ATLANTA \u2014 And now, 12 thoughts from the last night of the first 12-team College Football Playoff<\/a>.<\/p>\n 1.<\/strong> Way back on Dec. 4, a few days after Michigan<\/a>\u2019s fourth consecutive win against Ohio State<\/a>, a reader asked me whether the Buckeyes fan base would forgive Ryan Day<\/a> if he turned around and won the national championship. I assured him the narrative<\/a> around Day would change completely if that happened.<\/p>\n \u201cBut let\u2019s be real,\u201d I said. \u201cThe Buckeyes<\/a> are not going to win the national championship.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s incredible this company still pays me to write about this sport.<\/p>\n 2.<\/strong> Of course Ohio State<\/a> won the national championship. The Buckeyes (14-2) had the most talented team the whole time. We\u2019d known that for a full year<\/a>, ever since all those juniors put off going to the NFL<\/a> to return for one more season.<\/p>\n But boy, did they go out of their way to make it interesting.<\/p>\n No one will ever be able to explain how all that talent managed to score just 10 points at home against their barely .500 rival<\/a>, not even Day himself. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t like at the end of the year we were broken,\u201d he said following his team\u2019s 34-23 national championship win<\/a> over Notre Dame<\/a> on Monday. \u201cWe had an awful day (against Michigan). I don\u2019t know how else to describe it.\u201d<\/p>\n But 2024 Ohio State<\/a> had the good fortune to suffer that awful day in the first year of a bigger Playoff<\/a>. The Buckeyes just needed to get in, which they did, and get things right, which they absolutely did.<\/p>\n Though not before at least a few more minutes of drama.<\/p>\n <\/span> 3.<\/strong> Notre Dame (14-2) opened the national championship game by grinding out a big-boy 18-play, 9:45 touchdown drive complete with nine rushes by quarterback Riley Leonard<\/a>. At the time, it felt like a statement. If so, Ohio State<\/a> did not receive it.<\/p>\n The Buckeyes, behind a near-flawless performance from QB Will Howard<\/a> (17 of 21 for 231 yards and two TDs, 16 rushes for 57 yards), scored touchdowns on each of their first four drives. And then, a field goal on the fifth. They led 31-7 well into the third quarter against a Fighting Irish team not exactly built to score quickly.<\/p>\n Except that\u2019s exactly what the Irish did, as soon as Ohio State<\/a> handed them an opening in the form of an Emeka Egbuka<\/a> fumble. Notre Dame got within 31-23 with 4:15 left after two long Jaden Greathouse touchdown catches and two successful two-point conversions. (We\u2019ll get to that missed field goal later.)<\/p>\n Years from now, when Ohio State fans reminisce about their 2024 four-round Playoff run, the first play that comes to mind will either be Jack Sawyer\u2019s field-long scoop and score against Texas<\/a> or Howard to Jeremiah Smith<\/a> for 57 yards to set up Jayden Fielding<\/a>\u2019s championship-sealing field goal.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n GO DEEPER<\/p>\n Where do Notre Dame, Marcus Freeman go after loss to Ohio State?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 4.<\/strong> I\u2019d estimate there were around 45,000 Buckeyes fans in Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Monday, roughly 60 percent of the crowd. As a jubilant Day lifted the trophy, I found myself wondering how many of them hated his guts just seven weeks earlier.<\/p>\n If a coach has gone on a more remarkable hero\u2019s journey, I do not recall it. There have been others who overcame a slow start to their tenure. Day\u2019s nemesis Jim Harbaugh had to take a pay cut in 2021 because he kept losing to his rival. But Michigan fans were, at worst, split on Harbaugh. Ohio State fans were collectively done<\/em> with Day<\/a> seven weeks ago. And I didn\u2019t blame them. The man is paid $10 million a year to do two things: Beat Michigan and win national titles<\/a>. As of Nov. 30, he wasn\u2019t doing either.<\/p>\n But by Jan. 20, he had taken a giant step toward having a street named after him on campus. He just led Ohio State to its third national championship this century, following in the footsteps of Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer. He\u2019s been a head coach for six seasons and reached at least the Playoff semifinals in four of them.<\/p>\n Later this week he\u2019ll ride in a parade and get toasted by most of the same folks who wanted his head not long ago. And that newfound adulation will last until \u2026 well, until the Buckeyes open against Texas<\/a> in a little over seven months.<\/p>\n \u201cThis game can give you the highest of highs and the lowest of lows,\u201d Day said. \u201cIt can take you to your knees some days as a player, as a coach. And I\u2019ve been there before.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n GO DEEPER<\/p>\n Ryan Day’s family celebrates a long-awaited triumph after a trying season<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 5.<\/strong> Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork was the first I can recall in the NIL era to openly advertise how much his football team was worth \u2014 $20 million \u2014 in interviews this summer. While much appreciated by reporters, he unwittingly upped expectations for this star-studded team even higher than they already were. As Day acknowledged Monday night.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you hear that number, that doesn\u2019t mean a whole lot other than the fact that the market value for our guys in Columbus at Ohio State is pretty high,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen that got tagged on us early, there was a lot of pressure put on our players.\u201d<\/p>\n And of course, the boosters didn\u2019t throw all that money to land or retain Howard, Smith, Sawyer, TreVeyon Henderson<\/a>, Quinshon Judkins<\/a>, Egbuka, JT Tuimoloau<\/a> and Caleb Downs<\/a> to finish fourth in the Big Ten. And yet, they did<\/em> finish fourth in the Big Ten. Except the folks who wrote those checks have no reason whatsoever to remember that.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter all the things that have been said throughout the year,\u201d said Day, \u201cthese<\/em> guys are going to be cemented as one of the best stories in Ohio State history.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n GO DEEPER<\/p>\n Way too early Top 25 for the 2025 college football season<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 6. <\/strong>As miserable an ending as it was to their regular season, the Buckeyes may have benefited from not reaching their conference title game. Day, offensive coordinator Chip Kelly and defensive coordinator Jim Knowles essentially got to hold a second set of preseason practices, during which they finally figured out how to unleash all their shiny toys at the same time. Ohio State played four top-10 teams \u2014 Tennessee<\/a>, Oregon<\/a>, Texas and Notre Dame \u2014 and the only time it trailed was the six minutes it took to score after the Irish\u2019s opening touchdown.<\/p>\n The Buckeyes ran Tennessee out of the Horseshoe after the Vols\u2019 fans invaded it<\/a>. They broke off four 40-plus yard touchdowns on undefeated Oregon to start the Rose Bowl. Sawyer ran back that fumble to the house against Texas in the semifinal. And Howard\u2019s near-perfect night let the Buckeyes run away from Notre Dame in the title game.<\/p>\n Whatever went wrong during the regular season was washed away in a four-game run of really good players making really big plays.<\/p>\n 7.<\/strong> Marcus Freeman reached the national championship in just his third season as Notre Dame\u2019s head coach, one year before he turns 40. He and his players were understandably not in an appreciative mode immediately after.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t get it done, and it hurts,\u201d said Freeman. \u201cMy job is to figure out why, and I will<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n But once a little time passes, we\u2019re all going to look back and salute what the 2024 Irish did: They made us take them seriously.<\/p>\n <\/span> 8.<\/strong> The last time Notre Dame reached a national championship game, in 2012 against Alabama<\/a>, the game was over after the first series. Crimson Tide running back Eddie Lacy bulldozed his way to a 20-yard touchdown and it was obvious to everyone watching there was a massive athleticism disparity between those programs.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not at all what happened Monday, starting with the game\u2019s opening series being an Irish touchdown drive. Yes, Ohio State controlled much of the game thereafter, going up 21-7 at halftime, but Notre Dame fought back. And when Drayk Bowen<\/a> stripped Egbuka on the first play of the fourth quarter, the Irish had a chance.<\/p>\n 9.<\/strong> Viewers were understandably puzzled when Freeman chose to kick a field goal, down 31-15 with 9:27 left, from the Ohio State 9. He defended it afterward, saying fourth-and-goal from the 9 was just too long. Ultimately, it\u2019s not why the Irish lost. In fact, they still got within one score, after Greathouse made his second 30-yard touchdown catch of the second half with 4:15 left, followed by a successful trick play on the two-point conversion.<\/p>\n Greathouse (six catches, 128 yards, two TDs), a sophomore and former top-100 recruit, put on a show during the Playoff. He and running back Jeremiyah Love<\/a> were part of Freeman\u2019s first full recruiting class in 2023, the kind of high-end athletes Notre Dame has been attracting ever since Freeman took over for Brian Kelly three seasons ago.<\/p>\n The Irish lost because Ohio State still has more of those guys<\/em>. Like Smith, who helped put the game away when he burst past Irish cornerback Christian Gray<\/a> and hauled in that 56-yard catch just before the two-minute timeout.<\/p>\n \u201cI told these guys, they\u2019ve left this program better. I don\u2019t care if you were here for one year or you\u2019ve been here for six years; our program is in a better place because of the examples (they\u2019ve) set,\u201d said Freeman. \u201cThe outlook of Notre Dame football is extremely high.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n GO DEEPER<\/p>\n CFP confidential: College coaches dish on OSU-Notre Dame title game decisions<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 10.<\/strong> While Howard, who transferred from Kansas State<\/a>, was the star quarterback of the evening, Notre Dame\u2019s own one-year QB, Leonard, had himself a night as well. Known more for his running ability than his passing skills, the Duke<\/a> transfer went 22 of 31 for 255 yards, two TDs and zero picks. His 161.4 passer rating was his highest against a Power 4 opponent since Oct. 12 against Stanford<\/a> \u2014 and Ohio State\u2019s defense is a whole lot better than Stanford\u2019s.<\/p>\n While this Notre Dame team was primarily defined by its defense and its running game, it likely does not get to Monday without a veteran like the former Blue Devils starter behind center. He benefited as well.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve just learned so much in the last year,\u201d said Leonard. \u201cI don\u2019t even recognize the person I was before I got to Notre Dame, and it\u2019s all credit to these guys beside me and everybody else in the locker room.\u201d<\/p>\n 11.<\/strong> It\u2019s wild that this is the first time the Big Ten can claim back-to-back national championships since Michigan State<\/a>\u2019s in 1965-66. (And even that\u2019s a bit dubious, as the Spartans\u2019<\/a> second was awarded by the National Football Foundation.) Granted, there was no official national championship game until 1998, and the Big Ten\u2019s ironclad Rose Bowl contract kept a few potential champions before then from playing for one.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s also just the reality of that conference\u2019s history, going back to the Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler days, that a lot of its best teams went belly-up on the big stage at the end of the season when they finally faced an old USC<\/a> team in the Rose Bowl or an SEC team in the BCS\/Playoff.<\/p>\n But Michigan won its 2023 crown decisively, taking down SEC champion Alabama and then a 14-0 Washington<\/a> team. And 2024 Ohio State took down four consecutive top-10 foes, including two from the mighty SEC. It was probably even sweeter for Buckeyes fans to celebrate this one in the same stadium that hosts the SEC Championship Game.<\/p>\n 12.<\/strong> I\u2019ll have more to say in the coming days about the first 12-team Playoff now that it\u2019s completed, but I can\u2019t imagine ESPN, for one, could be happier about how it played out. The first round was a letdown<\/a>, but then came an instant classic<\/a> Texas-Arizona State Peach Bowl, two down-to-the-wire semifinals and a big-brand championship game that wasn\u2019t officially over until the final 30 seconds.<\/p>\n I had fun. I hope you did as well. Thanks for tagging along with me on this five-month adventure.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2025\/01\/21001109\/GettyImages-2194991482.jpg\")
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\n Jeremiah Smith had 88 yards and a TD from Will Howard. (Kevin C. Cox \/ Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Football](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2025\/01\/21013121\/GettyImages-2195007270-e1737441145176.jpg?width=128&height=128&fit=cover&auto=webp\")
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\n Notre Dame couldn\u2019t erase a 24-point second-half deficit. (Kirby Lee \/ Imagn Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Football](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2025\/01\/21082118\/GettyImages-2195006220-scaled-e1737465703402-1024x682.jpg?width=128&height=128&fit=cover&auto=webp\")
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