Ohio State played like a juggernaut in College Football Playoff en route to national championship.
Notre Dame rally turns blowout into tight finish.
Once widely ridiculed, Ryan Day earns crowning achievement.
ATLANTA — College football’s regular season told us no super team existed. The regular season lied. The College Football Playoff unmasked the truth.
Nobody could keep up with the Buckeyes when they performed at their best, and that includes Notre Dame.
Ohio State completed their march to national championship glory by turning back the Irish, 34-23, on Monday.
The Irish used a second-half rally to turn what had become a blowout in the third quarter into a tight finish. That Notre Dame refused to go without a fight should come as no surprise. These Irish dripped with resilience, but no opponent could match Ohio State’s personnel.
Buckeyes fans like to say their quest is one of Ohio against the World. Well, the World got humbled in these playoffs. Ohio State smashed Tennessee, blitzed Oregon, survived Texas and worked Notre Dame.
Coronate these Buckeyes as the worthy kings of this first 12-team playoff.
The way Ohio State played on this night, nobody in this playoff bracket would have stopped it, and 2019 LSU or 2020 Alabama or one of Kirby Smart’s national championship squads would have needed to appear up at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to topple the Buckeyes. The Irish used toughness and grit and timely big plays to advance this far, but they were outclassed against this opponent.
Will Howard masterful for Ohio State against Notre Dame
Ohio State’s offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage, Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson ripped off big runs and Notre Dame’s man coverage became no match for the Buckeyes inimitable cast of wide receivers.
In the middle of it all, maestro Will Howard just kept moving the chains. One completion, two completions, three completions, more. Thirteen completions, Howard fired, before one of his passes finally hit the turf.
By halftime, Howard had twice as many touchdown passes (two) as incompletions.
With Howard’s offensive line protecting him like royalty, he comfortably scanned the field and carved up the defense with the ease of a captain guiding a ship through still waters. He sprinkled in a handful key runs, while proving the Buckeyes made a wise choice plucking Howard out of the transfer portal to complete this puzzle.
The Buckeyes converted seven consecutive third downs before their placekicker finally had to shake loose the dust in the third quarter.
Needing one big play to finish this victory, Howard cemented his Buckeyes legacy with a 57-yard dime to Jeremiah Smith. Simply put, an iconic performance from the Buckeyes quarterback.
Ryan Day silences critics as Buckeyes roll through playoff
The Buckeyes outmanned, outschemed and outwitted the Irish.
This Ohio State team became the juggernaut we expected from a roster full of blue-chippers, bankrolled by $20 million in NIL booster bucks.
Even superheroes, though, buckle from kryptonite, and the Buckeyes shrank against Michigan in a stunning November upset that the CFP selection committee overreacted to when they seeded Ohio State eighth, a joke of a seed when considering OSU’s résumé and talent.
The Buckeyes define their worth based on results against Michigan, and arrows fired at embattled coach Ryan Day from every quiver and from every corner after his fourth consecutive loss to the Wolverines. Ohio State fans turned on him, and tens of thousands of Tennessee fans gobbled up tickets for OSU’s first-round home playoff game, tinting the Horseshoe orange.
Day silenced the naysayers with his postseason run through four opponents ranked within the top seven of the final CFP rankings. Now, he’s one of three active coaches with a national championship, and he’s won as many national titles as Urban Meyer produced in seven seasons coaching the Buckeyes.
How about that, huh? Fire him? No, give that man a raise!
And raise the banner for a team that played hide and seek during the regular season before roaring in this playoff like the beast it is.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer. Subscribe to read all of his columns.