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Dan Hope and Andy Anders of Eleven Warriors bring you inside the Ohio State beat every Wednesday with a podcast covering everything you need to know about the Buckeyes.
Note: This transcript was AI-generated and has not been edited for errors.
[Dan Hope]
Ohio State is the national champion once again. The Buckeyes winning their ninth national championship in program history on Monday night, defeating Notre Dame in the college football playoff final in Atlanta. Andy Anders, Dan Hope.
We were both there in Atlanta on Monday night to watch the Buckeyes win it all. And now we're here to relive it all, this spectacular championship run that the Buckeyes went on to achieve the biggest goal that's out there in college football. It may not have been a perfect season for Ohio State, but it sure was a spectacular ending as the Buckeyes, the one team standing in the spot that every team wants to be in.
And that is hoisting the national championship trophy, being able to call itself the best team in college football for the 2024 season. Andy, we've had a couple days to reflect on it. As you just think back to being there on Monday night, watching the Buckeyes win a national championship, watching them celebrate, being inside the locker room, what do you think are going to be those enduring moments that you'll remember most from that night?
[Andy Anders]
Several of them. I think the Jeremiah Smith catch that really led to the game sealing, the sealing of the game for Ohio State, that 3rd and 11, watching that deep ball and seeing him open and the confidence to make that play. I mean, Ohio State had been running such a conservative approach after it got up 31-7.
Notre Dame worked its way back into the game and that 3rd and 11 before that play was really the last moment where you're like, maybe Notre Dame can come all the way back and force this game into overtime. And is this, are we going to be talking about an utter collapse, potentially? And Ohio State, like it has all throughout this playoff run, certainly the last two games of this playoff run, when it needed a play, it found it.
And that's just what they've done throughout this four-game journey. But right after that, Jayden Fielding, the elation after he made that field goal, a guy who sneakily, you know, has been one of the most criticized, one of the most berated players publicly by Ohio State fans after he missed two field goals against Michigan, has otherwise been a really good kicker for Ohio State this year and was accurate throughout this playoff run, made a 46-yarder earlier in the game that put Ohio State up 31-7.
And you could just tell the elation on the faces of the fellow specialists and the celebration because it was, you know, it was the kick that sealed the game, really. And you just could take in that feeling from Ohio State of, it was setting in that they were going to be national champions. After the game, all the celebration there too, and seeing all of Ohio State's seniors gathering around the trophy, and there were a couple of false starts.
They were really eager to pick that thing up, Dan. It was like, Chris Fowler had to tell them a couple of times, wait, wait, wait, we got to do the actual, like, presentation. Hold on, hold on.
And all the calls, all the seniors, all the hugs, the scent of cidar smoke in the locker room, I mean, it was heavy in there. For myself, doing a confetti angel on the field real quick, just as a little fun memory. It's a night I'll remember forever, getting to cover that game, a night I'm sure Ohio State fans will remember for a long time too, and a night that I know Ohio State's players will always remember, because it was the ultimate triumph of this four-year arc for the senior class of Ryan Day's six-year arc as Ohio State's head coach.
Again, it's just, I don't think I can pick one thing to kind of paraphrase some quotes other people have given, other Ohio State players have given. After that game, it's just, it's one big blur of fantastic moments and memories that I'm sure you have your pick as well.
[Dan Hope]
We anticipated that Ohio State was going to win that game on Monday night. We both picked Ohio State to beat Notre Dame. We had talked all year about this being an Ohio State football team that had the ability to go win the national championship, but no matter how much you anticipate it, when it actually happens, it just feels different.
Like, it's just like, you know, this is it. They actually did it, and just to be there in the middle of that celebration, you know, you and I were both pretty close to the stage there as they were preparing to hoist that trophy and finally actually getting to hoist that trophy, and you're kind of standing in the midst of players, you're kind of hearing some of the things they're saying, you're hearing what the guys are saying on stage. You know, I mean, I think probably one of the enduring images to me as we're standing there watching the players on stage was watching Emeka Buka, and you could just see the emotion on his face.
You could see Ryan Day, Will Howard, other players coming over and having long hugs of him, embracing him as tears were flowing down his face, and I think that just showed you how much it means to him and especially those seniors, to all the guys, but I think especially that senior class like you talked about. You just wrote about it on Wednesday about the journey before your journey that senior class has been on, and there's been so many ups and downs for that group. You know, they came in in 2021.
They are the most highly touted recruiting class in Ohio State history, one of the most highly touted recruiting classes in college football history, period, and you know, I referenced it a month ago when I wrote about how this final stretch was going to be the defining stretch for this 2021 recruiting class, and I remember talking to Jack Sawyer back when he was in high school before he was getting ready to come to Ohio State, and he said, you know, I think we're going to win multiple national championships, and it didn't go that way for most of that group's career. While there were many great players in that group, while Ohio State was always a really good team during those seasons, they lost four straight games to Michigan. They went into this college football playoff facing the very real possibility of never achieving any of their four or any of the three major goals that Ohio State has as a team across a four-year career, and you know, this team, that senior class would have been remembered as one of the biggest disappointments in program history if Ohio State didn't get this done.
That's just the truth because the expectations were so high for this team coming into this year. The expectations were so high for that senior class coming in in 2021 that if they left Ohio State without any real hardware, it was going to be viewed as a massive disappointment. It was going to be one of those seasons we talk about, much like there's many other seasons that could be talked about in Ohio State history, of what could have been, but now we're going to talk about this team as the team that got knocked down a couple times, but they suffered a devastating loss at the end of a regular season.
One of the worst losses Ohio State had ever suffered to Michigan, but they got themselves back up the map. They bounced back and then went on a championship run unlike we've ever seen in college because it's the first 12-team playoff, but it's not even just the fact that they had to win four games to get here. Other teams are going to do that in the future.
They're just the first ones that had to do it because the playoff format changed, but the bracket for this Ohio State team was not set up for Ohio State to succeed. I mean, they were the eighth seed in the playoff. They got the toughest first-round game of the teams that were top eight seeds, that being against Tennessee.
Then they had to go play the number one seed in the quarterfinal, Oregon, out on the West Coast, where I think Oregon probably had at least a slight crowd advantage there, and they have to go beat the number one seed. They do that. Then they have to go to Texas to play Texas.
Texas clearly has the home crowd advantage there. They do that. Then Notre Dame, I think that was honestly probably the game that you're more confident going into than you were the Oregon game or the Texas game, but you still got to go beat that team and you got to go win that fourth game in a row, which is never an easy thing to do.
Ohio State won all four of those games by double digits, but the last two wins didn't come quite as easily as the first two wins did against Tennessee and Oregon, where they just rolled to victories, but they still won all four of those games by multiple scores. Like you said, in those last two games, there was a little more adversity in terms of in the game than there was against Tennessee and Oregon, but when Ohio State needed to make the plays in the fourth quarter to go out and win the game, they did it. I think this team, I think there's going to be two different ways people look at this Ohio State football team.
There's going to be a segment of the national population that looks at this team and views it as the $20 million team. There's going to be a segment out there of people who look at this Ohio State football team and see it as Ohio State spent a lot of money to build this super team roster, and this is what was supposed to happen, but I think the people who were around this team, the people who followed this team all year are going to remember it for the resiliency, for the ups and downs, or the fact that not everything went the way it was drawn up for this team when they did assemble that roster. There were a lot of people in Columbus who thought this team was going to go undefeated, never lose a game, roll through everybody when all those seniors came back, when Caleb Downs and Will Howard and Quenshawn Judkins transferred in, when Jeremiah Smith became a Buckeye. You know, there were a lot of people who just thought, oh, it's all just going to be easy for this team.
They're just going to roll, and it was not easy for this team, clearly, but when it mattered the most, this team became the team that everyone thought it had the potential to be. You think about when Ohio State has won championships, you know, I can't really think that much about their first five championships because they happened long before I was born, long before you were born. You can't fully grasp those stories of things that you weren't around to see, but you think about their three national championships here in the 21st century.
You know, in 2002, it was the mighty Miami Hurricanes with all this NFL talent and Ohio State, you know, could Ohio State take them down? And they did. And then in 2014, it was, you know, you lose JT Barrett.
You've got this third string quarterback, Cardale Jones, coming in to take over the team, and you've got mighty Alabama, and Ohio State has historically not had much success against the SEC, and can Ohio State slave a giant and make this miraculous run despite their injuries at quarterback? And they did. And then this year, it's, can this Ohio State football team that, you know, was the favorite coming into this season, could they get themselves back up off the mat after what happened in the rivalry game and become the team they always had the potential to be?
And they did. And it's truly a spectacular run. And one that, you know, I think there's, you know, you know, Ryan Day has said, there's a lot of stories to be told about this team.
And I think we're going to be writing a lot of them about this team and about this championship run, because it truly was special to witness.
[Andy Anders]
Yeah, unlike anything I've ever witnessed, be it as an Ohio State reporter or when I was growing up as an Ohio State fan, and, you know, I was a junior in high school when they won in 2014, circling back to one thing you said, I think was poignant about the two ways people will view this team is, I want to, on the first point, you talk about $20 million roster. And I think the national narratives, and it's not everybody nationally, it's, you know, it's a lot of other national people to view it the same way Ohio State fans, I think, view it as a team that always had the potential, always had the talent, had to respond to adversity, but got back up and off the mat and ultimately lived up to their potential. But people that want to write off this championship, because Ohio State spent X number of dollars in NIL, I think it's a little bit silly, because, first of all, that's just the way college football rosters are built in the year 2024.
We talked about it on the car ride back from Atlanta. I mean, if every team could go out and build a roster Ohio State, the way Ohio State did, it would. And Michigan spent plenty on NIL during its national title run in 2023.
I mean, this was, Ohio State just was a little more public. Ross Bjork, particularly, was a little more public with the actual figure. And so I think it gets brought up a lot.
But that's just roster construction. Before NIL was a thing, you know, you always recruited the best players. You always wanted to get the best guys on your team.
Like, you spent $20 million to go out and acquire this roster. And the other thing is, if Ohio State was just in it for the money, if these players were just in it to make a buck and get out, they wouldn't have gone on this run. They simply would not have gone on this run if they were just in it for the money.
To respond to a loss like that, you have to have a particularly special bond with each other. You have to have that mindset of, it was what Ohio State said coming out of that loss. It was what Will Howard said of, the goal is to win four games and win a national championship.
Like, that was the conversations that were had after the Michigan game, that team meeting, all of that, it's not something you do if you're just in it for the money. But other teams are also spending that much on their rosters, or at least similar amounts, that aren't here. Again, Ohio State's just the school that publicized it a little more.
And that, I do think it's a little bit silly, some of the national discourse around that figure and saying, oh, they bought their way to a title. Oh, they were always supposed to get here. Well, what about the other teams that are spending that much money and didn't get here?
It's, to me, I think, a little bit of an oversight of just how college football works now. Um, that aside, because I don't want to dwell too much on, like, national people that apparently don't understand how the sport works now. The flip side of this is, I think, after the Michigan loss, as you were preparing for this title run, there was some sentiment, some, maybe from the fan base, maybe, like, even in the back of my mind, a little bit of, well, if they do ultimately do this thing, if they do do this miraculous run, this incredibly difficult path that's in front of them, will the luster have been dulled any by the fact you lost to Michigan? And I think sitting here a couple days after it's happened, I can firmly say no. I think that, yes, losing to Michigan, never want to do it.
It hurts a lot. It does. That pain, I think, will still even be there for some of the players afterward who, um, wanted to win that game, wanted to rewrite that three-year narrative, now four-year narrative, uh, with Michigan.
But, like, the incredible nature of this run and the emotions of beating so many juggernauts in a row, of doing something no team has done before, and like you said, I think with the, how difficult the path was, I'm not sure future title runs will look that daunting, look that amazing for teams. I think this is going to stand out as one of the greatest title runs of all time, even into the future as more teams win a 12-team playoff. I think it has in many ways, like, the joy of, and, you know, maybe some people are gonna not like me for saying this, but the joy of winning the national title was almost heightened by the Michigan loss in the sense that you suffered the lowest of lows as this team.
If you were a fan, if you were a player, if you were a coach, suffered the lowest of lows, and I always say grief makes the joy that much sweeter. You went through that grief, and now to have that triumph at the end of it, to see the way they responded, I mean, um, it's something, you know, we heard it in the press conference afterwards on Tuesday morning that you hope it's something fans can identify with in their life when you're going through tough times, like seeing that sort of resiliency and maybe being something to model it after. It's, to me, I think that the Michigan loss in the end, for most fans, all the reactions I've seen, everyone I've interacted with, you know, even being, you know, college friends or people that I've known that are lifelong Buckeye fans, you know, it didn't take away from what this team achieved in this playoff run.
So those two points, you know, I think, well said by you, and expanding on that, it's just the way this title is viewed, if you have any sort of tie to Ohio State, I think is one of the great teams, one of the great stories, certainly, in Buckeye lore. And I think for me, you know, it's hard to compare, like, who's the best team out of Ohio State's title teams, who had the best run, but I think this was the best story. That's where I sit, as great as 2014 was, and the third string quarterback, and all the things that, losing to Virginia Tech early, it's a whole four-year arc with this team.
That's what gets me, is like, and Josh Fryer, sitting in the locker room with him afterward, he recapped, and I hadn't, we both hadn't thought about this before he said it, but 2021 season, the freshman year for the senior class, Josh Fryer was a redshirt freshman, they lose to Michigan, they go beat Utah in the Rose Bowl. This playoff run starts in the Rose Bowl, with them beating, or, well, it doesn't start, but the first bowl game they play, after beating Tennessee at home, they go to the Rose Bowl, they thrash Oregon. This team, so much of it, the despair, was what happened in the Cotton Bowl after the Michigan loss, and then the response by Jack Sawyer from that day, recruiting his teammates, and the rest of them getting on board with, hey, we're gonna come back, we're gonna win this thing, we're gonna right this wrong, started in that Cotton Bowl, and you go to the Cotton Bowl against Texas, and it ends with Jack Sawyer, the statement, the play that will live on forever in the memory of Buckeye fans that watched that game is Jack Sawyer making that strip sack in the Cotton Bowl against Quinn Ewers, who was originally part of that 2021 recruiting class and was Jack Sawyer's roommate. Then you go and you win the national championship game, not in the Peach Bowl technically, but where the Peach Bowl is played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium there in Atlanta, and two years ago, this team came within one point of beating the number one team in Georgia that year, Mr. Fugle at the end, that would have sent them to the national title, and I think you and I both think they probably beat TCU and win the whole thing that year, because Georgia went and blew them out. So the symmetry of the, I mean, it's like you couldn't script it, Dan. So the 0-2 run, the 14 run were their own things.
You talk about 0-2 with just what a miracle season that was in its own respect for Ohio State. It came so close to losing to so many teams it really had no business almost losing to, and then Miami was the largest favorite national title game history. I think at that time they were, they might have been all times.
They might still all-time be. I forget if it was recently. Georgia might have been a big favorite too, but Miami was one of the biggest favorites in national title game history, and Ohio State pulls that upset.
14 again with the third-string quarterback beating the SEC giant of Alabama. Each of those runs were special for their own reasons, but to me, the four-year story of this senior class and the symmetry that happened across the four-game run is unparalleled when you're talking about the story of an Ohio State season.
[Dan Hope]
Joy wouldn't feel so good if it wasn't for pain, right? Absolutely. I just sat there for about three and a half minutes waiting to make a 50-cent reference because I didn't want to interrupt Andy, but lots of good points there by you.
I think going back to the Michigan conversation, I think that's another two ways of looking at it kind of situation. On one hand, does it take something away from the season as a whole that you didn't beat Michigan? Unquestionably.
Ohio State fans would love to be able to sit here right now and talk their crap to Michigan fans after the last four years, but you don't quite have that because Michigan fans can still sit there and say, we've beat you for the last four years. You won the national championship, good for you, but you didn't beat us. It still hurts, like you said.
I mean, I still think as great as this moment is for these seniors, a guy like Jack Sawyer, who grew up in Ohio, who loves Ohio State, there's still going to be a part of him that's going to look back and go, man, I didn't get a pair of gold pants. It does take something away from the season as a whole. When we get into that conversation of comparing this season versus those other great seasons in Ohio State history, the fact that you didn't beat Michigan does probably move this one down a little bit, just when you're talking about the totality of the season.
Because you think of 2014, they accomplished all three of those major goals. They didn't do it this year. So I think when you talk about the totality of the season, it does take a little something away from just, again, what the season was as a whole.
Does it take anything away from the championship run itself and what you accomplished in the college world playoff? I don't think so. I think, to your point, I think it actually heightens how great the championship feels because you were knocked down.
Again, those players took a lot of criticism. There were a lot of people who counted them out. Their coach, a lot of people wanted him to be fired.
Now he's a hero in Columbus, and people are talking about him among the elites of the elites in college football because of what Ohio State just accomplished in this four-game run. So I do agree with you, and I think it makes for a better story when you talk about the documentaries and movies and books that are going to be produced about this team. The fact that they did lose that game, they had to have that meeting to all come together and hold each other accountable, and it sparked this run, it does make for a better story.
It doesn't make for a better season. You'd love to be able to go back to this season and say, we got revenge against our rivals, and then we won the Big Ten, and then we won the national championship. The fact that you only have one of those three things takes something away, I think, when you're comparing just the resume of the season compared to other great seasons in Ohio State history, but I don't think it takes anything away from the joy of winning the national championship, at least not from my perspective.
There may be a few people out there who it does, but I think for the majority of Ohio State fans, the way I've seen fans react to this championship over the last couple days, what I've heard from all the Ohio State fans I know, I think people, and again, I also think, too, that it's understandable that seven weeks ago, after that loss to Michigan, it's understandable that people felt that way, that they felt, I don't know if a national championship is going to feel as good because we just lost to Michigan, because that game means so much, and it was such a soul-crushing loss that at that time, for a lot of people, nothing was going to make that better, but time passes, and then again, we can talk about winning a national championship.
It can be expected that you're going to win a national championship, but when it actually happens, that's when you actually experience the joy of being national champions, and that's what Ohio State and all of its fans get to do now. Going back to Ryan Day for a minute, it really is remarkable. I don't know that there's ever been a coach in college football whose reputation, who the narrative around him has changed as drastically as it just did for Ryan Day over the last seven weeks, because at this point, we talked about it going into the CFP.
Does he need to win a game, two games, any games to keep his job? At this point, we will never know what the reality was there, because even if there were talks in Ohio State about making a change if they lost to Tennessee, nobody's going to say that now. They're all going to say they believed that this was going to happen, and I think Ross Bjork and the decision makers at Ohio State truly did believe that this was going to happen, and their belief was ultimately paid off, but you just think about how the narrative has changed for Ryan Day.
Seven weeks ago, the talk was, this guy can't win a big game. Now, he just went and won four college football playoff games in a row. He just led a team that became the first team ever to win five AP top five games in one season.
Seven of Ohio State's last 11 games of the season were against college football playoff teams. Ohio State lost that game to Oregon. It won the other six, so Ryan Day is now firmly proven that he can win big games, but now that Michigan cloud still lingers.
The pressure's still there. Come next November, you got to go up to Ann Arbor, and you got to beat Michigan because that part of your reputation is still there, that reputation of you can't beat Michigan, but the part about can Ryan Day win big games, any idea that Ryan Day can't win big games has been firmly squashed. Any idea that Ryan Day's job security was in any danger has been firmly squashed.
I would assume that a contract extension and a raise will be coming his way because that's typically what happens when you win a national championship. We've seen it on social media. I think even some of his biggest haters, some of the people who were very vocal for multiple years about not believing that Ryan Day was the right man for a program, even they have now been convinced that he is the right man for the program.
That's what happens when you win a national championship, and to win all four of these games and do it in the authoritative fashion that they did, it doesn't take the pressure off of Ryan Day to now go and continue to have success in future seasons, but right now, he is now firmly among the elite coaches in college football.
[Andy Anders]
Yeah, one of only three with a national title that are active, right? It's him, Kirby Smart, and Dabo Sweeney. I think we have a few specific Twitter accounts certainly in mind when you talk about some of his biggest attractors, yes, have fully now on board the Ryan Day train, and it's amazing to see how fast the narrative around him can shift with this six-week run.
I mean, absolutely. I think the entire state is now behind him as Ohio State's head coach, where I came on this program after that Michigan loss and said I felt like he needed to win two playoff games to where I felt like he should still be the coach of this team. I think my opinion on that maybe did shift a little bit after how thoroughly they came out and smoked Tennessee, and you saw how his team sort of responded to him, but that was like this run proved why Ryan Day is a great coach.
Before, I think he had a reputation obviously as a great developer of quarterbacks, has a great offensive mind. Over the course of his six-year tenure, he had to learn how to be a CEO. He had to learn how to make the right coaching hires.
When Kerry Combs didn't work out as defensive coordinator, he went and got Jim Knowles. When play calling, his multiple juggled responsibilities as a head coach were interfered with by the game planning of the offense and vice versa, right? It was like it was kind of taking away from both things that he was still calling the plays for the team.
He goes out and gets his mentor in Chip Kelly and brings him in. He's always been an elite recruiter, but he proved that he can build through the portal and spearhead the NIL efforts to get Ohio State where the dollars it needed to build the roster he wanted for this all-in season. Then it all pays off with a national title where you see why his players go to bat for him, love him.
He galvanized this team. He was willing to stand in that meeting after the Michigan game. It was just him and the players.
Latham Ransom talked about this, how he was willing to hear all the grievances they had with the coaching staff and with him and what they felt needed to change for Ohio State to go on this run. He's always been personable. His guys get up for him because he genuinely cares about them, and he expresses that at every turn.
He's always willing to take the full brunt of the criticism and the blame for when things go wrong and be that shield for his guys, which is what great coaches do. You can talk about and criticize the play and what needs to get better behind the scenes, but your job as the head coach is to be out there and taking that criticism from the public, that ire of the public, put it on your shoulders, and then go figure out how to fix it. Ryan Day has done that at every turn.
I think, personally, always rooted for Ryan Day, even when I was critical of him, because this is a coaching industry with a lot of assholes, to put it bluntly. Ryan, whether it's his charities, whether it's, again, just the way he relates to players, whether it's how courteous and professional he is with the media, he's always struck me as a good person, on top of being now proven as an elite head football coach. He was a guy that I think you see that in his players.
You see that in the way that they go to bat for him, and how many guys after the game talking to them said, what are they going to say about Ryan Day now? He's a great coach. We won this for him.
All that stuff. It's clear just how much the love between he and his players. And when you built your program around that, the brotherhood, and it paid off.
His program was criticized for its toughness, I think, in part because of that approach, and how much he emphasized just the authenticity, loving his players, family environment. But again, it paid off with this title run. And so the Ryan Day detractors, I think, certainly among the Ohio State fan base, are few and far between these days, with good reason, because he's now cemented himself, like you said, as one of the elite coaches in college football.
[Dan Hope]
I loved that Ryan Day hadn't tweeted for like seven months. And then on Tuesday, he retweeted a tweet from C.J. Burnett that said, F they gonna say now. So I enjoyed that.
Just coming out of the social media darkness, and talking his talk a little bit, because he should. What a phenomenal run that this team just made. And yeah, I mean, there's certainly been, there were a lot of things said about this Ohio State football team by media, by fans, by fans of other teams, whoever, after that loss to Michigan.
And they really proved point over these last seven weeks. And we could sit here and we could talk up, really, I think, every single player who played a significant role in that CFP. Because I don't think there was any player who, over any sustained period of time in that four-game stretch, played poorly, played badly in the CFP.
This was such a great team effort, such a great team success here in the CFP, because I think the offense played its best football of the season. The defense played its best football of the season, even the special teams. You mentioned Jayden Fielding earlier, played its best football of the season.
So I think really everything came together. I think the coaching staff coached their best games of the season. I think everything really came together for Ohio State to be at its best in this college football playoff run.
But certainly, some individuals who are worthy of additional praise. And I think that has to start with Will Howard. There's been a lot of talk about Will Howard and just how good of a quarterback he is, even leading up to the national championship game.
But I don't think there's any question now that Will Howard goes down as an Ohio State legend. And he was phenomenal in the college football playoff. You look at his numbers in four CFP games, he completed 75.2% of his passes, 82 of 109 for 1,150 yards, eight touchdowns, only two interceptions, plus 95 rushing yards. I think this CFP proved to me, Andy, that Will Howard was the perfect quarterback for this team, that he was exactly what this team needed. And we didn't always know going into the season if that would be the case, but he just kept getting better and better. You talked earlier about the quarterback developer, Ryan Day is, you know, maybe that reputation had taken a little bit of a hit last year when, you know, Kyle McCord and his season didn't live up to expectations as, you know, they had gone a few years without, you know, really developing that elite high school quarterback and had to go to the transfer portal.
But I think you could argue what Will Howard did this year is maybe Ryan Day's best quarterback development job yet to help Will Howard grow into maybe the best quarterback in college football this year. I mean, he played that well in the CFP that he really had that case. And, you know, I just think, you know, Will deserves so much props for what he brought to this team.
They needed a guy like him to get over the hump this season, and he was exactly what Ohio State needed him to be.
[Andy Anders]
Instilling confidence in him, too. I mean, Ryan Day, you know, after the national championship game said when Will's feet are right, he's as good as anyone I've ever seen. Ohio State was really able to hone in on the minutia of how to make him a great quarterback, I think, because what he did this season is nothing like what he did at Kansas State.
The leap from, and I get he has much better receivers, but the leap from even just put on the tape and watch what the player he was last year. He was good, but certainly not this, certainly not like you said, one of the best quarterbacks in college football, if not the best this season. When you look at the totality of what he did, and particularly in the playoffs, the intermediate accuracy was just fantastic.
I mean, you talk about starting off a college football national championship game, 13 of 13 passing to set a record for a CFP title game. Um, that first half he had was as good a half from a quarterback in a playoff game, college football playoff game that I've seen. Dots everywhere, uh, great, beautifully layered throws.
I mean, there was one corner route to Carnell Tate in that first half that was just fantastic. Um, got his legs involved more than we've seen the rest of this season, too. Um, but don't want to ponder too much just on Will, because I mean, like you said, you could maybe play, there's a segment of the playoff where you could praise, I think, any of Ohio State's contributors.
Uh, they all had their moments. They all had their sustained success. I think one of, obviously, Jeremiah Smith was so massive in this playoff run, 19 catches for 381 yards and five touchdowns, has the big catch to seal the national title win.
But even when he was taken away, you had other guys on offense stepping up to make plays. Travion Henderson was, uh, that massive big playback. We always expected him to be, uh, in particularly the first three games of this run, had the 75-yard touchdown on the screen pass against Texas.
Quenshawn Judkins, um, if, if, if the offensive MVP of the national championship game hadn't gone to Will Howard, it would have gone to Quenshawn. Uh, when you talk about three touchdowns and, uh, the 70-yard run, he broke off, I think really, you know, he, he had, his production had been inconsistent entering the playoff, but he was that consistent chunk back. We always expected that he could be for Ohio State and really just gashing the defense, kind of breaking your spirit.
That nine-yard touchdown run he had, throwing a dude to the ground on a stiff arm and plowing over another to get into the end zone. I mean, those are, I said, I tweeted it. Those are the kinds of runs that take away the soul of a defense.
And, uh, he was that physical presence. Donovan Jackson, I think, is going to live as, you know, Jack Sawyer might probably be my favorite story on this team. Donovan Jackson might be number two for me.
You know, I'm a big offensive line guy, but to, to go from being a guard all your career to one of the best tackles in football, that's what he was. One of the best tackles in college football, uh, particularly in this college football playoff stretch where he hit, gave up no sacks and only two total quarterback pressures per pro football focus. Um, that is crazy numbers.
And especially you look at the elite line of defensive ends. He played not just in the CFP, but before, I mean, he gives up two sacks to Abdul Carter, who's an elite speed rusher in his very first game playing tackle at the start of the year, but otherwise held up pretty well and was absolutely mauling Carter in the run game. I will say that game, um, he, Mikhail Kamara, he even had a great game against Josiah Stewart, though Ohio state lost to Michigan, uh, James Pierce Jr. Who's going to be a first round NFL draft pick. The line of elite defensive ends that he was able to stand up against was incredible. And again, played like one of the best offensive tackles in college football down the stretch of this season and the entire offensive line too. Josh Fryer, um, don't want to talk about a senior that deserves some praise.
I think he was overshadowed some in this playoff run by how good Donovan Jackson was. But for a guy that was really criticized for his ability to handle speed off the edge, in-pass protection, took massive strides this year, has always been a mauler in the run game. Um, one of the few pieces of the offensive line that got to hang around and stay at his position where he started the season, um, and really was an anchor at that spot that Ohio state needed as this run continued.
And man, it was so fun in the locker room. Again, I talked about interacting with Fryer before, but as I'm interviewing him, Carson Hintzman walks up and he goes, Josh Fryer is the nastiest, smelliest, dirtiest bear of a tackle I've ever been around. It was, it was just so fun to see the bond that offensive line has.
And then Tegra took the mic and said something similar. Josh took it back and said, Carson Hintzman is going to be the next best center in college football next year. It was like, you could tell how close that unit is.
Um, and going beyond players, and I'm sure you have more names that you're going to want to get to here, especially on the defensive side of the ball, because we haven't really touched on that yet. There's so many guys on this team, but Justin Fry, man, I like for someone that fans wanted fired coming into the season, wanted fired when he missed on David Sanders Jr. in recruiting, uh, the most criticized coach on this team outside Ryan Day, probably. Um, what an amazing job of development he did to get this offensive line to where it was in the college football playoff after losing the Remington trophy winner at center and a possible first round draft pick at left tackle.
Uh, that, that, what this offensive line does moving positions with Donovan, sliding Carson Hintzman back to center. There were hiccups along the way, the Michigan game, obviously being a main one, but the way they responded in this playoff run, uh, Justin Fry might be one of the best developers. Like there's still holes in recruiting that need fixed, but might be one of the best developers of offensive linemen in the country.
And Ryan Day's confidence and trust in him to keep him around paid off, paid off with how this offensive line responded to him. And, um, I think that's another guy that deserves a shout out for this run. But, uh, you know, I think there's, there's more guys I think you'll want to get to as far as just so many great players that made big plays in this, uh, in this title run.
[Dan Hope]
When we talk about this season, all of the stuff we talked about before about overcoming ups and downs. I think the offensive line is really the microcosm for this whole story that we talk about, because you go into the season, you know, things started out pretty well for that offensive line. You got, you know, Josh Simmons, people are talking about him, maybe being the best tackle in the country.
Seth McLaughlin, people are talking about him being the best center in the country. It seemed like, you know, early in the season, they really had a groove. And then Josh Simmons goes down in that Oregon game and immediately it's like, Oh, there goes the season.
Like, you know, how are we going to replace this guy? They don't have a clear cut backup at, at, at left tackle. And you're thinking this could derail the entire season.
And then two games later, Donovan Jackson slides out there. Like you said, has some pickups in that first game against Abdul Carter dominant for rest of a year at that position. You know, probably made himself more money in terms of NFL draft stock in the CFP than anybody though.
There's a lot of guys that could fall into that group. And that might be a conversation for another episode here over the next few months. But you know, Donovan Jackson certainly, you know, doing a phenomenal job in that move outside to left tackle, you know, and then it's like, you're, you're finally starting to get your groove back there in November with Donovan Jackson playing left tackle of Carson Hinsman playing left guard.
And then Seth McLaughlin goes down. And again, it's like, Oh, there goes the season. Like, how are we going to replace this guy?
And for the first couple of games, it looked those, you know, kind of like we saw him in Nebraska game initially, when Zen Mahalsky replaced Josh Simmons at left tackle for the first couple of games, it felt like, Oh, maybe that, maybe that fear was warranted. You know, that how poorly Ohio state ran the ball against Michigan. It felt like, yep.
You know, maybe, maybe the Seth McLaughlin injury was one straw too far for Ohio state to overcome, but they found a way in the CFP, you know, they, they, they made some changes in the CFP, you know, even after dominating the first two CFP games, halfway through the CFP, they, they make Luke Montgomery, but the full-time starting left guard, a guy who really hadn't played any snaps of significance going into the CFP ends up solidifying himself as the team starting left guard for the final two games of the CFP does pretty dang well.
And is, you know, probably going to be better left guard next season. Now, you know, Carson Hinsman, you really didn't know like mid season, like what the outlook was for him. Like you said, now he's probably Ohio state starting center now for the foreseeable future.
You know, you feel like you might have two good options at right guard. Next year between Austin, Sierra Veldt and Tegra Shibola, as those guys continue to develop. So, you know, you're absolutely right.
You know, Justin Fry again, much like a frying day. I mean, I mean, honestly, I came out of a mission game thinking like Ohio state probably has to win the national championship to save Justin Fry's job, but that's exactly what they did. And you couple that with, they got a couple of big transfer portal wins there in December as well, getting Philip Daniels and Ifanani on one, you know, we'll save conversation about next year for next week and beyond.
We've got, you know, seven months to talk about next year. We're just talking about this year and this great championship run on this episode, but certainly agree a few of it, but Justin Fry deserves for shout out that you gave him for that offensive line coming together and doing as well as it did despite two massive injuries before the CFP. As you mentioned, Ohio state's defense was phenomenal this year.
I mean, just as a unit, I mean, you look at their numbers, they were pretty much number one, number two, number three, and just about every category in the country. And so Ohio state's defense, uh, just a phenomenal season for that group. Again, they were expected to be the best defense in the country, but just cause you were expected to be that doesn't make it easy to actually be that.
And again, you talk about that in season adversity, you know, that sixth game of the year at Oregon, they get sliced up by the ducks. And you're wondering like, what's wrong with this Ohio state defense. And then the rest of the year, there wasn't anything wrong with it.
They were, they became that dominant elite unit. They were supposed to be all year long for, for the rest of the season. And again, we could talk about all 11 starters on that defense because, uh, they all played well in this college football playoff.
But certainly I think the two guys you got to start with are Jack Sawyer and JT to them all out. We already talked about Jack's 80 free yard scoop and score. You know, we, we could talk about all the defining moments of this CFP.
I think we'd probably both agree like the number one moment we're going to remember kind of like that 85 yards of a heart of a self run from Zeke 10 years ago, that 80 free yard scoop and score against Texas. I think it was the play of the season for this Ohio state football team and Jack Sawyer delivered that moment, but that was just one great play in a playoff full of great plays for Jack Sawyer who had 13 tackles, four and a half sacks. And I think the staff that really blows your mind, seven past breakups, I haven't checked for sure, but I'm pretty sure that's the most past breakups that any player had in the CFP and he's a defensive end.
So, uh, phenomenal for him. And then JT to him all while as well. I think he's been overshadowed by Jack Sawyer, uh, in this CFP because of that great play Jack had.
But you look at JT's numbers from a CFP 23 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, six and a half sacks, two past breakups in a forced fumble. I mean, again, I just mentioned it with Donovan Jackson, but it's true for these guys too. Uh, you know, I think either or both of those guys could be first round NFL draft picks now.
I don't know that I would have said that before of a CFP, but you know, for two guys who came in as very, very, very highly touted recruits in their class, uh, there maybe was a feeling, you know, even late in this year that those guys hadn't quite lived up to that hype. But they sure did in the CFP.
[Andy Anders]
Yeah, um, absolutely. And, uh, you know, I, the defense was just replete. I mean, Sonny Stiles played awesome in the playoff.
Jordan Hancock, I think as a guy who doesn't get talked about enough to when you, when you, what he allowed the defense to do, I think a lot of the success and it didn't start right after the Oregon game with it. It started pretty quickly after I got, I guess it wasn't a brass game when he first started getting safety reps. Wasn't it?
Um, that change, I think propelled a lot of the defense success in the back half of the year, the ability to move him deep to safety and, or even like starting a nickel position and roll deep into some coverage shells allowed Caleb Downs to be this sort of center fielder, um, 12 yards off the line of scrimmage and just see an attack. And that is something that I think really unlocked a lot of exotic coverages for the secondary that allowed them to have better success defending the pass. In addition to some different, um, rush mixes and just better overall pass rush that, uh, you know, coverage and rush work together.
And we saw how well the pass rush played these playoffs. Um, defensive tackles were awesome. I mean, when you talk about the way Ohio state shut down the run in so many of these playoff games and Notre Dame had that long opening drive where Riley Leonard carries the ball nine times.
I think we both realized that wasn't going to be sustainable after they did it. Riley Leonard was puking on the sideline, uh, after that drive too. I mean, it was, otherwise they really, for the most part, shut down Notre Dame's run game after Texas ran the ball for two yards per carry and Oregon finished with a negative rushing total.
That starts with great defensive tackle play and Ohio state had it all playoffs. Um, the corner Jermaine Matthews stepped up to get some really key reps in there. Um, I mean, and Downs too, right?
Downs was electric as he has been all season. So the entire defense, I mean, guys had their moments, all of them all across the board. And, um, you know, it makes it really difficult to, to, to even single out like who you would pick as an MVP.
But Dan, if you can make that decision, you know, where do you stand? Who, who is your MVP for Ohio state for this college football playoff run?
[Dan Hope]
Yeah, there really are like six, seven, eight guys that I could choose, but I still got to go back to Will Howard. And it's like, I, you almost want to not choose the quarterback because it feels so convenient to choose the quarterback. It's like the quarterback's usually the guy who wins that award, but just the way that he elevated his game throughout this CFP for me, you know, I mean, again, I mean, there again, another guy, you just want to talk specifically about the narrative coming out of that Michigan game.
You know, he, he didn't play very well in that game, you know, took a hit to the head, maybe that affected things. But, you know, I, I felt like Will Howard, I feel like Will Howard's now finally going to get the credit that he deserved because he just didn't get enough credit all year long. You know, he, he, he was one of the best quarterbacks throughout the regular season.
And, you know, basically it was, you know, a non-factor in the Heisman conversation. And then, you know, you go into the playoff, you know, you've got national analysts saying that, you know, he, he's the worst quarterback in the CFP. You know, you've got, uh, you know, Malik Zaire ranting before the national championship game, calling him the worst quarterback that Ohio state's had in the last 15 years.
You know, you had this constant debate all year long about did Ohio state screw up by letting Kyle McCord walk? You know, would Ohio state be better off with Quinn Ewers? And again, I think Will Howard proved in the CFP.
He was the right quarterback for this Ohio state team all along, but Ohio state, given the choice of any of those three guys I just mentioned, I think would take Will Howard 10 times out of 10, because he became an extremely high level passer. You know, maybe he's not quite CJ Stroud in terms of passing proficiency. Maybe he's not quite Justin Fields in terms of athleticism, but he made the plays consistently that Ohio state needed him to make throughout this CFP.
He made some elite pros. And then the thing everybody just talks about with Will is his leadership. And you just see it, especially in these big games.
I mean, he's just got that moxie about him that he just makes everyone believe in him. And the stage never looked too big for him. He seemed to thrive and play his best in those biggest moments.
And so while there's a lot of different guys I could have said there, I have to go with Will because I just think that, you know, he became that elite quarterback that Ohio state, it's hard to win a national championship without an elite quarterback. And there was plenty of discourse this year about whether Will Howard was that elite quarterback, but he proved to me and I think to a lot of people in the college football playoff that he wasn't an elite quarterback.
[Andy Anders]
You know, I've got to take it in a different direction since you took Howard already. I think it's a great selection. I'm split like you.
I'm split between several guys. I mean, I think there's definitely an argument for Jeremiah Smith, even given just one catch for three yards against Texas. When you talk about value and the amount of attention he commanded in that game, I think in many ways springboarded the final drive that was so key for Ohio state.
Jack Sawyer, you know, I'm a, you know, I have a soft spot for him. JT Tui-Molawau might've been the most, like, you just look at production. There's an argument for JT Tui-Molawau as the most productive player, given his stats relative to the position he plays and what he did.
But you chose the quarterback of the offense. I'm going to take the quarterback of the defense and say Cody Simon. Um, Cody really, I, and I I've told already many, many stories, written many stories about the senior class and what they've been through.
I think Nathan Ransom is a guy who doesn't get enough praise. But, um, for a guy that was kind of a pariah the first couple of years of his Ohio state career, got a lot of criticism for some of the struggles of that 2021 defense when he was really young and just getting his feet underneath him as a player, got overshadowed by Tommy Eikenberg and Steele Chambers, uh, certainly in 2022, but then in 2023, he was still mixing in and started for Tommy after Tommy got hurt.
But, um, this year he came out and I would say he had the best linebacker season, um, maybe in, maybe since Ryan Chazier for Ohio state this year. Um, when you look at the totality of his season, but especially what he did in the playoffs, just rock solid, was flying all over the field, coming backside to make tackles, running sideline to sideline. He seemed to just, he had that Tommy Eikenberg instinct where Tommy seemed to know where the ball was going before every play, but he had another degree of athleticism to him that I think made him the ideal middle linebacker for this Jim Knowles defense.
38 tackles. You know, we talked about 38 tackles, four tackles for loss, two sacks, two pass breakups, both those sacks coming against Oregon, um, and eight sacks in that game. He, both of those sacks came when he was spying Dylan Gabriel and Dylan Gabriel's feet really hurt Ohio state.
The first time they played Oregon, Cody Simon was able to neutralize that in many ways alongside the rest of the pass rush, but, um, whatever they needed, whatever role they needed him to play, he was the green dot where, of course, and the guy who sets Ohio state's defense really, uh, and gets them adjusted at the line, gets them planted and where pointed where they need to go. Um, and Jim Knowles referred to him as future president of the United States. Just the consummate great human who approaches the game the ideal way, the right way, um, as a linebacker.
I think when you talk about the success Ohio state's defense has as a whole, had as a whole, establishing itself as the best defense in college football, the back half of the year, but especially in the playoff run, I think it starts with Cody Simon. Um, and I, I think as the more you reflect on what this defense was, the more his value becomes apparent.
[Dan Hope]
I think we could sit here for 10 hours and talk about this national championship run because, uh, it, it was such a fantastic run to watch. And like we said, so many people who deserve praise guys, we didn't even mention on this show who had a great, uh, contributions to the CFP run. We'll be telling a lot more stories about this championship over on 11 warriors.com.
You know, certainly soon enough, we'll start to look ahead to the 2025 season too, in the future, because spring ball is going to come fast. You know, it's, uh, you know, we're, we're only a little over seven months away now from the first game of the 2025 season, but we're, we're going to can certainly be talking and writing about this national championship run for some time, because this is what it's all about at the end of the day. This is what you're ultimately chasing, uh, that, that national championship.
And, uh, now that Ohio state, uh, has won that as Ryan day has said many times, those stories got to be told they deserve to be told. And so, uh, we're certainly going to do our part over at 11 warriors.com to continue telling those stories, uh, uh, on, uh, the many articles we write, but many, uh, podcasts we will produce about, uh, this 2024 Ohio state football team that is now officially a national champion. And so, uh, we hope that you will continue to follow us over to 11 warriors.com and continue to stay tuned in on real pod Wednesdays, all off season long. Thanks for joining us. And we'll catch you next time.