The book has officially been closed on the 2024 college football season as Ohio State defeated Notre Dame in the national championship game. The Buckeyes finished the season with a 14-2 record and claimed the program’s ninth national title.
With this year’s trophy, Ohio State has now won a title in the first year of the 4 team (2014) and 12 team College Football Playoffs. Ryan Day’s team left no doubt who the best team in country was this year defeating six of the top seven ranked teams, excluding themselves.
Here are the three biggest takeaways from Ohio State’s 2024 national championship season in this new era of college football.
Money can buy happiness
This is not a shot at Ohio State, but is simply a fact in the current landscape of the sport. It’s no secret that this year’s Buckeye team was healthily compensated as it was reported that their roster as a whole was making around $20 million in NIL.
Many will point to the effect this money has in the portal with guys like Caleb Downs, Quinshon Judkins, and Will Howard, who were all key pieces in this title run, but I would argue it is just as important in bringing guys back.
Specifically on the defensive side of the ball, OSU had several players return who had the ability to go pro but instead returned to Columbus for another year. You cannot convince me that the offers these guys were getting to come back did not play a heavy role in that decision.
Ohio State is definitely not the only program with large sums of money involved and I would argue over half of the teams who made this year’s playoff were in the top 20 of NIL spent which points to the fact that if you want to win, you have to be willing to spend money.
A loss may be the best thing for a team
We knew with the 12 team playoff one loss would no longer knock a team out of contention, but with how this season unfolded, losing may now be the best thing for a team. Look no further than the national championship game featuring two teams who were on the losing end of two of the biggest upsets of the season.
Notre Dame fell early to Northern Illinois which made every remaining game of their season a must win and certainly had an effect on them making a run.
Ohio State dropped their final game of the season to rival Michigan in one of the worst losses in the history of sports. There is no doubt in my mind that Ohio State losing that game was the best thing that could have happened to them as it galvanized this team to go on and win it all.
Nick Saban has been passionately preaching this sentiment on College Gameday and it is something we should remember in the years to come.
Ohio State fans are delirious
Now this certainly does not apply to all Buckeye supporters, but a large number of Ohio State fans may be some of the craziest and irrational group of people out there.
After that loss to Michigan they wanted Ryan Day out immediately. A guy who ranks third highest in win percentage in the history of college football and is now one of only three active head coaches with a national title. After that loss they did not even want to be in the playoff, especially if Day was the coach. Now they want to sign the guy to a lifetime contract.
Looking back at the way Buckeye fans acted not too long ago after losing to Michigan for the fourth straight year compared to how they feel now after a historic playoff run is quite funny and shows how a few games of football can completely change the tone of a wild fanbase.
