The College Football Championship took place on Monday, Jan. 20, in which the Ohio State Buckeyes beat the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 34-23 to finish the season. After a disappointing end to the regular season for the Buckeyes, in which they lost to the Oregon Ducks and their undermanned archrival Michigan Wolverines, coach Ryan Day and his team bounced back and dominated their competition throughout their run to the championship.
The 2024-2025 season marked the beginning of the expanded college football playoff, which now includes 12 teams instead of four, as well as some major conference realignment with teams within conferences like the Pacific-12 Conference (PAC-12) joining The Big 10 and other teams joining the Southeastern Conference (SEC). These changes shook up the season. The top had more difficult schedules than in the past years because of the conference realignment, and the larger playoff gave more teams the chance to compete. One of those teams was Ohio State, who was ranked sixth and seeded eighth.
Their opponent, the Fighting Irish from Notre Dame, was another top contender for the championship. Despite not belonging to a conference, and therefore being disallowed from a first-round bye week, Notre Dame came into the playoffs as a top contender with just a single upset loss to Northern Illinois. On their way to the championship, they defeated Indiana, Georgia and Penn State. Ohio State, meanwhile, had defeated the number one team Oregon, Texas and Tennessee and was looking like the favorite coming in.
Notre Dame began the night with a near ten-minute possession that resulted in a score. With star running back (RB) Jeremiyah Love unable to break through the Buckeye defense, quarterback (QB) Riley Leonard led the charge through a series of passes and quarterback runs. Ohio State responded by scoring touchdowns on their next four possessions and forcing the Irish to punt on both of theirs. Ohio State’s deep arsenal of playmakers on their offense shined, with freshman standout wide receiver (WR) Jeremiah Smith scoring a touchdown and junior RB Quinshon Judkins touching the end zone three times.
Following a field goal, Notre Dame found themselves down 31-7, but the Irish were able to make the game interesting. Love’s production was still limited, but Notre Dame’s defense came into play forcing a fumble and a punt on back to back possessions. Two touchdowns followed by two-point conversions got the game within one score at 31-23. On Ohio State’s last drive the Irish defense had the Buckeyes on the ropes, third down and 11 yards to go when the Bucks’ QB Will Howard connected again with Smith for a 55-yard completion. From there, Day had his team run the clock down and kick a field goal, putting the game out of reach. The Buckeyes emerged victorious at 34-23.
While Ohio State is regularly a football powerhouse, the harsh reality is that most of their key players will declare for the NFL Draft. Offensive players such as Judkins and his fellow RB TreVeyon Henderson, WR Emeka Egbuka, and Offensive Tackle Josh Simmons are looking like they will be picked in the first two rounds. The defensive prospects are highly touted as well, with Senior Edge Rusher Jack Sawyer and Defensive Tackle Tyliek Williams likely to follow suit.
Ohio State’s victory brings them their second championship, their first being the first ever CFB championship in a decade and their first under Day. Both teams are looking to compete for the championship in the 2025-2026 season.