On Monday night in Atlanta, Ohio, they won the first national championship of the 12-team College Football Playoff era. In the process, the Buckeyes showed other teams in college football that they provided a blueprint for future success in this new environment.
Don’t deceive yourself. As much as you might hope, expanding the field doesn’t provide an opportunity for a Cinderella story in college football. Yes, Boise State and Arizona State both qualified and both had byes, but in the end they won the second most national titles since 1936 (the beginning of the polling era). , becoming the second winningest team in history. trophy after defeating the program with the fourth-most wins. It’s a tournament designed to give the best teams a second and maybe even a third chance to prove themselves worthy of greatness.
No, the lesson to be learned here is how to become an Ohio State University if you are a program already competing or hoping to compete at the elite level of the sport. Although not easy to implement, the formula itself is simple.
Ohio State wins national championship: Where do the Buckeyes’ nine titles rank in college football’s all-time rankings?
Zachary Pererez
The answer is not in the transfer portal. In the days leading up to the title game, there was a lot of talk about how Ohio State shopped its roster, but what was less discussed was Notre Dame’s potential for the 2024 offseason. It was the fact that we had a large class of transfers (9 players). more than Ohio State University (7). Neither team spent the offseason searching for players in the portal to fix their problems. Because that’s not how you win a national title in the new era.
It may help you get into the field, but it’s not enough to win.
No, the answer is the same as always. Recruit successfully through the high school ranks, develop acquired talent, and retain talent. Ohio State failed to reach the portal and win a national title this season. They won a national title by making sure their best players returned.
Many players may have left for the NFL last season, including Jack Sawyer, JT Tuimolou, Tyreek Williams and Emeka Egbuka. Others might have entered their names into the portal and looked for greener pastures elsewhere. they didn’t. They continued to be bought in to what Ohio State was trying to accomplish and were rewarded for their loyalty.
What cultural words do you hear coaches throwing around all the time? That’s what it is. This is a group of players who are in the program together and have put in their blood and sweat every day for years together in pursuit of a common goal. It is not a group of hired mercenaries with their own personal agenda.
Obviously, the Buckeyes used the portal. Will Howard didn’t start his career at Ohio State, nor did Quinshon Judkins and Caleb Downs. Everyone came to Columbus from other places because Ohio State showed the world how to properly use the portal.
The portal does not exist to create a roster. It’s there to make up for it, and if there’s enough cash, to solidify an already elite roster with even more elite talent. It’s no coincidence that it was Notre Dame that the Buckeyes beat in the title game, or Texas in the semifinals. It’s no coincidence that the two teams the Irish beat in the quarterfinals and semifinals were Penn State and Georgia. Because these were all programs that followed a similar blueprint and were all deep in the postseason.
Only one person can win it all in the end, but everyone has shown us what it takes to get to this point. The question is which programs will follow suit.
