Every game has a story. From the season-opener in a high school JV league to the Super Bowl, every single game has the moments that lead up to it. The players, the coaches, the programs. It always takes a full history to bring every team to that moment.
No game exemplifies this more than college football’s National Championship Game. Teams are built by recruiting over the course of four or five years. Coaches develop players during those years. The teams play a full season where, if things don’t break right, even one loss can end it all. And, this year, each team had to play one extra game before reaching this point.
Each program has had its ups and downs getting here. Oregon is a new kid on the block. Backed by Nike and a unique coaching scheme, the Ducks have roared towards the top of the college football world in the last five years, though they were a solid program for about a decade before that.
Ohio State, on the other hand, is a college football blue-blood. They claim seven national titles, seven Heisman trophies, and, according to the Wall Street Journal, the most valuable program in college football. They have seen a decline in perception, if not actual performance, due to two straight BCS Championship Game losses to Florida and LSU in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Urban Meyer coached the Florida team that beat Ohio State. He earned the Buckeyes a little bit of their respect back by beating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl almost two weeks ago, but this win brings the Buckeyes that final step back to the pinnacle of the college football world.
In college football, perhaps more than any other sport, the coaches are most directly involved in the outcome of the game. In this game, though, neither coach has built this program. Urban Meyer is finishing his third year as Ohio State’s coach, meaning that the upperclassmen on his roster are not his recruits.
Mark Helfrich has been at the helm of the Duck program for even less than that. He has reached the National Championship Game in only his second year as coach. He does have an advantage over Meyer in continuity, though, as he was Oregon’s offensive coordinator for five years before taking over as head coach.
The coaches could not have more drastically different coaching personalities. Urban Meyer is no Jim Tressel when it comes to being straight-laced and conservative, bur Meyer certainly likes playing the odds and not taking unnecessary risks. He doesn’t mind trusting his defense and playing the field position game when it best suits his team. That didn’t stop him from going for it on three fourth downs in this game (Ohio State went 4-for-4), but it’s certainly not the first choice. Oregon, on the other hand, plays a wide-open game. If Chip Kelly was once described as a 17-year-old having fun while playing Madden, then Mark Helfrich is a 12-year-old with no inhibitions whatsoever. Fourth down is just another chance to get a first down. Punting is a worst-case scenario. Field goals don’t matter. And every touchdown is a chance to go for two.
Helfrich went a little conservative early, though, punting on 4th and 3 from near midfield. It cost Oregon, as Ohio State responded with a 97-yard touchdown drive. Of course, what hurt Oregon much more was their early futility on third down. The Ducks did not convert a third or fourth down until the final four minutes of the first half. Two early easy third-down conversions were dropped and a third one fell incomplete on what could have been called pass interference. Ohio State’s defense was gashed on the first drive, but they made their adjustments and the bend-but-not-break mentality stopped Oregon after that.
Then again, Oregon’s own bend-but-not-break mentality worked pretty well. They couldn’t stop Ohio State, really, with Cardale Jones running and throwing every third-down conversion imaginable. But Oregon forced two first-half fumbles that stopped good Ohio State drives. Oregon felt behind but not beaten at halftime. If they give up two more touchdowns, though, this would have been a blowout going away. On the other hand, if Oregon doesn’t drop those two easy passes and can continue those drives, halftime could have looked a lot different for both teams.
Ohio State’s response to their turnovers, though, are clearly the main story in this game. We can talk all we want about Ezekiel Elliott and how Ohio State’s offense was pretty dominant all game, but that would miss how this was won. The Buckeyes did their best third-quarter impression of Florida State. They turned the ball over in unlucky and absurd ways. But where the Seminoles folded in the Rose Bowl, Ohio State buckled down on defense. They forced stops and field goals when it counted, which is what gave them this title.
Obviously, we have to talk about Cardale Jones’ unflappability, even after mistakes. His long balls were gorgeous but where he really mattered was running the ball. His stats are skewed to the low side due to a 30-yard loss on one play, but he scrambled when it counted and kept the offense on the field countless times–which, more importantly kept Mariota off of it.
National Championship Games, though, are about far more than what went into that one game. We can point to stats like points off turnovers, red zone success, and third-down conversions. We can talk about the coaching decisions that each made. But that really doesn’t give the full import of what games of this magnitude are. They are a culmination of years of building a program and the finale on a now 15-game season. More importantly, though, it influences the narrative of college football for years to come. It changes benefit of the doubt. It helps recruits make up their minds. More importantly, though, it’s a moment that goes down in history.
Ohio State is no longer the 2002 BCS National Champion who can claim seven national titles. They are now the 2014 CFP National Champion who claims eight national titles. Urban Meyer is no longer 2-0 in national championship games. He is now 3-0.
They’re partying in Columbus like it’s 2003.
And it’s well-deserved.
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