If it’s football, Notre Dame and Ohio State will be playing for the national championship on a January Monday night in Atlanta.
If it’s basketball, chances are it won’t be Notre Dame and Ohio State playing for the title on an April Monday night in San Antonio.
Yes, the past is a little different for these two schools, depending on whether the ball is oval and brown or round and orange.
If it’s football, Notre Dame is going after its 14th national championship. Ohio State will be after its ninth.
If it’s basketball, Ohio State has been to the Final Four plenty of times — 11 (with one of those vacated) — but the Buckeyes’ lone national championship came 65 years ago. Notre Dame’s one Final Four was in 1978.
If it’s football, these two are the last teams standing in the playoffs with a combined record of 27-3.
If it’s basketball, Notre Dame is currently tied for 11th in the ACC and Ohio State tied for 12th in the Big Ten.
If it’s football, these two teams have played in the CFP or BCS championship games eight times in the past 23 seasons.
If it’s basketball, Ohio State has been in the title game once in 62 years and Notre Dame has never been there.
If it’s football, Notre Dame and Ohio State have had iconic coaches who need only a first name for identification. Knute, Ara, Lou, Woody.
If it’s basketball, Notre Dame had Moose and Digger but the guy from Ohio State who won a national championship and went to four Final Fours was Fred Taylor, and nobody remembers him as just Fred.
If it’s football, the teams play in venerable homes with stately, simple names. Ohio Stadium built in 1922. Notre Dame Stadium opened in 1930. The Shoe and the House That Rockne Built. Combined capacity: Nearly 183,000.
If it’s basketball, we’re talking Value Center Arena and the Joyce Center. Combined capacity: Roughly 28,000.
If it’s football, the helmets have famously distinctive features. Ohio State with its buckeye stickers, Notre Dame with its gold shine.
If it’s basketball, the two teams are pretty much suited up like everyone else.
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If it’s football, Script Ohio is still one of the game’s great traditions, spelled out by the Ohio State band across the field.
If it’s basketball, about all there’d be room for on the court are the letters O and maybe H, but the band does always play "Hang On Sloopy."
If it’s football, Ohio State’s Archie Griffin is the only man to win the Heisman twice.
If it’s basketball, Notre Dame’s Austin Carr is the only man to score 60 points in an NCAA tournament game.
If it’s football, the Michigan game is Armageddon at the end of every Ohio State season. A coach gets fired if he loses it too often, which is how Ryan Day — after four consecutive defeats by the Wolverines — could actually have some Buckeye zealots calling for his head, even with a 69-10 record.
If it’s basketball, the Michigan game is sometime in February, slid in between Purdue and Michigan State. A coach will be OK losing to the Wolverines, so long as it doesn’t keep the Buckeyes out of the NCAA tournament too often.
If it’s football, Notre Dame is 2-6 all-time against Ohio State and hasn’t beaten the Buckeyes since 1936.
If it’s basketball, Notre Dame is 5-9 all-time against Ohio State and hasn’t beaten the Buckeyes since 1999.
If it’s football, there is still no explanation how Notre Dame lost at home to Northern Illinois.
If it’s basketball, the Irish didn’t play Northern Illinois this season but did lose at home to Elon.
If it’s football, the Buckeyes are 30-0 all-time against current FBS schools from the state of Ohio.
If it’s basketball, the Buckeyes remain the only team ever to lose a national championship game to an opponent from its own state. That was Cincinnati, and it happened in consecutive years, 1961-62.
If it’s football, Notre Dame takes the field as an independent.
If it’s basketball, Notre Dame would be carrying the ACC banner into the fight.
If it’s football, Ohio State had 10 wins by at least 20 points each and its two losses came by a total of four points.
If it’s basketball, the Buckeye scores have been all over the map. They beat Kentucky by 20 but lost to Auburn by 38. They played six consecutive double-digit games when the average margin was 23 points but their past three games have been decided by five total points.
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If it’s football, the Heisman Trophy has been handed out since 1935 — and Ohio State and Notre Dame have combined to win 14 of them.
If it's basketball, the Naismith Award for national player of the year has been handed out since 1969 and Ohio State and Notre Dame have produced one winner each.
If it’s football, Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman played at Ohio State.
If it’s basketball, Ohio State coach Jake Diebler played at Valparaiso, which is just an hour down the road from Notre Dame.
If it’s football, Ohio State will always be able to say it played in the first championship game of the new 12-team playoff system. One opponent the Buckeyes beat to get there was Oregon 41-21.
If it’s basketball, Ohio State will always be able to say it played in the first championship game of the NCAA tournament. Lost to Oregon 46-33 in 1939.
If it’s football, Notre Dame can claim the honor of stopping the longest winning streak in history when the Irish beat Oklahoma 7-0 in 1957, after 47 Sooner victories in a row.
If it’s basketball...come to think of it, Notre Dame can make the same claim, taking out UCLA 71-70 in 1974 after 88 Bruin victories in a row.
So maybe football and basketball aren’t that far apart at Notre Dame and Ohio State, and that includes the calendar.
If it’s football, Notre Dame and Ohio State will finally decide the champion on Jan. 20.
If it’s basketball, Notre Dame and Ohio State will be starting their conference tournaments only 50 and 51 days later.
