CFP National Championship Game: 5 bold predictions for Alabama vs. Ohio State

National Championship Game prediction No. 4: Justin Fields throws for 5 TDs

In the Big Ten Championship Game, the expectation was that Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields needed to be the driving force for the offense if they were going to have success against a stout Northwestern defense. Instead, it was the emergence of running back Trey Sermon that carried the Buckeyes while Fields played probably the worst game of his college career in the process.

Suffice it to say that Fields rebounded from that effort, though. In the Sugar Bowl victory over Clemson, the eventual top-five draft pick dissected the Tigers’ defense. He finished the game going 22-of-28 for 385 yards with six touchdowns, albeit while also throwing one interception. And it feels as if the dynamic signal-caller is hungry for more.

Make no mistake, the Alabama secondary offers a much more substantial challenge for Fields and the Buckeyes than Clemson did. Subsequently, don’t expect Fields to be as dominantly efficient to where he controls every aspect of the game. But you can undoubtedly bank on him making big plays to keep Ohio State in the game throughout.

Fields won’t quite get to the six-touchdown mark that he did in the semifinal matchup but he’ll get close. The quarterback will spread the ball around and come up with big-time throws in the red zone to end the night with five touchdown passes to his credit.