COLUMBUS, Ohio — The 2024 Ohio State Buckeyes, the first team to run the gauntlet of four College Football Playoff games on its way to the national championship, celebrated with 30,000 fans Sunday at Ohio Stadium.
Supporters braved 30-degree temperatures at “The Shoe” to welcome home a team that beat five top-10 opponents on its way to the title, including Oregon in the Rose Bowl quarterfinal on New Year’s Day, Texas in the Cotton Bowl semifinal the following week and Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff championship game Monday night in Atlanta.
“It took everybody to become national champions, and today we say thank-you,” sixth-year head coach Ryan Day told the crowd.
Ohio State was the first program to win the inaugural CFP a decade ago — it was a four-team event from 2014 until expanding this season — and became the first to win the 12-team version. The Buckeyes did so in dominating fashion, trailing for just 6 minutes, 5 seconds across 240 minutes of playing time in the CFP and beating every opponent by double figures, starting with last month’s on-campus win against Tennessee.
The Buckeyes, who finished 14-2, also overcame criticism from a loss to Big Ten border rival Michigan to close the regular season, a setback that generated calls for Day’s removal but didn’t keep his team out of the Football Bowl Subdivision’s national title event.