By the time Monday night yielded to Tuesday morning and Ohio State's 42-20 thumping of Oregon for college football's national championship was complete, Buckeyes safety Vonn Bell had one final objective before celebrating with teammates.
Find Marcus Mariota.
The Heisman Trophy quarterback had kept the Ducks close for much of the evening with 333 yards and two touchdowns, and he might have thrown for more than 400 had it not been for some early dropped passes. Yet Bell and his fellow defenders were at their best when it mattered, holding Oregon to 2-of-12 on third-down conversions.
"I just wanted to tell him that he had a good run and that he is an outstanding player," Bell said by phone this week. "I told him that it was an honor to play against him, and I wished him the best at the next level."
Bell, the former five-star standout from Ridgeland High School, capped a sensational sophomore season with six tackles and a sack against the Ducks. He would not sleep from the time he woke up Monday morning in Texas until going to bed Tuesday night in Ohio.
"You can't go to sleep after a night like that," he said.
There has been a lot to soak in since his return to Columbus, especially given that Ohio State was ranked 16th in late October when the first installment of the College Football Playoff rankings were released. The Buckeyes claimed the fourth and final playoff spot following a resounding 59-0 rout of Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game, and they reached the national title game with a 42-35 stunning of top-seeded Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.
"This team was really hungry, and we overcame a lot of adversity," Bell said. "This team stayed together. The relationships between us just got stronger each week, and we bought into what the coaches taught us. We kept on pushing knowing that we couldn't be stopped."
Bell finished second on the national champions with 92 tackles, and he led the team with six interceptions. He also had two tackles for loss and broke up 18 passes.
Finishing third on Ohio State in tackles was redshirt freshman linebacker Darron Lee, who had 81 stops, 16.5 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks and two interceptions. Bell and Lee are roommates, with Lee also having called Chattanooga home before moving to New Albany, Ohio, in eighth grade.
"We knew of each other growing up," Bell said. "He went to McCallie, and I knew him through the Y league. I saw him one time when I visited Ohio State, and I remembered his mom (Candice) being a news lady.
"We hit it off right away."
Bell and Lee are part of Ohio State's sensational 2013 signing class that includes quarterback J.T. Barrett, running back Ezekiel Elliott and defensive end Joey Bosa, and it's a big reason the Buckeyes already are considered the favorites for the 2015 national title. Bell said when asked that he has no idea whether Barrett, Braxton Miller or Cardale Jones -- who announced Thursday that he was returning for his senior season -- would be the starting quarterback in September, but he does realize things have changed.
After a successful season in playing the role of hunter, Ohio State is now the hunted for the foreseeable future.
"We're going to be ready for it," Bell said. "Everybody is going to want to knock off the Buckeyes, but we're going to accept that challenge. It takes a lot of commitment and responsibility to live up to the national championship, but we're going to own up to it."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.