Michael Cohen
College football and college basketball writer
ATLANTA As the last few notes of “Carmen Ohio” floated toward the cavernous roof of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Ohio State's players and coaches lifted their arms from each other's shoulders and used them to spell out the state where the latest national was a college football champion. lives. It's a tradition the Buckeyes keep after every game they play home or away, win or lose, and the mood has never been happier than on Monday night when the ninth national championship in program history was secured with a 34 -23 win over Notre Dame. . Dear Alma Mater…OHIO!
From his spot on the celebratory platform where this year's trophy presentation had just concluded, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day offered a variation on the traditional arm movements that close the song. Instead of miming the letters OHIO with the rest of his team, as he normally does every week, Day simply hoisted the 50-pound prize, made of gold, bronze and stainless steel. At last he had completed the long, painful climb to the top of his highly critical profession.
And how satisfying that moment must have felt after everything Day had experienced over the course of this season and the previous three, none of which included a Big Ten Championship or wins over archrival Michigan. How beautiful the song must have sounded this evening and on this stage as it was juxtaposed with the hollow ringing at Ohio Stadium on November 30, when the Buckeyes suffered their fourth consecutive loss to the Wolverines and a brawl began to erupt near the midfield. -sprayed reality that had no resonance with a shocked and bewildered Day. How much sweeter the embrace with his family must have been, knowing that his children will not be molested when they return to school later this week and that his wife will not have to worry about death threats against her husband. Even the more joyful postgame scenes after the demolitions of Tennessee, Oregon and Texas left lingering questions about Day's future if Ohio State fell short against Notre Dame.
“I think these days,” Day said shortly after midnight Tuesday morning, “there's so much that comes with wins and losses and social media, and people having to write articles, and a lot of things being said. that certainly has an effect on you and your family. But if you sign up for this job, you have to be strong enough to weather those storms, to get out. Now it's a better story.”
The story of Ohio State's victory over Notre Dame is one of an unstoppable offense that scored touchdowns on its first four possessions and converted nine times on 12 third-down attempts to jump out to a 31-7 lead midway through the third quarter. racing. It's about a defense that was overthrown on the game's opening drive and then responded by surrendering just 11 yards on the next four series combined, none of which produced any points. It's about a maligned kicker-in Jayden Fielding who connected from 46 yards and 33 yards to keep the Fighting Irish at bay in the second half. It involves a crucial third-down conversion just before the two-minute timeout in which the coaching staff entrusted freshman sensation Jeremiah Smith to beat man coverage for a 56-yard completion that effectively sealed the game.
But the story of Ohio State's national championship cannot be told without examining the growth and maturation of Day, who took over from Urban Meyer in 2019 and spent the better part of a decade tinkering and toiling before finally nailing the formula perfected during the first iteration. of a twelve-team play-off. That means the story of this year's title centers on things like Day's choice to hire defensive coordinator Jim Knowles from Oklahoma State and then stick with him after poor performances against Michigan (twice) and Georgia, with Knowles losing his unit eventually transformed into a fighting force in 2024. It centers on Day's identification and recruitment of ex-Kansas State quarterback Will Howard (17 of 21, 231 yards, two touchdowns), whose enviable blend of leadership and talent. was exactly what the Buckeyes needed after a disappointing stint with Kyle McCord. It's about Day's connection to his 2021 recruiting class, most of which decided to bypass the NFL Draft and return for another chance to win it all. It's about Day's willingness to give up his play-calling duties and hire then-UCLA head coach Chip Kelly as offensive coordinator, which allowed him to become more involved in other parts of the program, such as roster building and fundraising, resulting in one of the most powerful transfer portals in the country. It's about Day's incredible show of determination in rebounding from another horrific loss to Michigan and then guiding Ohio State to four straight postseason victories against teams ranked seventh, first, third and fifth when the College Football Playoff round was revealed.
“I don't know if it surprises other people,” Kelly said Monday night.[but] I wasn't surprised because it was built for this. I told him that a long time ago, when he became head coach here. Get started with it, because you were built for it.' I'm just really happy for him. And the way he led this group, the players will say the same thing, how he stood his ground through it all. They always talk about Ohio Against the World. Sometimes it was the Woody Hayes Athletic Center against the world because it was just us.”
And yet the expectation was always that Ohio State would come to Atlanta and beat Notre Dame, just as the Buckeyes defeated their previous three playoff opponents by a combined score of 111-52. Sporadic chants of “OH! …IO!began rattling through downtown Atlanta shortly after 1 p.m. on Monday as hundreds of fans marched parade-style down Peachtree Street toward the stadium, all bundled up against unusually cold temperatures. The cheers from Ohio State's pregame demonstration topped 60 times audible floors above ground level through thick windows in the media hotel, a testament to both the passion of Ohio State fans and how refreshingly loosely enforced open-container laws can be. A few blocks south, at the intersection of Marietta Street NW and Centennial Olympic Park Drive, a rotating billboard flashed an Ohio State ad repeatedly, “We're taking it one game at a time,” it said in perfect coaching language Day would have been proud.
Their marketing efforts were deployed just steps away from SkyView Atlanta, the giant Ferris wheel across the street where fans from both schools posed in front of the Olympic rings. A family of fighting Irish worshipers wore matching shamrock hats wrapped around their heads and under their chins, with faces protruding through the center where each leaf met. Closer to the stadium, where parking attendants warmed themselves with propane heating tanks, Notre Dame's truck was painted from back to cab with a statistic that doesn't need to be updated: 11 CONSENSUS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS,” it read in white letters with shamrocks on them . .
And for a moment, albeit briefly, the possibility of another national title for Notre Dame felt distinctly real. That the Fighting Irish transformed their opening possession into an 18-play, 75-yard odyssey with one punishing run after another from quarterback Riley Leonard, who plowed through the Knowles defense with relative ease, spawned the flickering idea that head coach Marcus Freeman and his band of independent underdogs could join the most explosive team in college football. When Leonard crossed the goal line untouched for a one-yard goal that gave Notre Dame an early lead, the stadium's exuberantly green minority unleashed an eardrum-rattling roar. Day was so bewildered by what had happened that he spent the entire media timeout before the subsequent kickoff studying film on a tablet, hovering near the 35-yard line between occasional aimless walks.
“I would say that first drive was kind of unusual for us,” linebacker Cody Simon said. “We expected to go out there and dominate a little bit.”
The domination came soon enough, and with it some visceral displays of emotion from Day that underscored how much he desired this national title after years of personal and family tension. He pumped his fist twice and raised his leg as tailback Quinshon Judkins raced through tacklers into the end zone for a 14-7 lead. He joined the crowd in a Bronx cheer when Notre Dame's offense was flagged for holding, the first penalty against an Ohio State opponent since September. He jumped in the air and waved his arms excitedly as a fake kick pass from the Fighting Irish fell incomplete a few feet from where Day was standing. And when his players doused him with Gatorade in the waning moments that assured the Buckeyes' victory, he jumped into the arms of offensive tackle Josh Fryar and roared with delight.
About 20 minutes later, after the trophy presentation and the playing of “Carmen Ohio” came and went, Day walked off the field among the thickest group of Ohio State fans. Only seven weeks had passed since Day took that same walk after a disastrous home loss to Michigan, after which curses, insults and calls for resignation were loudly hurled in his direction. This time, Day simply raised his right hand as thousands of Buckeyes showered him with cheers.
“Nothing is guaranteed,” Day said. But I always had the feeling in the back of my mind that to the people of Ohio and all of Buckeye Nation, after going through tough times and seeing a team and some coaches go through tough times to achieve their goal, this would mean even more . And I hope they're all proud of what we've done.”
Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports, with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him up@Michael_Cohen13.
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