By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
The Ohio State Buckeyes spent $20 million in NIL money to be in the national championship picture. And it worked.
The Buckeyes defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Monday night. The Buckeyes won 34-23 over the Fighting Irish in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game presented by AT&T at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.
“The story gets to get told now and it’s a great story,” Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day said. “I’ve got a bunch of guys who have just overcome some really tough situations. There’s a point where there’s a lot of people that counted us out.
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“We just kept swinging and kept fighting. It’s the reason why you get into coaching. It’s to see guys overcome things, learn life lessons, and then reach their dreams. This is what happened tonight.”
Ohio State ends their season with a 14-2 record. They won their first championship in 10 years.
The Buckeyes also won the first College Football Playoff National Championship during the 2014 season. On January 12th, 2015, they defeated the Oregon Ducks 42-20 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Day received much criticism after his team lost to the Michigan Wolverines on Thanksgiving weekend for the fourth straight year. Since then, the Buckeyes have won four straight games.
The Buckeyes head coach joined a group of coaches that includes Paul Brown, Woody Hayes, Jim Tressel, and Urban Meyer to win national championships at the school. Hayes is the only multi-time championship coach, as he guided the school to national championships in 1954, 1957, 1961, 1968, and 1970.
The Big Ten Conference has won back-to-back national championships. The Michigan Wolverines defeated the Washington Huskies last year to win the national championship.
The conference has not had back-to-back national champions since 1965 and 1966 when the Michigan State Spartans won the title.
Late in the game, the Buckeyes faced a dilemma. On a third and 11, the Fighting Irish were trying to force a punt.
Instead, Howard hit Smith for a 56-yard play that went down to the Notre Dame 10-yard line. From there, they ran the ball before Jayden Fielding made the game-winning field goal.
“It was a go-ball goal on the outside with a couple of options,” Day said. “If they played one-on-one on the outside, we were going to take our shot. They did a great job of game-planning us.
Will made a huge throw and Jeremiah made a huge catch to seal the game.”
Buckeyes quarterback Will Howard went 17 of 21 for 231 yards. He had two touchdown passes.
Quinshon Judkins had 11 carries for 100 yards and two touchdowns. Jeremiah Smith had five receptions for 88 yards and one touchdown.
“I think we did an unbelievable job on third down and winning the situations,” Howard said of the performance of his teammates. “And, you know, we talk about all the time we have to be the hardest team playing team in the country, and we gotta execute. We gotta great out champions, man.
“I think we did a heck of a job when it came down to it of executing and getting our job done.”
Fighting Irish quarterback Riley Leonard went 22 of 31 for 255 yards. He had two touchdown passes.
Leonard also had 17 carries for 40 yards and one touchdown. Jaden Greathouse had six receptions for 128 yards and two touchdowns.
The Fighting Irish outscored the Buckeyes 16-13 in the second half. Leonard hit Greathouse for a 34-yard touchdown reception. Following the score, Leonard hit Jeremiyah Love to convert the two-point play.
Leonard then hit Greathouse for a 30-yard touchdown reception. Following the score, Jordan Faison hit Beaux Collins to convert the two-point play.
“I mean, you gotta give all the credit in the world to those guys, man,” Howard said of Notre Dame’s comeback. “They fought their tails off, and we knew they were going to. We knew they were gonna come back and give us a fight, man.
But, you know, first and foremost, I gotta give the glory and the praise to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, man. I wouldn’t be here without him. I wouldn’t be here without my teammates, without my family, without everyone that bet on me back in Downtown Pennsylvania, man. I’m just, I’m at a loss for words right now.”
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Ohio State’s Judkins scored on a one-yard rushing touchdown. Fielding made two field goals. He first made a 46-yard field goal.
He also made a 33-yard field goal with 29 seconds left.
The Buckeyes led 21-7 at halftime. Howard hit Smith for an eight-yard touchdown reception.
Judkins scored on a nine-yard rushing touchdown. Howard hit Judkins for a six-yard touchdown reception.
Fighting Irish’s Leonard scored on a one-yard rushing touchdown.
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