CFB wrap-up: Takeaways from Ohio State's title-game win

Ohio State left no doubt about who the best team in the nation was for the 2024 season, taking out Notre Dame in Atlanta on Monday to claim the first national championship in the 12-team College Football Playoff.

The Buckeyes' star-laden roster was simply too much for the Fighting Irish. They scored at will to take a 31-7 lead early in the second half, and a late field goal sealed the deal after Notre Dame stormed back to make it an eight-point contest.

Here are the main takeaways from Ohio State's victory.

Day's offensive additions shine

Recruitment is as essential to success in college football as any other aspect of the game. Some questioned Ryan Day's in-game coaching in recent years, but there can be no denying that the man is an absolute ace when it comes to building a roster. He convinced Jack Sawyer, TreVeyon Henderson, Emeka Egbuka and JT Tuimoloau to stay in school one final year, and his additions via the transfer portal shined bright Monday night.

Many were surprised by Kyle McCord's decision to transfer in the offseason after he wasn't promised the starting quarterback job, and when Day brought in Will Howard from Kansas State to take over the offense, the move didn't immediately look like an upgrade. The jokes were flying when McCord broke the passing record with Syracuse, but Day and Howard got the last laugh with a brilliant run in the playoffs.

Howard set a title-game record with 13 straight completions to begin the contest and finished the four-game playoff with a sparkling 75% completion rate and eight touchdown passes.

Day also brought in Quinshon Judkins from Ole Miss in a move that felt like a man with a garage full of Ferraris adding another. It's great to own another luxury car, but do you really need one? As it turns out, he did. His plan to get TreVeyon Henderson more rest this year worked brilliantly.

The duo complemented each other perfectly and piled up numbers while remaining healthy for the length of the schedule. Judkins' final act this season was his most impactful. He only touched the ball a few times against Notre Dame, but he scored a trio of touchdowns with those touches.

Chip was deep in his bag

The highest-profile offseason addition came in the form of Chip Kelly, who left his position as head coach of UCLA to become the Buckeyes' offensive coordinator. The move initially seemed puzzling, especially considering the Bruins became conference foes with Ohio State this season, but Kelly insisted he was tired of all that being a head coach entailed and just wanted to coach ball. Kelly's imprint was strong all season, and he was particularly deep in his bag throughout the playoffs.

Howard's a solid quarterback with a strong skill set. He's not showing up early on any draft board for 2025, but there's talent there, and Kelly did a brilliant job of scheming players open play after play, drive after drive, to get the most out of that talent.

Giving Kelly a seemingly endless supply of weapons on offense is borderline unfair, and he showed his acumen on a couple of occasions Monday. One of his finer moments came on Ohio State's opening touchdown - a play where Kelly was able to get the most dangerous receiver in the country wide open.

Day previously played under Kelly at New Hampshire, and the reunion between the two paid off over and over again this year.

Freeman's questionable calls

Marcus Freeman's a brilliant coach who has brought Notre Dame plenty of respect on the national level. However, he's going to look back and want a few mulligans on some big moments from Monday's game.

The first questionable call came after Ohio State took the opening drive of the second half for a touchdown to make things 28-7 and put Notre Dame on the ropes. Faced with 4th-and-2 on their own 33, Freeman realized the game was at a critical point and that his team needed a first down. But the Irish opted for madness as backup quarterback Steve Angeli attempted a fake punt throw. Ohio State didn't look remotely fooled by the move, and Angeli's pass sailed wide of the intended target, putting the Buckeyes in excellent field position and setting them up for a field goal.

The second questionable call was the most baffling of the bunch and came when the Irish attempted a furious comeback in the fourth quarter. Trailing by 16, Notre Dame drove deep in Ohio State's zone and was faced with 4th-and-goal from the 11. A 16-point deficit would seemingly make it an easy decision to try to score the touchdown, but Freeman opted for a field goal to cut the deficit to 13 - a margin that still requires two touchdowns. To make matters worse, Mitch Jeter doinked the kick off the upright and the lengthy trip came up empty.

Notre Dame stormed down the field on the next drive to score a touchdown and get the two-point conversion, but that was the last time it saw the ball before gaining possession while down 11 with 25 seconds to play.

Ohio State defense snuffed out initial hope

The Irish opened the contest by paying tribute to the troops with an 18-play, 75-yard drive that lasted 9:45 and featured nine runs by the quarterback. The uniforms said Notre Dame, but Leonard carrying the ball every other play resembled something we might see from Army, Navy or Air Force. It suggested the underdogs might be able to move the ball on the Buckeyes' stout defense and keep the game close.

But Leonard obviously wasn't going to make it through the game if Notre Dame was going to run him every other play. After scoring the opening touchdown, the dual-threat quarterback vomited on the sideline before catching his breath.

All the hope from the opening drive then quickly evaporated as Jim Knowles' defense adjusted and completely stopped the Irish attack. The next four drives saw the offense run 16 plays for a total of 11 yards. You do not need a Notre Dame education to realize that's less than one yard per play.

The Buckeyes' defense was the best in the nation throughout most of the season and featured future NFL talent across all levels of the field. While the sack total wasn't the same as previous playoff games - notably the eight registered in the win over Oregon - most of that boils down to Leonard's elite ability to avoid pressure.

The final numbers will show Notre Dame ended up moving the ball with some success on the Buckeyes' defense, but the vast majority of that came once the game was well out of reach at 31-7.

We heaped praise on Kelly earlier for his brilliant playcalling, but Knowles deserves just as much credit for the defense he built in Columbus. The Buckeyes funnel over $4 million combined into their two coordinators - money that was very well spent this season.