How Ohio State laid the blueprint for success in this day and age

Joel Klatt

Lead College Football Analyst

Ryan Day finally led Ohio State to college football’s mountaintop on Monday night, defeating Notre Dame in the national championship game to win the school’s first title in 10 years.

This title felt like it was years in the making for Ohio State. It was really a remarkable year for the Buckeyes, overcoming an immense amount of adversity. I was around this team a lot over the season and I’ve been around many of these players for the majority of their careers. This was a really easy team to root for, similar to last season’s Michigan team, with some high-character players and coaches. 

I know some people have said this team was “bought.” I tried to stay out of the $20 million roster discussion because I knew more behind the scenes than most. In my discussions with Ohio State’s coaching staff, I found out that the NIL money was spent on existing players, which was no different than what happened last year with Michigan. Ohio State brought back all these veteran players and they performed at their best. The Buckeyes had so many guys who could’ve been selected in the NFL Draft last year who opted to stay to try and win a championship.

The fact that they were able to do that was really cool. This sport is about a group of men coming together, laying themselves down and trying to achieve something bigger than themselves. That’s what this Ohio State team was all about. The purpose of the players who opted to come back was fulfilled on Monday night. As a former player, I loved seeing that. 

Here are my other takeaways from Ohio State’s national championship win. 

This wasn’t an easy road for Ohio State, who proved that veteran-laden teams have an edge and successfully rebounded following shortcomings to Michigan

Think about what this group had to go through in order to win it all. It had the midseason loss to Oregon before the loss to Michigan at the end of the regular season. To this day, that loss is bewildering to me – and I’m sure for a lot of Ohio State fans.

But you have to think about where the narrative was at surrounding the program following that loss. Ohio State was able to circle the wagons and recognize who it was. It knew that it could still accomplish something great despite that Michigan loss. That’s really tough to do. That game was such a monumental game, and it was just four games ago. Ohio State was knocked on its back before having to play a grueling four-game schedule against elite opponents. 

[Related: Ohio State’s Ryan Day completes long, painful climb to college football mountaintop]

Not only did Ohio State win each of those games, it defeated each opponent by double digits. It crushed Tennessee and Oregon, who was the only undefeated team in the regular season. It took down Texas in a classic Cotton Bowl. It looked like it was going to cruise to another victory in the national championship game, but Ohio State was in a one-score game with Notre Dame late. Ohio State got the late score it needed to put away the win as it was a team that was forged by the adversity of the season. 

We’re at a point in college football where we can enjoy players who stay in school, something we haven’t really gotten in some time. I know fans are frustrated with the player movement, but NIL is good for the sport due to reasons like this. This is also part of the new blueprint now of winning a national championship, getting a veteran team that’s committed to the ultimate goal. It’s great for the sport that we’re seeing players stay in college. It’s even better when they’re rewarded for it, like Emeka Egbuka, who set the all-time receptions record for Ohio State on top of winning a title. 

Ohio State’s win also proved credence to the idea that your rival’s success is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, motivators in college football. Michigan continued to retool under Jim Harbaugh after Ohio State set the standard in the sport. Once Michigan won it all last year, Ohio State said, “We’ve got to do something about that.” It was able to do that. 

Ryan Day’s playcalling sacrifice paid off

No program expects more out of its coach than Ohio State. That fan base expects to win every game. Anything less than that and there’s speculation on the head coach’s job.

I’m not going to tell the fans that they’re wrong for that standard. That standard of never having a down era is part of why Ohio State is so great. Day knew that standard and wanted to meet it, telling me on “Big Noon Conversations” last summer that being the head coach “isn’t for the faint of heart.” He’s even said that you’ve got to swing and fight.

We all know Day dealt with a lot. But what became even more impressive to me is what he did this season. We knew him as an elite playcaller. He gave up that superpower, though, this season, having the wherewithal as a head coach to become a better head coach. He eventually delegated his offensive playcalling duties to Chip Kelly and I don’t think Ohio State gets through all of that adversity if Day isn’t the CEO. 

Did Ryan Day silence his critics after Ohio State’s National Championship win?

Day wouldn’t have been able to really go through the changes that Ohio State needed to make defensively after its loss to Oregon if he remained the offensive playcaller. That defense was the best in the country after that loss, changing its pass rush structure and getting Caleb Downs more involved. 

Additionally, Day wouldn’t have been able to get the buy-in needed across the roster at the end of the 2023 season if he had retained his offensive playcalling duties. He had to build the roster on top of that, which is the No. 1 skill for a head coach in college football. 

The fact that Day did as well as he did in his first year giving up offensive playcalling duties speaks volumes. 

This was a bad matchup for Notre Dame, but the Fighting Irish were impressive

As for the game, I always thought this matchup favored Ohio State. That was pretty clear in the first half. No one is beating the version of Ohio State we saw in the first half, but Notre Dame had to back off its usual structure of playing man defense in the first half as Will Howard completed his first 13 passes. You can’t hold up in man coverage against Egbuka, Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate along with the running backs, who were a huge part of the game plan and were fresh. 

Ohio State got to the quick game early, making the game a track meet and opening up the run game. In the second half, it got much more conservative as it tried to bleed out the clock and it almost came back to bite Ohio State. 

Still, I came away impressed with Notre Dame because it gave up 31 straight points and was able to make it a one-score game in a bad matchup. I thought Ohio State might have flirted with 50 points during the first half. Notre Dame’s only seven points in the first half came in a way that was totally unsustainable, running Riley Leonard nine times on the opening possession. So, Notre Dame had to make it a dropback passing game for its offense to try and find success. It felt like playing that way was a giant strain for Notre Dame, trying to find answers while Ohio State had answers for everything. 

Ohio State had too many places it could attack on offense, leaving Notre Dame unable to manipulate its defense long enough in order to stop the Buckeyes for 60 minutes. When Ohio State was able to get the ball out of Howard’s hands quickly to set everything else up on offense, it was unbeatable. 

Jeremiah Smith continued to show why he’s one of the best players we’ve seen in a long time and Will Howard saved his best for last

It’s hard to say that a wide receiver is one of the best players I’ve seen in a long time, considering receivers can go missing for large sections of the game. But when Ohio State needed Smith the most on that third-and-11 play and things were looking interesting, it dialed up a go-ball for the star freshman. Do you know the amount of faith you have to have in a receiver to call that play at that moment? Smith is special. 

Howard also threw a great pass on that play. That was Howard’s best game as a Buckeye. His efficiency in the first half and ability to move with his legs were crucial. He had urgency in the pocket and didn’t move too quickly, playing under control for most of the game. 

Notre Dame is here to stay under Marcus Freeman and can win a title soon 

Freeman has elevated Notre Dame back to the elite level. I know Brian Kelly took the Irish to the national championship and multiple CFP appearances, bringing them back to prominence through some difficulties. 

But Freeman took the foundation laid by Kelly and elevated it. Think about the fortitude, fight and grit that culture has to have in order to go back out there to keep fighting and fighting in the national championship game when you’re getting handled. Notre Dame kept chipping away at Ohio State’s lead.

Notre Dame is going to have a ton of those offensive linemen returning in 2025. It has a lot of good young players. It’s fast and physical. 

Even though Notre Dame played in the BCS championship game and was in the CFP in the past, I never felt like it was in that upper tier of teams that could actually win it all. After Monday night and looking at what it’ll have on its roster in 2025, Notre Dame can absolutely win a national championship in the coming seasons. Freeman is largely to thank for that sentiment. You need forging moments for your program so that young guys can feel it, and maybe Notre Dame can become the team that has players return to win a championship. 

The CFP expansion worked

Getting to the title game might have taken too long, but what we witnessed over the last month was awesome. This year was fabulous. There’s no way you could watch this year play out and say the old way was better. 

There wasn’t a shadow of a doubt that the best team won the national championship this year. No team can say, “We didn’t have a fair chance.” That’s not a thing anymore. Everybody had a chance and the best team won the national championship. Ohio State was the best team. 

Not only did this playoff achieve that objective, but we also got to see playoff games on campus and some great games in the later rounds. A playoff should weed out the elite teams from the rest. 

This was a great year of college football. 

Joel Klatt is FOX Sports’ lead college football game analyst and the host of the podcast “The Joel Klatt Show.” Follow him at @joelklatt and subscribe to the “Joel Klatt Show” on YouTube.

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