As a kid growing up in Ohio, you’re taught two things from an early age.
- You hate TTUN
- Saturdays are for Buckeye football.
On Monday night in a media room inside the depths of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, I sat there, drenched in scarlet and gray confetti, soaking it all in, because if I’m honest, I didn’t want the night to end.
I remember every detail of that 2002 National Championship game, it was only a few years after I had become a Buckeye fan, I was around 11 years old and my Dad and I stood the entire game. I remember Maurice Clarett’s game saving forced fumble; I remember feeling the nerves as the game went into OT. I remember Cie Grant’s blitz off the edge that forced Ken Dorsey to make the throw that inevitably lifted the Buckeyes to the top of the College Football World. I remember it all as if it happened yesterday. The Buckeyes had slain the giant that no one thought they could.
Then 2014 happened…
I had just moved far away from my hometown to a place where I knew nobody, fresh out of college.
Saturday Buckeye football helped me feel closer to home. When Braxton Miller went down, my world was crushed, then came a guy named JT Barrett. Everything seemed back in order, until it wasn’t.
Enter, third string QB Cardale Jones.
No one gave that team a shot at anything from that point on.
But it didn’t matter. Cardale led that team to a Big Ten Championship, a win against the powerhouse that was the Alabama Crimson Tide, and a National Championship against an Oregon team that seemed like an offensive juggernaut. Every challenge that team faced; they overcame.
Now you get to 2024, four straight losses to TTUN, zero big ten championships, zero national titles, Ryan Day on the brink of being run out Columbus, and a path that featured the likes of Tennessee, Oregon, Texas, and Notre Dame. This team could have easily packed it in after the loss at the end of November, and a majority of people around the world thought their story was already written. Sure, they’d maybe beat Tennessee but there’s no way this team gets past Oregon in the Rose Bowl, then Ryan Day will be gone, and everyone will begin to witness the demise of Ohio State that they all dreamed about.
But instead, this team regrouped, refocused, and realized they still had time left. They had the final say in how this season ended, despite the narrative already forming around Columbus and the teams legacy. Seniors who had decided in the offseason to #ReloadTheClip started fighting for one more game with their brothers. Sr WR Emeka Egbuka prior to the Texas game was seen in the huddle telling his teammates that his last game was going to be January 20th, not that day, and he was right.
This Buckeye team truly fought for everything they achieved this year and it showed the resilience and toughness that Ryan Day has been preaching for years. It’s finally showing up when it matters. If this was truly a turning point for this program and Ryan Day, the rest of the college football world better be on alert.
I’ll never forget where I was on the night of January 20th, 2025. I’m happy for these seniors, I’m happy for this fanbase, and I can’t wait to see where we take it from here.
O-H!
