Instead of crying over another collapse, Ohio State can celebrate another national title after stopping Notre Dame's comeback bid Monday night to advance with a 34-23 victory over the Fighting Irish.
Will Howard hit big-play receiver Jeremiah Smith for 56 yards on third-and-11 to cap off a game that was first a laugher, then turned into something else.
Trailing 31–7, Notre Dame scored two touchdowns and two 2-point conversions, making it a one-score game at the end of the fourth quarter.
The Irish stopped Ohio State on the first two plays of the next drive and used their timeouts. But on third down, Howard found Smith in single coverage on the right side and threw his best pass of the season into the hands of the second-team All-American.
It set up a field goal that started the festivities in earnest (and helped Ohio State cover the 8 1/2-point spread at BetMGM Sportsbook), capping a seven-week climb from the depths of a loss to 20-point underdog Michigan. Ended. At the top of college football. Ohio State will bring its sixth “Naty” and first back to the Horseshoe in Columbus since the 2014 season.
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Howard, a transfer-portal success story from Kansas State, threw for 231 yards and two scores, but no one could beat a pass to Smith even with everything on the line.
The receiver, who was defeated by Texas in the semifinals, then remained fairly quiet for most of this game, finally loosening up for the kind of play he has been making all year. He had five catches for 88 yards.
Ohio State scored touchdowns on its first four possessions, then added a field goal on the fifth.
When Quinshawn Judkins (100 yards, 11 carries, three TDs), a transfer from Mississippi who highlighted Ohio State's judicious use of its ever-expanding portal, broke a 70-yard run to set up a score that made it 28–0. 7 done, this game is over.
That wasn't the case, and now Irish coach Marcus Freeman will have to answer some tough questions — one about a failed fake punt in the third quarter that turned into a field goal for a 31-7 lead, the other about sending Mitch Jeter in. About to attempt a short field goal while down by 16 and facing fourth and goal from the 9. This might have seemed like a better call if Jeter's kick hadn't hit the left sideline.
However, in reality, Ohio State was the better team. The Buckeyes outgained Notre Dame 445 yards to 308. Howard completed his first 13 passes and never really stopped. Proof: Ohio State once played great.
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The Buckeyes played four games in the new, 12-team playoff – what a great time it was for Ohio State – by a combined score of 145–85.
Ohio State was seeded eighth in the tournament, but the seeding was largely meaningless. The worst seed won every game in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, and the Buckeyes dominated this title-game showdown of No. 7 vs. No. 8.
That, for now, quells any anger about the 13-10 Michigan loss in November — the fourth in a row in the series to Ohio State — that left a lot of people inside and outside Buckeye circles worried about Day in his sixth season. Forced me to think about it. , had outlived its usefulness in a campus that had not tasted a title for a decade.
Instead, he joins Urban Meyer, Jim Tressel, Woody Hayes and Paul Brown on the list of title-winning coaches. Additionally, Day's .873 winning percentage is third all-time among coaches with more than 50 games – one spot behind none other than Notre Dame legend Knute Rockne.
No black coach has yet won a national title in college football. Freeman was trying to be the first.
Instead, another kind of history. This is the first time the Big Ten has won back-to-back titles since 1942. Last year's champion Michigan was sitting at home watching, but it still played a special role in the Buckeyes' redemption story that few saw coming.