The inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff gave us what we asked for: a definitive national champion in a tournament made of worthy pursuers for the crown. 

Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes proved to be the final team standing Monday night, holding off a Notre Dame comeback bid to walk away with a memorable 34-23 win over the Fighting Irish to become the second team since 1960 to win the national championship with two losses in one season.

And while Monday night’s CFP national title game tilted from a blowout to a game that was in the balance with less than a minute to play, Ohio State and Notre Dame revealed facts about their past and their future. 

Here are five takeaways from Monday night’s CFP National Championship game:

1. The Fighting Irish looked ready when the game kicked off. 

Notre Dame’s game plan worked. Take the ball and make Ohio State do what it had not done throughout the entire College Football Playoff: play from behind.

Offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock scripted a perfect first series. His offense careered through the Buckeyes on the opening drive, and it was methodical: A total of 18 plays, 75 yards in nine minutes and 45 seconds to put Ohio State behind on the scoreboard for the first time in the 2024 CFP. 

And Riley Leonard could not be stopped. He ran the ball nine times for 34 yards on the opening drive and finished it with a rushing TD. Against Penn State, Leonard ran the ball 12 times on designed rushes. But it was clear to all that Leonard was already feeling ill from the punishment that comes from carrying the ball.

Yes, Notre Dame scored. Yes, Notre Dame led 7-0. But Leonard vomited on the sideline from exhaustion and just 22 minutes later he was asked to go back into the game after Ohio State tied it. By that point, it looked like Leonard and, as a result, Notre Dame had little left in the tank to finish the fight. 

The Fighting Irish ran just nine plays after that for a total of 20 yards to finish the first half.

2. Ohio State QB Will Howard was excellent.

Will Howard, who was brought to Columbus to lead Ohio State to this game, surgically dissected the Notre Dame defense on Monday night. The senior QB completed his first 13 passes to set the record for consecutive completions in a College Football Playoff championship game. 

His eighth completion of the night went to senior wideout Emeka Egbuka, a 12-yard completion for a first down, marking Ebuka’s 202nd reception at Ohio State, making him the Buckeyes’ all-time leader in receptions.

In the first half alone, Howard led the Buckeyes on three consecutive TD-scoring drives, hitting 14 of 15 passes for 144 yards with two passing TDs against the No. 2 pass defense in the country. 

Howard only attempted six passes in the second half, completing three of them, and when it was all said and done, he finished 17-of-21 for 231 passing yards with two passing touchdowns and 57 rushing yards en route to being named the offensive MVP.

3. Jaden Greathouse is a force.

The Fighting Irish were finished, and then Jaden Greathouse appeared once more when they needed him most. After putting together the first 100-yard receiving performance by any Notre Dame wide receiver this season, he made two Buckeye defenders miss en route to just the second touchdown of the game for Notre Dame. With just under five minutes left, he showed up again for a 30-yard TD reception that cut the score to one possession.

Greathouse, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound sophomore from Westlake High School in Austin, Texas, caught just one pass in each of Notre Dame’s last three regular-season games, just two against Indiana in the CFP opener, and one against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. But in the two most important games of the season, he recorded at least five catches and 100 receiving yards. And the service was incredible. Greathouse is a bursting star, and Notre Dame will benefit from the likes of him and Jordan Faison next year.

4. Jeremiah Smith came up clutch when Ohio State needed him most.

With just 2:45 left to play and stuck on their own 36-yard line after three consecutive rushes from Howard, Ohio State OC Chip Kelly cashed in on the set-up. With Notre Dame sucked up in the box and one-on-one coverage on the outside against freshman phenom Jeremiah Smith, Howard unleashed a go-ball that Smith caught 54 yards down the field to secure first-and-goal for the Buckeyes.

The player with the most promise, the most hype, was called on to seal the play that set up the game-winning field goal. And he came through. It’s rare to see a true freshman mean so much to a national title team, and yet Smith joins Trevor Lawrence and Maurice Clarett as one of the most impactful freshmen the sport has ever seen.

5. The balance of power has shifted north of the Mason-Dixon Line for the first time this century.

For the first time this century, the Big Ten has seen two of its members win the national title in back-to-back seasons: Michigan and Ohio State. 

The SEC has also missed the national title game for consecutive seasons for the first time since 2004 and 2005. 

RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the podcast “The Number One College Football Show.” Follow him at @RJ_Young.

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