Forget The Michigan Game, The Buckeyes Are National Champions

If someone had walked through a portal from the future on the night of Nov. 30, 2024 and stood outside telling Ohio State fans their team would be hoisting the National Championship trophy just 52 days later, every single person would have laughed in the time travelers face.

"The Game" had cruelly settled the championship aspirations of both teams so many times before. And with the Buckeyes at rock bottom that day, following an embarrassing 13-10 loss to Michigan – the program's fourth straight defeat in the rivalry, who would have though this year would be any different?

Things looked bleak. The Buckeyes, doomed. What team is coming back from it's rock bottom as a program?

As the story goes, some raw conversations between players and head coach Ryan Day in the days after that loss helped the team heal. A shot at redemption awaited the Buckeyes in the newly expanded 12-team College Football Playoff. They took full advantage, ripping off an epic, four-game run to a National Championship. Taking down Tennessee, Oregon, Texas and Notre Dame – largely in dominant fashion – was easily the most difficult path to a title in the history of the sport.

As Buckeye fans watched a backdrop of fluttering confetti fall behind a championhship trophy ceremony inside Mercedes Benz Stadium on Monday night though, for many an unfathomable internal conflict ensued. How should an Ohio State fan treat a championship won after a loss to it's biggest rival?

The answer seems obvious: no different than any other championship. A title is a title. But for Ohio State fans it's not that east. The rivalry with Michigan is the lifeblood of the program. Day knows that better than anyone.

Times, however, are a'changin. And in this NIL era of college football and this fancy expanded playoff, it's possible to win a title without a win over That Team Up North, or a Big Ten title to show for your efforts. The Buckeyes just proved it. That may feel weird, or different. It doesn't diminish the accomplishment of winning the grandest of prizes – a National Championship.

Years from now when future college football fans search the internet for a list of College Football Champions by year, Ohio State will forever be listed after the year 2024. There won't be an asterisk for not beating Michigan. There won't be some fine print explaining why this title means just a little bit less because it didn't come with a win over that team. It means the same as every title to come before it, and every title to come after it.

Like Michigan is a road block in Day's head, the idea that the Michigan game is the only thing that matters in a season is a road block for Buckeyes fans. That's not to say the game shouldn't or won't still matter. The rivalry will be what the fans make it, and let's face it, these two fan bases will always make it meaningful. But there are other meaningful things. A championship being chief among them.

Let this magical Ohio State run serve as an enlightenment of sorts. Beating That Team Up North still matters. It always will. At this point though, the Ohio State standard revolves around titles and winning them provide the ultimate trump card.

Don't let that game, that team, that fan base taint what is one of the most memorable Ohio State seasons of all time.

There will be a day to worry about That Team Up North again. Right now though, the Buckeyes are national champions again. And nobody can take that away.