Report card: Grading Buckeyes position groups from national title win

ATLANTA — Ohio State is the national champion of college football.

The Buckeyes beat all four teams they faced in the College Football Playoff by double digits. They pummeled Tennessee, destroyed Oregon, outlasted Texas and beat Notre Dame to cap off the run.

With a win, this team can finally share its story, one with two heart-breaking losses — one being to the biggest rival, no Big Ten championship and plenty of turmoil. But after the last four games, the story can be told.

“Now the stories of these guys will be told because they’ve cemented themselves in Ohio State history, the ninth national champ and the third really in the last 50 years,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. “There’s been some great, great teams in the last 50 some-odd years at Ohio State. Great teams, great players. Only three of them have been national champs, and these guys are one of them.”

Lettermen Row has the final report card of the season — this one coming in the national title win over Notre Dame. Let’s dive in.

Quarterback: A

Ohio State quarterback Will Howard has been doubted and doubted all season. Titles like “game manager” and “product of his environment” have been tossed around ad nauseam. But Howard proved everyone who has said those things wrong with his incredible first-half performance. Howard started the game 13 of 13, including a touchdown pass to Jeremiah Smith. His final throw of the first half was an easy pitch-and-catch toss to a wide open Quinshon Judkins for a touchdown to give the Buckeyes a two-score lead at the break. Sure, the second half was a bit bumpy — before his insane third-and-11 throw to Jeremiah Smith to ice the game late — but it shouldn’t take away from what he did to lead this team to a national championship.

Howard is out of games to prove folks wrong in. Luckily for he and the Buckeyes, he got the ultimate last laugh — a national title ring. There’s no more doubting Will Howard. He’s in a group with Rex Kern, Craig Krenzel and Cardale Jones as the last four Buckeyes quarterbacks to win a national championship.

After his unbelievable four-game CFP run, has the jewelry to stave any of the hate off.

Running back: A

Quinshon Judkins was incredible, totaling 100 rushing yards on 11 carries with two touchdown runs. He also had two catches for 21 yards and a touchdown grab in the national title win. Give the man some respect. Day and the staff limited he and TreVeyon Henderson all season with the goal of being fresh for the finish in mind. It worked out to perfection, as they were fast and fresh Monday night. Henderson had 12 carries for 49 yards.

This duo will go down in history as one of the great running back duos in the long lineage of the program. Both went over 1,000 yards on the year, Judkins finally breaking through that barrier during the title game on Monday night.

Wide receiver/tight end: A

The third-and-11 throw from Will Howard to Jeremiah Smith will go down as one of the great plays in Ohio State national title history, and it should. Smith capped off the best freshman season in program history with a five-catch, 88-yard performance. He also had a score. Then there’s Emeka Egbuka, who came up just a bit short on the program all-time receiving yards leader but he broke the receptions record previously held by KJ Hill. Those two were the catalysts for the passing attack from Will Howard.

Hats off to the tight ends, who did a nice job blocking the physical Notre Dame front as well. That group deserves a lot of credit for what it did Monday night.

Offensive line: A

Notre Dame came up with five tackles for loss and two sacks — but who cares? This Ohio State offensive line delivered during a four-team CFP run, and they’ll never be forgotten for that. Donovan Jackson’s move to left tackle in the middle of the season was absolutely remarkable. Carson Hinzman’s spot at center after Seth McLaughlin went down was shaky at times but he came through during December and January. The interior linemen performed well late in the year, as did right tackle Josh Fryar. Ohio State ran for 214 yards on a really strong Notre Dame defensive front. That in itself deserves an A.

Defensive line: A

This Notre Dame offensive line was a bit embattled like Ohio State’s is due to injuries. But the Buckeyes absolutely dominated the Irish up front. Notre Dame ran for just 53 yards on 26 carries — that’s 2 yards per carry. The talented duo of Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price collected just 16 yards on seven carries between the two of them. That’s dominance on the Ohio State end.

As for the pass rush, they only got home twice on Irish quarterback Riley Leonard, but he was under duress all night, having to escape the pocket and improvise. It was a good showing from the Buckeyes defensive line despite only collecting two sacks.

Linebackers: A

Cody Simon was named defensive MVP of the national title game. Sonny Styles continued his impressive College Football Playoff run. What else needs to be said? Those two were so good during this four-game stretch and stayed good in the national championship game. Arvell Reese even saw some playing time against the run-heavy Fighting Irish. This linebacker group was really good all night and deserved an A.

Secondary: B+

Things got a bit loose in the second half, when the Buckeyes might have started their celebrations a bit early and Notre Dame was able to toss the ball around a bit. But that shouldn’t take away from the performance of the back end on Monday night. Jordan Hancock’s third-down pass breakup in the fourth quarter held Notre Dame to a short field-goal attempt — and the Irish missed it. That was huge, and it was because of a play made by a member of the secondary.

This group wasn’t always the ‘Best In America’ this season. But a national title says otherwise.

Special teams: A+

Ohio State stopped a fake Notre Dame punt in the third quarter, a testament to how prepared the Buckeyes were for a fake that Notre Dame was bound to try at some point Monday night.

Couple that with Jayden Fielding’s 46-yard field goal to extend the third-quarter lead to 31-7 and then the most clutch 33-yard field goal in program history to give Ohio State a two-score lead with under a minute to play — allowing the celebration to officially begin. Fielding was huge Monday night.

Overall grade: A+

This team is the 2024 national champions. Is there any other grade to give it after winning it all with the most emphatic, impressive four-game stretch the sport has ever seen? We don’t believe so. This team is one of the best in program history, two losses be damned. It needs to be celebrated as such.

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