Nobody expected the 2025 NCAA championship football finale to start with a quarterback puking on the sidelines.
But there was Riley Leonard. The Notre Dame signal-caller had just willed his team through a brutal, 18-play opening drive that chewed up nearly ten minutes of clock. He ran the ball nine times himself on that single possession. By the time he punched it in for a 1-yard score, he was physically spent.
It was a gutsy, old-school start. For a moment, it looked like the Irish might actually bully the Buckeyes.
Then Ohio State woke up.
The Game That Defined 2025 NCAA Championship Football
What happened next was a clinical destruction. Ohio State didn't just win; they essentially played a perfect two quarters of football to seize their ninth national title. Between the second and third quarters, Ryan Day’s squad rattled off 31 unanswered points.
Quinshon Judkins was the engine. Honestly, the Ole Miss transfer looked like he was playing at a different speed than everyone else on the Mercedes-Benz Stadium turf. He scored three times. He finished with 100 yards on only 11 carries. That 70-yard burst he ripped off to start the second half? That was the dagger. It turned a competitive 21-7 halftime lead into a 28-7 blowout before the fans had even made it back from the concession stands with their hot dogs.
The final score of 34-23 doesn't quite tell the whole story. It makes it look closer than it felt for the middle forty minutes of the game.
By the Numbers: A Statistical Mismatch
- Total Yardage: Ohio State outgained Notre Dame 445 to 308.
- Rushing Efficiency: The Buckeyes averaged 5.2 yards per carry compared to Notre Dame's measly 2.0.
- Third Down Success: OSU converted 9-of-12 attempts. That’s how you keep drives alive and kill a defense’s spirit.
- Punts: Ohio State punted exactly once.
Will Howard, the Kansas State transfer who many doubted when he first arrived in Columbus, was incredibly efficient. He went 17-of-21 for 231 yards and two touchdowns. He didn't need to be a hero because he had Jeremiah Smith.
If you haven't watched the replay of Smith's 56-yard catch late in the fourth quarter, go do it. It was a third-and-11. Notre Dame had actually clawed back to within eight points. The stadium was shaking. Howard just dropped a rainbow down the right sideline, and the freshman phenom snatched it out of the air like it was a routine practice drill.
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Basically, that play ended the game.
What Most People Get Wrong About the 2025 Season
There's this narrative that Ohio State "bought" this championship through the transfer portal. Sure, Howard and Judkins were huge. But look at the defense. Cody Simon, the linebacker who won Defensive MVP, was a homegrown leader with eight tackles. Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau—the two ends who terrorized Riley Leonard all night—were guys who stayed in Columbus when they could have been high NFL draft picks a year earlier.
People also forget how precarious this run was. Remember, Ohio State lost to Michigan. Again.
They entered the first-ever 12-team playoff as the No. 8 seed. They didn't have a bye. They had to play Tennessee in a freezing "Big House" atmosphere in Columbus. Then they had to fly to Pasadena to beat Oregon in the Rose Bowl. Then they went to Arlington to take down Texas.
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Winning four playoff games in a row is something no team had ever done. It’s a gauntlet. It’s arguably the hardest path to a title in the history of the sport.
The Head-Scratching Decisions
We have to talk about Marcus Freeman's fourth-quarter logic. With about nine minutes left, Notre Dame faced a fourth-and-goal from the 9-yard line. They were down 31-15.
Freeman opted for a field goal.
If you make it, you’re still down two scores. If you miss it—which Mitch Jeter did, clanking it off the left upright—you’ve wasted your best chance to put real pressure on the Buckeyes. It was a conservative move in a game that required desperation.
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Actionable Insights for the 2026 Season
If you're looking ahead to how the 2025 NCAA championship football results impact the current landscape, here are the real-world takeaways:
- The 12-Team Format Rewards Depth: Ohio State was able to rotate defensive linemen and running backs (Henderson and Judkins) which kept them fresh for a four-game postseason stretch.
- Transfer QBs are the New Standard: Following the lead of Will Howard, expect the portal to be even more aggressive. Teams are no longer "building" for three years; they're buying the missing piece for a one-year window.
- The "Freshman Wall" is a Myth: Jeremiah Smith proved that if a kid is talented enough, the stage isn't too big. Coaches will be less hesitant to start true freshmen in high-leverage roles moving forward.
The 2025 season proved that the regular season still matters, but it’s no longer the end-all-be-all. Ohio State’s November stumble didn't kill them; it just gave them a harder road that they eventually conquered.
To keep up with the shifting rosters for the next cycle, track the Spring Transfer Portal Window (April) and the Post-Spring Depth Charts. These are the most reliable indicators of which programs are actually positioned to replicate the Buckeyes' 12-team playoff success.