The drought is over.
The doubts about Ryan Day, about Ohio State, about their inability to win on the biggest stages, can fade away.
With a 34-23 win over No. 7-seed Notre Dame on Monday, the No. 8-seed Buckeyes secured their ninth national championship in program history and first since 2014, holding off a late comeback from the Fighting Irish after Ohio State built a commanding lead and watched it nearly slip away.
“It’s a great story about a bunch of guys who have just overcome some really tough situations,” Day said after the game, “and with the point where there’s a lot of people that counted us out (they) just kept swinging and kept fighting.”
Ohio State cruised past Tennessee, Oregon and Texas to reach the national championship in the first year of the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff format, and after allowing Notre Dame to strike first with an 18-play drive that took nearly 10 minutes off the clock, the Buckeyes erupted for 31 consecutive points.
Will Howard completed his first 12 passes to set a CFP championship record in what became a near-perfect opening 30 minutes, with Howard, a Kansas State transfer, tossing touchdowns to star wideout Jeremiah Smith and running back Quinshon Judkins.
Judkins also rushed for a touchdown and finished the game with 100 rushing yards across 11 carries.
Howard completed 17-of-21 passes for 231 yards and the pair of touchdowns, but he only attempted six passes and had three completions across the final 30 minutes.
Notre Dame, though, scored two touchdowns — and, perhaps more importantly, added a pair of two-point conversions — to pull within eight points before Ohio State prevailed and the celebration began in Atlanta.
Howard connected with Smith for 56 yards on a critical third-and-11 to extend the Buckeyes’ final drive, place them in field goal range and avoid allowing Notre Dame to get the ball back with a chance to tie.
“It was do or die, it was that type of down,” Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said of the completion to Smith. “He’s a heck of a player. He’s difficult to cover.”
