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Game Thread For the Natty vs ND, “One More, Then Forever”, Jan. 20th, 34-23 Buckeyes!

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Finally got back home from Atlanta...what a night.

As soon as I got into the stadium, I was in the middle of a clusterfuck of people camping out by the College Gameday stage (brilliant). After shoving my way through that, I come face to face with Jim Tressel, get to shake his hand and tell him "thank you for everything you've done, coach." Cool way to begin the game.

The atmosphere in that stadium was pretty surreal. Fans were pretty evenly split, maybe slightly more OSU fans. It was rowdy as hell in there, but in a good way. Being Atlanta, most of the music played was ratchet as hell and that surely played into it too :slappy: Loved it.

As for the game itself...Notre Dame's opening drive was never going to be duplicated (9 rushes by Leonard, lol) and it quickly became apparent that it was gonna be our game to lose.

We all lost it when OSU finally drew a holding call :slappy: My God that was hilarious. One of the loudest reactions from the crowd all night.

I would take credit for calling the fake punt, but I think nearly everyone in the stadium knew that was coming. It was way too obvious. I actually thought Notre Dame would attempt an onside kick at some point and I'm pretty surprised they never did. Gotta give them credit though, they never gave up. The Egbuka fumble gave them life (I literally said cover the ball right before it happened, ugh) and then they pretty inexplicably threw it away by attempting that Field Goal. I was dumbfounded by that. If I was a Notre Dame fan I'd have lost my shit about that and would never forget it. Ironically, it reminds me of some questionable decisions Day made earlier in his career in big games.

Notre Dame had a safety over the top of Smith for almost the entire game, save for that final drive. I really wanted them to throw that ball to him earlier on that drive, especially on the 2nd down play. But...they got to it eventually

Anyway, it was truly an incredible experience. Probably the most pure fun I've ever had at a sporting event, and I consider myself very fortunate to be 3-0 in National Championship Games now.

On that note, saw some comparisons in here to the 2002 and 2014 teams & runs, these are always fun. The 2002 season and the National Championship against Miami are pretty much untouchable, just cannot fathom those ever being topped.

There are a ton of similarities between 2014 and 2024. Inaugural Champions™. A really bad loss followed by an unbelievable run. I thought 59-0 would never be topped on a big stage...and then 34-0 happened against a significantly better opponent. Zeke gave us a Mount Rushmore moment; Jack Sawyer did the same. 2014 got the SEC monkey off our back by defeating Saban in the middle of his untouchable dynasty. 2024 exorcised demons by running a gauntlet that is not going to be topped anytime soon. Surely some fans would rank 2014 ahead of 2024 solely based on the Michigan factor, but for me, I can't really rank one over the other right now.

Now...my wallet bleeds on National Champs merch :drunks:
 
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This is the third national championship in my life time. I’ve been a little numb for the last 24 hours but I’ve had time to reflect on it and it’s been a cathartic experience.

Numb probably sounds odd but my Dad passed hours before the 31-0 loss to Clemson in the Fiesta bowl. The memory of that day and the game is still so vivid to me. I felt like the game and the loss of my Dad were somehow connected.

Football was very important in our relationship. He was severely damaged mentally and spiritually by his experience in Vietnam and football was one of the only things we were able to bond over.

As is often the case when someone loses a parent my priorities shifted and I made the decision to leave a lucrative sales career and go to work in behavioral health with a focus on trauma informed care.

I facilitate a weekly trauma peer group for veterans and living an hour drive from Happy Valley means most of my group are Penn State fans. Being a peer based group they know the story of my relationship with my Dad and how the Clemson game is linked in my mind with his death.

There’s always a lot of good natured ribbing during college football season and I was prepared to hear all the O$U Luckeye stuff today but when I walked in one of my guys gave me an OH. I of course responded in the only way a lifelong Buckeye can and then we talked football for the entire hour.

I shared the story of Ryan Day’s father and his struggle to come to terms with his own trauma. They were fascinated that he reached the pinnacle of his profession on the anniversary of his father’s death.

As I drove home I had my iTunes on shuffle and hang on sloopy came on. I had this sense that it was finally okay to just enjoy the moment. For almost a decade since Dad passed I still watched every game and it’s been fun but I haven’t enjoy it quite like I did before.

So now I’m up a 2:30 in the morning watching old Buckeye videos on YouTube and telling internet strangers about my Dad’s death and my job.

When the weather warms up I’m going to drive back to western Ohio and celebrate with Dad. I’m going to find a florist willing to do a block O flower arrangement for him.

I posted last week about how the Tressel team was special to me but this one means so much.
 
Upvote 5
Cicero2 said:
This is the third national championship in my life time. I’ve been a little numb for the last 24 hours but I’ve had time to reflect on it and it’s been a cathartic experience.

Numb probably sounds odd but my Dad passed hours before the 31-0 loss to Clemson in the Fiesta bowl. The memory of that day and the game is still so vivid to me. I felt like the game and the loss of my Dad were somehow connected.

Football was very important in our relationship. He was severely damaged mentally and spiritually by his experience in Vietnam and football was one of the only things we were able to bond over.

As is often the case when someone loses a parent my priorities shifted and I made the decision to leave a lucrative sales career and go to work in behavioral health with a focus on trauma informed care.

I facilitate a weekly trauma peer group for veterans and living an hour drive from Happy Valley means most of my group are Penn State fans. Being a peer based group they know the story of my relationship with my Dad and how the Clemson game is linked in my mind with his death.

There’s always a lot of good natured ribbing during college football season and I was prepared to hear all the O$U Luckeye stuff today but when I walked in one of my guys gave me an OH. I of course responded in the only way a lifelong Buckeye can and then we talked football for the entire hour.

I shared the story of Ryan Day’s father and his struggle to come to terms with his own trauma. They were fascinated that he reached the pinnacle of his profession on the anniversary of his father’s death.

As I drove home I had my iTunes on shuffle and hang on sloopy came on. I had this sense that it was finally okay to just enjoy the moment. For almost a decade since Dad passed I still watched every game and it’s been fun but I haven’t enjoy it quite like I did before.

So now I’m up a 2:30 in the morning watching old Buckeye videos on YouTube and telling internet strangers about my Dad’s death and my job.

When the weather warms up I’m going to drive back to western Ohio and celebrate with Dad. I’m going to find a florist willing to do a block O flower arrangement for him.

I posted last week about how the Tressel team was special to me but this one means so much.
Click to expand...

O-H!
 
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