Buckeye Nation has been basking for a month now, Ryan Day has made the rounds on the talk show circuit, and the national championship trophy sits in Columbus, Ohio.
As far-fetched as all of this seemed back on Nov. 30, when the Buckeyes lost to arch-rival Michigan for the fourth straight season — inexplicably, considering this season’s edition of Wolverines was a mediocre bunch and the loss happened at Ohio Stadium — the Ohio State Buckeyes are the kings of college football.
And not only did they win the 2024 College Football Playoff national championship, they pretty much obliterated the field. The Buckeyes mauled Tennessee 42-17 in the first round in Columbus, annihilated undefeated and No. 1-ranked Oregon 41-21 in the Rose Bowl quarterfinals in a game that was over by the end of the first quarter, defeated a tough Texas squad 28-14 in the Cotton Bowl semifinals in the one contest the Buckeyes didn’t control from start to finish, and held off Notre Dame 34-23 in the CFP National Championship Game that saw the Buckeyes lead 31-7 midway through the third quarter.
So, just like Ohio State was the first team to win the College Football Playoff when it debuted in 2014 as a four-team, two-round tournament, Ohio State is the first team to win the CFP in its expanded 12-team, four-round format — and, as the No. 8 seed, was forced to go all four rounds to do it.
A murderers’ row of four consecutive Top 10 opponents, a gauntlet of gauntlets, an impossible task as the sun set on Ohio — and seemingly the Buckeyes’ season – on that cold, sunny yet gloomy day at the end of November. And the Buckeyes won all four games by double-digit margins of victory, their dominance so complete that they trailed just once in those 16 unforgettable quarters, at 7-0 when Notre Dame scored on the first series of the CFP title game. That deficit lasted a grand total of 3 minutes and 40 seconds, the time it took Ohio State to cover 75 yards in 11 plays to tie the game on its first possession.
We may not see anything like this in the College Football Playoff for a very long time. It was like an NFL team had been dropped into the CFP field as a ringer, disguised as Ohio State, and stampeded everything and everyone in its path. The Buckeyes had leads of 21-0 on Tennessee in the first quarter, 34-0 on Oregon in the second quarter and 31-7 on Notre Dame in the third quarter. Only Texas managed to stay in the game most of the way, yet still lost by two touchdowns.
This wasn’t just a championship for Ohio State, it was a coronation. Due to the new 12-team, four-round playoff structure, it was by far the longest, hardest road to a national title in college football history, and the Buckeyes made it look easy.
Here are some thoughts on the Buckeyes and the CFP in general after allowing a month to go by to digest everything that happened:
Welcome to the NIL
The takeaway from the 2024 CFP is clear: Those who don’t pony up are going to get run out. Between Name Image Likeness and the transfer portal, it’s a new day and a new way of assembling (and retaining) talent. Ohio State would have been loaded anyway due to the return of just about every key underclassman from the 2023 team, who decided to put the NFL off for another year to chase a national championship together. But add transfers like quarterback Will Howard from Kansas State, running back Quinshon Judkins from Ole Miss and safety Caleb Downs from Alabama via the portal, and the Buckeyes turned into a monster. And then there was the little matter of Jeremiah Smith, who went from heralded 5-star high school recruit to the best college wide receiver in the country as a true freshman. Ohio State was far from the only program to engage in the NIL/portal game, of course, since basically everyone does it now, but it was certainly the smartest.
Learning curve
Day and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly were eviscerated for what was, being totally honest here, a pathetic game plan in that 13-10 loss to Michigan, running between the tackles most of the game rather than letting it all hang out with the Buckeyes’ plethora of playmakers. Consider it a lesson learned. In the playoff, starting with Tennessee and continuing all four rounds, Day and Kelly went for the jugular early and often. They realized that if you have a kraken on your offense, it’s best to release it. Except that the Buckeyes had a whole bunch of krakens, and they ate defenses alive in the playoff.
CFP seeding
We learned three things from the first 12-team CFP: the winner of a conference isn’t necessarily the best team in the conference, home field is everything in the first round, and giving a top four seed to a Group of Five team – in this season’s case, Boise State — just doesn’t have merit. Let’s take them one at a time: 1. The four conference champions that got automatic first-round byes — Oregon, Arizona State, Georgia and Boise State — all lost their playoff openers in the quarterfinal round. Oregon, Georgia and Boise State all lost by double digits, with Oregon getting crushed in the Rose Bowl quarterfinals by Ohio State after beating the Buckeyes by one point in October on the Ducks’ field. It’s not hard to imagine, particularly when the CFP expands to 14 and probably eventually 16 teams, conference title games going the way of the dinosaur. 2. All four home teams in the first round won, and won easily. The problem wasn’t the format of first-round games being played at campus sites, the problem was the seeding structure. Which we’ve been told is going to change starting next season. 3. As for Boise, there’s no argument that the Broncos should have been in the 12-team CFP, just not in the top four. Playing in the Mountain West Conference is not the same thing as having to go through a Power Four conference, and if the Broncos were members of, say, the Big Ten or SEC, they would have been a middle of the pack team in either conference. Having said that, they had a great season and won their conference, and they deserved to be in the CFP. Again, just not in the top four. All of this needs to be taken into account with regard to seeding in future playoffs, up to and including reseeding the teams after each round to get more competitive and attractive matchups.
Waking the sleeping giant
Without a doubt, Michigan is largely responsible for Ohio State’s historic national championship. The Buckeyes were disgusted with their performance against the Wolverines in The Game, particularly on offense, and even more disgusted with Michigan’s abhorrent behavior after the contest, which included players and even head coach Sherrone Moore waving goodbye to Ohio State players and fans as well as the infamous flag-planting incident by Wolverine players that sparked a brawl on the field shortly after the game ended. Buckeye Nation had been waiting for its favorite team to play hungry and angry since the end of the Urban Meyer era, and the Wolverines unwittingly lit the Buckeyes’ playoff fire and poured gasoline all over it. You didn’t have to be Woody Hayes to see that Ohio State was one locked in, p—ed off bunch from the middle of December to the middle of January.
Pluck of the Irish
Down 31-7 halfway through the third quarter and having shown no signs of life since midway through the first quarter, Notre Dame seemed to be headed for the same fate as Tennessee and Oregon in the CFP title game. But to the Fighting Irish’s credit, rather than roll over and die, they staged a furious rally to pull within 31-23 with just over two minutes left in the game. But the hole was too deep and the Buckeyes too talented, with Will Howard hitting Jeremiah Smith on an already-legendary 56-yard bomb to the ND 10-yard line on a critical third-and-11 play to set up the game-sealing field goal. Nobody should have been surprised by Notre Dame’s fortitude, though. Irish coach Marcus Freeman was a star linebacker at Ohio State in his playing days and his coach there was Jim Tressel, whose teams were known for their toughness and resilience. Freeman clearly has instilled these same traits into the Fighting Irish.
Chip off the old block
The word “genius” is overused, but it applies in the case of OC Chip Kelly throughout the College Football Playoff. Kelly’s game plans and play-calling were, well, genius in all four games. The defenses of Tennessee, Oregon and Notre Dame had little hope of stopping Kelly’s offense, and Texas only managed to keep from getting blown out of the Cotton Bowl semifinal thanks to some uncharacteristically sloppy play and mental mistakes by the Buckeyes on the offensive side of the ball, particularly a bevy of drive-killing penalties. Kelly is a master at his craft, and fans got to see the master operating at the highest level in the College Football Playoff. He has now taken his OC talents to the Las Vegas Raiders, where, quite frankly, the talent at wide receiver is a notch or two below what he had at Ohio State. As for that head-scratching Michigan game plan, it’s irrelevant now. And as for defensive coordinator Jim Knowles’ unit, the Buckeyes were ferocious throughout the playoff, stuffing run games and forcing quarterbacks to run for their lives. Knowles seemed to abandon his cerebral approach and instead unleashed the hounds, and the results spoke for themselves. Defensive end Jack Sawyer’s 83-yard sack, scoop and score to ice the Cotton Bowl victory became part of Buckeye lore the instant he crossed the goal line.
Hear me out
OK, I’m asking everyone up front to spare the emails on this one. But count me among those who no longer see Ohio State-Michigan as a One-Game Season. Hear me out before you starting pounding away on your keyboard:
Yes, it’s by far the most important game on the schedule for both teams. I might be biased, but it’s the best and most meaningful rivalry in all of sports. And its importance should never be relegated to The Game being played in the middle of the season, a bad idea that’s been tossed around in recent years. It’s a heated rivalry, the teams and fan bases despise each other, and it represents a long, glorious chapter in the history and tradition of both programs.
Now for a hard dose of reality: The season no longer hinges on the outcome of that game. It used to be that the loser of the Ohio State-Michigan game could forget about winning the national championship. Back in the poll era, that game commonly was for all the Big Ten marbles: conference title, Rose Bowl berth and national title shot. Lose it, and your season was little more than a smoldering crater. Then along came the BCS era, where nothing much changed: the BCS pitted No. 1 vs. No. 2 in a winner-take-all national championship bout, so you couldn’t lose the Ohio State-Michigan game and play for the BCS title. Then along came the four-team, two-round College Football Playoff in 2014, which was a tournament of the top four teams in the country. Even then, losing The Game meant sitting on the outside of the national championship picture.
But now there’s the 12-team, four-round CFP. With 12 teams getting in, the loser of the Ohio State-Michigan game, assuming that loser is either undefeated or has only one loss coming into the game, can still make the CFP and win it all. The 2024 Buckeyes are Exhibit A for that scenario. This means that, on some level, The Game has lost a little relevance with regard to the big picture. It’s not irrelevant by any stretch, but it doesn’t carry the same do-or-die pressure that it did before 2024 unless one or both teams absolutely has to win it to make the playoff. As for what it means to the two schools, programs and states, don’t worry, the hate hasn’t gone anywhere.
(Not so) interesting take
It’s hard to tell if it’s a defense mechanism or if they really feel this way, but I’ve been informed that the vast majority of Michigan fans are of the mind that they had the superior 2024 season because their Wolverines defeated the Buckeyes. It’s an interesting notion, so let’s examine it a little deeper: The ultimate goal in college football is to win the national championship. Ohio State won the national championship in 2024. Michigan did not. OK, so it’s not that interesting of a notion after all. The fact that Ohio State lost to Michigan on the way to winning the national championship is irrelevant. The idea is to make the 12-team CFP field however you can. Once you’re in, you get the chance to reset and make a run to the top of the mountain, which is precisely what the Buckeyes did in 2024. Who you beat or lose to along the way in the regular season is window dressing. Going undefeated is a nice little bonus as well, but it’s not necessary and could actually work to your detriment in the expanded CFP era, with the burden of being unbeaten weighing too heavily on your shoulders as it did with Oregon in its Rose Bowl wood-shedding by Ohio State. Losing to Michigan in 2024 was just a step along the way to the national title for the Buckeyes – and, ironically, it played a big role in accomplishing that feat.
(Not so) interesting take II
I’ve also been informed that Michigan fans are of the mind that their 2023 CFP *title (the asterisk is there due to the NCAA’s ongoing investigation of Michigan’s sign-stealing cheating scandal under former coach Jim Harbaugh from 2021 to 2023, with the governing body already levying several serious charges against the program) was better than Ohio State’s 2024 CFP title because the Wolverines went 15-0 and Ohio State did not. Again, let’s examine: 1. Regular season record, particularly in the 12-team CFP, is irrelevant. 2. Ohio State made college football history by becoming the first team to win the 12-team College Football Playoff. 3. Ohio State made history by becoming the first team to win all four rounds of the 12-team College Football Playoff. 4. Ohio State beat all four of its playoff opponents by double digits. 5. While Ohio State won four playoff rounds in 2024, Michigan only *won two in 2023, literally making the Buckeyes’ 2024 national championship twice as difficult to win. Michigan fans are naturally going to think theirs is better because it’s theirs. But as far as place in history, there’s no comparison: Ohio State’s 2024 national championship will go down as one of the greatest in the history of college football.
And another thing…
In terms of historical significance to the sport of college football, Michigan’s 2023 *title also ranks well below Ohio State’s 2002 BCS and 2014 CFP national championships. In 2002, which saw Ohio State go undefeated at 14-0 (that seems to be really important, so we’re mentioning it here), the Buckeyes defeated No. 1-ranked Miami (Fla.) in the BCS title game, halting the defending national champion Hurricanes’ 34-game winning streak that dated back to the 2000 season. It was one of the biggest upsets in the history of the game, and the Buckeyes’ 31-24 win over the Hurricanes in double overtime is considered one of the greatest college football games ever played. Its place in history is unmatched. Then there’s Ohio State’s 2014 season, which saw the Buckeyes win the inaugural CFP, thus becoming the first playoff national champion in the history of Division I-A/FBS. As an added bonus, the Buckeyes were down to their third-string quarterback, Cardale Jones, for that 2014 postseason run and still won it all, hanging 59 points on Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game, 42 on Alabama in the Sugar Bowl semifinal and 42 again on Oregon in the CFP title game – all with a third-string quarterback. So when it comes to the annals of college football history, Ohio State’s 2002, 2014 and 2024 national championships are unparalleled.
Tom Hardesty is a Portager sports columnist. He was formerly assistant sports editor at the Record-Courier and author of the book Glimpses of Heaven.