Patience rules the day. The best team took home the hardware.
Two months after a shocking and disappointing loss to their most hated rival, the Michigan Wolverines, planted seeds of doubt about Ohio State’s coach and future, and some fans of the team were literally calling for his job, the Buckeyes left no stones unturned on Monday night and let everyone know where they stand within the college football’s hierarchy.
To put a bow on the 2024 season, Ohio State sits alone on the perch at the top after their convincing 34-23 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the College Football Playoff national championship, earning the program’s ninth national title and its first in ten years.
Ohio State quarterback Will Howard carved up the Irish like a turkey on Thanksgiving, finishing 17-for-21 passing for 231 yards and two touchdowns. His 56-yard bomb to star freshman wideout Jeremiah Smith, cousin of Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith, with 2:45 remaining in the fourth quarter and Ohio State clinging to an eight-point lead, set up the game-clinching touchdown.
“I just knew in my mind I had to make a play,” said Smith, who finished with 88 yards on five catches. “Finally, we got (one-on-one coverage) toward the end of the game, but I just knew I had to make a play when it’s man on man.”
Running back Quinshon Judkins had an outstanding game in his own right, adding 100 yards on the ground with two rushing scores and a receiving touchdown. Against one of the best third-down defenses in the country, Ohio State converted 9-of-12 third-down opportunities as they treaded through Notre Dame’s defense for the lion’s share of the first three quarters.
Embed from Getty ImagesBuckeyes players could not contain themselves and danced under confetti falling from the ceiling of Mercedes-Benz Stadium as the final seconds ran off the clock. To get to this point, Ohio State (14-2) had to first gather their composure from its November 30 home loss to Michigan. Heavy underdogs, the Wolverines nonetheless silenced Ohio State’s treasure trove of offensive weapons in a performance that ousted Ohio State from competing in the Big Ten championship game and left Buckeyes coach Ryan Day with a blank stare as if he did not know what just happened and fans wavering in their belief that Day was the right man to carry the enormous expectations that every Ohio State football coach inherits.
“It wasn’t like at the end of the year we were broken, it wasn’t that way,” Day said after he earned his long-sought national title. “We had an awful day. I don’t know how else to describe it. We had an awful day, and we just said we could never do that again, and I think it’s the job of the head coach to take the responsibility when something goes bad like that.”
In any other year, a two-loss Buckeye team coming off a bitter regular-season finale would have been at home watching the game on TV and would not have qualified for the four-team College Football Playoff field. Yet this season marked the first of an expanded field that grew to 12, and Ohio State, which limped into the field as the eighth seed, took advantage. Over the next three games, blowouts of Tennessee Volunteers, in the first round, and top-seeded Oregon Ducks, in a quarterfinal, followed by a narrow semifinal victory over the Texas Longhorns, the Buckeyes led wire to wire and did not flinch under pressure by making crucial plays that either took control from the very beginning against Texas or sealed a win at the very end.
The Buckeyes finally showed a slight dent in the armor in Monday’s national championship game against the seventh-seeded Irish (14-2), who marched 75 yards in 18 plays and bled nearly 10 minutes off the clock before they scored a touchdown on the opening drive.
That proved to be the high point of Notre Dame’s night. Ohio State scored touchdowns on its first four drives and added a field goal on its fifth to lead 31-7 in the third quarter. By then, their rushing attack had gained more yards in barely more than two quarters than the Irish had surrendered on average per game all season.
Notre Dame made a late surge and comeback attempt by scoring to trim their deficit to 31-15 late in the third. When their chip shot field goal attempt bounced off the left upright and fell harmlessly to the turf minutes later, the celebration continued inside a stadium overwhelmed by a palette of fans dressed in Ohio State’s scarlet and gray. When the Fighting Irish scored again, with 4:15 left in regulation, a nervous hush overtook the stadium until Smith’s completion.
“It was a big play for the freshman,” Ohio State receiver Emeka Egbuka said. “He’s amazing, he’s going to have an amazing career, here and in the NFL.”
It is the first time since 1965-66 that the Big Ten has won at least a share of a national championship in back-to-back years; Michigan claimed last season’s title over the University of Washington. The Wolverines, this season, appeared to push Ohio State to the edge of a cliff in late November.
“There were a lot of hard conversations that had to be had,” Egbuka said of the weeks after the loss to Michigan.
Those discussions turned into celebrations on Monday. After celebratory confetti fell on a hastily assembled stage near the end zone and after Buckeyes players lifted the championship trophy, Day stepped down from the stage and was grabbed by a friend on the field in a hug.
“You look good soaked!” he told Day, who had been drenched in a sideline bath in the final seconds.
Day grinned widely. So much can change in two months.
There were plenty of ‘A List’ celebrities in attendance, including Ohio legend LeBron James, Maverick Carter, MLB star Bryce Harper and rapper Travis Scott. Also on hand were Joe Montana, A.J. Hawk, Stephen A. Smith, and Denny Hamlin, just to name a few.
