Will Howard shines, Jeremiah Smith comes up clutch: Takeaways from OSU’s CFP title win

The first 12-team College Football Playoff game gave us what we asked for: a surefire national championship in a tournament made up of title chasers.

Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes appeared to be the last team standing Monday night, holding off Notre Dame’s comeback bid to walk away with a memorable win over the Fighting Irish to become only the second team since 1960 to win a national championship. with two losses in one season.

And while Monday night’s CFP national title game tilted from blowout to tiebreaker with less than a minute to play, Ohio State and Notre Dame revealed truths about their past and future.

Here are five takeaways from Monday night’s CFP National Championship game:

1. The Fighting Irish looked good when the match started.

Notre Dame’s game plan worked. Take the ball and make Ohio State do what it hasn’t done all College Football Playoff: play from behind.

Offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock wrote an excellent first series. His offense blew past the Buckeyes in the opener, and it was a way: A total of 18 plays, 75 yards in nine minutes and 45 seconds to put Ohio State on the backboard for the first time in the 2024 CFP.

And Riley Leonard couldn’t be stopped. He ran the ball nine times for 34 yards on the opening drive and finished with a rushing TD. Against Penn State, Leonard ran the ball 12 times on designated runs. But it was clear to all that Leonard was already sick because of the punishment that comes from handling the ball.

Yes, Notre Dame scored. Yes, Notre Dame leads 7-0. But Leonard threw up on the sideline because of exhaustion and after 22 minutes he was asked to return to the game after Ohio State tied it. At that point, it looked like Leonard and, as a result, Notre Dame, had a little left in their tank to finish the fight.

The Fighting Irish ran just nine plays after that, totaling 20 yards to end the first half.

2. Ohio State QB Will Howard it was very good.

Will Howard, who was brought in from Columbus to lead Ohio State in this game, tore through the Notre Dame defense on Monday night. The senior QB completed his first 13 passes to set a record for consecutive completions in a College Football Playoff championship game.

His eighth completion of the night went to senior Emeka Egbuka, a 12-yarder for a first down, marking Ebuka’s 202nd reception at Ohio State, making him the Buckeyes’ all-time leader in receptions.

In the first half alone, Howard led the Buckeyes on three consecutive TD runs, completing 14 of 15 passes for 144 yards with two TDs against the No. 1 pass defense. 2 in the country.

Howard attempted just six passes in the second half, completed three, and when all was said and done, completed 17-of-21 passing for 231 yards with two passing touchdowns and 57 rushing yards en route to being named the offensive lineman. The MVP.

3. Jaden Greathouse it is power.

The Fighting Irish were eliminated, and then Jaden Greathouse showed up again when they needed him most. After compiling the first 100-yard receiving performance of any Notre Dame wide receiver this season, he made two Buckeye quarterbacks miss en route to Notre Dame’s second touchdown of the game. With less than five minutes remaining, he came up with a 30-yard TD reception that tied the score at one.

Greathouse, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound sophomore from Westlake High School in Austin, Texas, caught one pass in Notre Dame’s last three regular-season games, just two against Indiana for opening CFP, and one against. Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. But in the two most important games of the season, he recorded at least five catches and 100 receiving yards. And the service was unbelievable. Greathouse is a breakout star, and Notre Dame will benefit from the likes of him and Jordan Faison next year.

4. Jeremiah Smith he arrived when Ohio State needed him most.

With only 2:45 to play and holding on to their own 36-yard line after three consecutive rushes from Howard, Ohio State OC Chip Kelly went on a layup. With Notre Dame huddled in the box and in one-man coverage against freshman Jeremiah Smith, Howard let Smith catch the ball 54 yards down the field to secure the Buckeyes’ first-and-goal.

A promising player, a hotshot, was called upon to cap a game-winning field goal. And he passed. It’s rare to see a true freshman make a big impact on a national title team, and yet Smith joins Trevor Lawrence and Maurice Clarett as one of the most impactful young players the sport has ever seen.

5. The balance of power has shifted north of the Mason-Dixon Line for the first time this century.

For the first time this century, the Big Ten saw two of its members win the national title in consecutive seasons: Michigan and Ohio State.

The SEC also missed the national title game in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2004 and 2005.

RJ Young is a national college football writer and commentator for FOX Sports and host of the podcast “The Number One College Football Show.” Follow him on @RJ_Omusha.

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