The 2024 college football season has come to an end. After 6 long years of hard work and 3 straight years of my picking them to win it all, Ryan Day has delivered Ohio State their 9th National Title. The Buckeyes won the first 12 team playoff, just as they won the first rendition of the playoff a decade ago. Ohio State won as an underdog, bottom seed in the 2014 season, defeating Alabama and Oregon along the way. This has been remembered as one of the best title runs in the CFP history and yet the Buckeyes just topped their own run.

Ohio State felt inevitable as an eight seed as the first quarter of their game against Tennessee ended. They went into a sort of trance to run off with the trophy after a mind-boggling loss to Michigan. Everyone may want to focus on that game or the Oregon loss on October 12th, but I will not. There are reasons for both losses and can be covered and analyzed deeper at another time. For now, Ohio State is the champion and clearly the best team in the sport this year. Coach Day and the Buckeyes left no doubt on the field of that the entire postseason.

Notre Dame, the 2024 runner up, showed life at the beginning and end of the game. A departure from who they have largely been all year as the best team in the “middle 8” portion of the game (the last 4 minutes of the first half and first 4 of the second). They opened the game with an 18-play drive full of Riley Leonard QB runs, suffocating the Buckeye defense. The drive lasted an astounding 9:45 in the first quarter and concluded with Leonard taking the ball into the endzone.

The unfortunate reality for the Irish is that the Buckeyes were waiting on the opposite sideline and would get their turn. Ohio State then went on a 31-0 run to make the game 31-7 and it felt like every other game they had played in the playoff. The offense fired on all cylinders and the defense suffocated the Irish offense. Notre Dame would turn it around, just too little, too late.

The Irish capitalized on Buckeye mistakes such as an Emeka Egbuka fumble after they scored to make the game 31-15. Coach Freeman signaled to his team after the first score “that's one.” They would get two. The fumble led the Irish downfield to have a 1st and goal from the 8-yard line. The Buckeyes have been in that spot before, notably against Texas. On 4th and goal, Marcus Freeman made a critical error. He sent his field goal unit onto the field, down 16, with 9 minutes to go in the game. ND kicker Mitch Jeter had only missed one field goal throughout the playoff after hitting just 50% in the regular season in which he wasn't always healthy. Jeter seemingly didn't realize that it was the national championship and flashbacked to the regular season as his kick hit the left upright. The Buckeyes took over. The Irish left with no points in a moment they needed a touchdown so desperately.

Notre Dame's defense would get them the ball back with 6 minutes to go. The Irish traveled downfield to the plus 30 and faced a 3rd and 9. Leonard completed a perfect pass to Greathouse, and they would convert for 2 to make the game a one score game. 31-23.

The Irish kicked off with 4 minutes to go in the game, down 8. I immediately thought they would not see the ball again as many likely did. That would be incorrect after all, however another coaching error by Freeman and Golden's defense left no hope when Leonard walked onto the field for the last time in a gold helmet. 2:45 on the clock with a 3rd and 11 for the Buckeyes on their own 34. Howard lined up in the shotgun with Henderson to his right and a wing on his left. Carnell Tate wide left and Jeremiah Smith wide right with Emeka Egbuka in the right slot. Immediately anyone who can see the field in a calm and detached manner knows Ohio State is taking a shot here. The issue here is that football is emotional. It runs on strategy and emotion. Freeman and his staff failed to recognize an incoming attack. The Buckeyes could take a deep shot and if completed or a penalty assessed, they seal the game. If incomplete, they punt. If the ball is intercepted deep, it's effectively a punt. The shot was worth taking no matter what. Tate runs a fade route, Egbuka a dig to the 1st down marker, and Smith on a fly. Notre Dame brought 7 players in a rush. The running back and wing aided in pass protection. Despite rushing 7, Notre Dame generated no pressure. That meant that 4 players were left to cover the three elite Buckeye receivers. Even having an extra man, they chose to play cover 0 with no safety deep and instead had two in the middle of the field. This left Tate and Smith one on one. Jeremiah Smith is the best receiver in college football and the most prolific deep threat. Yet they left him one on one. Howard completed the pass to Smith and eventually the Buckeyes put the final nail in the coffin with a field goal. 34-23 final.

Leading up to the game there was a mass belief in the media that Marcus Freeman and his staff were higher caliber coaches than Ryan Day and his. This was wildly incorrect. While Freeman made young mistakes, his year leaves much positivity in South Bend for the future. Freeman just does not match up to Ryan Day. Coach Day has finally won his championship and did so amid the loudest yelling ever that he could never do it. I am proud to say I stood by Ryan Day throughout the 6 years and anyone who knows me personally has heard me tirelessly champion him year after year. Ryan Day will be a college football hall of famer. He has a title and I believe will win more. He is 70-10 in 6 years, an astounding record. Coach Day joins Paul Brown, Woody Hayes, Jim Tressel, and Urban Meyer as the Buckeye coaches to win a title. He did so with a roster many say was simply bought. The fact is that many of the teams in the playoff spent the same amount and more as Ohio State. Other programs brought in more transfers than they did. Seniors returned with more money to pursue a title. The difference in all of that is that Ohio State's culture is better than possibly everyone else's in the country. They all bought in. Day took time to create his culture in Columbus and while the city at times may have doubted him, no one in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center ever did.

The Buckeyes carry a flag that reads “Ohio Against the World.” These past few years have been Ryan Day and the Woody against the world. Coach Day has won his. To any readers who ever doubted, made fun of, or called for his job: ensure your apologies are louder than all the jeers. Ryan's Day has come and his era on top of college football is here.