarmed him upon learning the news. Freeman has had to learn on the job as a first time head coach at a blue blood school like Notre Dame but after the loss to Northern Illinois, Freeman found his message and hammered it home. And because of the connection Freeman has with his players, his team has bought in.

“I think he’s just an extension of the team,” Irish quarterback Riley Leonard says of Freeman. “He seems like a veteran teammate in my eyes. Before we hit the field when he’s hyping the guys up, it feels like it’s just a senior captain talking to you a little bit. He does a good job of balancing the hierarchy of things. He does understand that he has to carry himself as a head coach, and we obviously see him as our head coach, but we feel him in a different way. He really does a good job of resonating to us as players. There’s a lot of leadership styles about him. I think one thing in particular, if he doesn’t have an opinion or something, he’ll let us make the decision. A lot of people are egotistical in this field, and I don’t see him as a guy that has any type of ego.”

Freeman has pushed all the right buttons to get everything out of his team during this playoff run. If he can do it again, Notre Dame will be national champions for the 12th time in program history but for the first time since 1988.

“It’s going to mean a lot,” Burnham says of what it would mean to win it all. “We haven’t won a National Championship in quite some time now, and it’s going to put us back on the map and show that we’re one of the top teams in college football.”

The Irish have already shown that win or lose.

Notre Dame and Ohio State will kickoff just after 7:30pm Monday night in Atlanta in the CFP National Championship Game.