Ohio State head coach Ryan Day put a loss to Michigan far in the rearview mirror with a national championship win over Notre Dame for the first-ever 12-team playoff on Monday.
It marked the second straight time the Buckeyes (14–2) won a College Football Playoff crown under a new format. Day sees this latest one as unprecedented, however, in the 155-year history of college football.
The eighth-seeded and sixth-ranked Buckeyes proved it on the field with wins over No. 8 Tennessee (10–3), No. 4 Oregon (13–1), No. 3 Texas (13–3), and the No. 2 Irish. Ohio State was the lower seed in every game except the blowout win over the Volunteers in Columbus, Ohio, in the first round.
“Nothing great was ever achieved without going through adversity along the way,” Day explained. “That’s what makes this special.”
“To go play at home against Tennessee, who was a very, very good team. Then go to Oregon, the number one team in the country, and win that game at the Rose Bowl the way we did. And then beat Texas in Texas, which that was a road game—I don’t care what anybody says, that was a road game, it was a very difficult game,” Day continued. “And then play a really good Notre Dame team like this. You know, I think in the history of college football, I don’t think there’s been top five wins like that.”
Before the 12-team playoff, facing a few top-five teams could happen between the regular seasons, conference championship game, and a bowl game. But never three in single-elimination games as the Buckeyes encountered.
In addition, Ohio State did it after a stunning late-season loss to defending national champion and archrival Michigan in November that hindered the Buckeyes’ playoff hopes. It kept the Buckeyes home for the Big Ten title game and threatened Day’s job.
“After all the things that have been said throughout the year, these guys are going to be cemented as one of the best stories in Ohio State history and one of the best football teams ever,” Day said. “There was a point where not a lot of people had that vision, but these guys did, and they saw it through. Ohio State may not be for everybody, but it’s for these guys.”
In any year before 2024, Ohio State would have been in a regular bowl game with no shot at a national title game because of two regular season losses. The Buckeyes took the newfound opportunity by storm with demolitions of Tennessee and Oregon followed by tight wins over the Longhorns and Irish. Regular-season losses to Michigan and Oregon plus a relative squeaker against Penn State only made the Buckeyes more determined.
“Storms are going to come,” Day said. “How is the foundation built? Was it built on a true foundation of rock or of sand? We knew those storms were coming. We didn’t know when, but that was ultimately going to allow us to withstand those storms.”
Ohio State took advantage of an opportunity that no team in major college football has ever had before. It will never be known how many other teams could have done the same in a 12-team field, but the Buckeyes’ win raises the question after the many years of polls or a mini playoff deciding a champion.
For most of the 1900s, polls determined the national champion until the 1998 season ushered in the Bowl Championship Series. It ensured the top two ranked teams would play each other in a bowl game but still left much room for debate until the BCS ended in 2014.
That gave way to the College Football Playoff, which began with four teams in the 2014 season. Ohio State claimed the first title with a 42–20 defeat of Oregon.
The Buckeyes returned to the four-team field four more times but never hoisted the trophy again. Day could stay and keep his staff in Columbus to make another run in 2025.
