The Ohio State Buckeyes won the first National Championship when the College Football Playoff was founded in 2014 and now, the Buckeyes are on top of the College Football World again for the first ever expanded 12 team College Football Playoff in 2024.
It is the college football blue blood’s ninth national championship, and the first for head coach Ryan Day. The Buckeyes defeated another college football blue blood in Notre Dame to get that crown.
The game started off with the Fighting Irish marching the ball down the field and scoring on a one yard from Riley Leonard for a 18 play, 75 yard drive. However, the next two quarters were dominated by the Buckeyes scoring 31 unanswered points.
The Buckeyes scored on every possession of the first half thanks to the efficiency of Will Howard, who completed 17 of 21 passes for 231 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Quinshon Judkins had a big night as well scoring two touchdowns on the ground and catching a touchdown from Howard.
Trailing 31-7, Notre Dame did have a sign of life going into the fourth quarter with Notre Dame scoring twice on two Riley Leonard touchdown connections with Jaden Greathouse plus a couple of two point conversions to make it a one touchdown game at 31-23.
All of a sudden on a 3rd down and 11 with the game still in the balance, Howard decided to call on freshman star receiver Jeremiah Smith for a 56 yard gain that would end up being the nail in the coffin setting up the 34-23 game clinching 33 yard field goal from Jayden Fielding.
After finishing the regular season with a disappointing loss to bitter rival Michigan, the Buckeyes used that fuel for the fire by going on an impressive four game playoff run outscoring its playoff opponents 111-52.
The regular season loss to Michigan sparked a lot of intense pressure on Ryan Day, but the saying goes that Pressure Makes Diamonds and that certainly was the case for Day and the Buckeyes, which is rising to the top of the college football world.