The Ohio State football program went on one of the most memorable runs in college football history. They had the hardest path possible to a national championship. Taking down Tennessee, Oregon, Texas, and Notre Dame was by far the toughest path any CFP team was going to have to win a title.
Ohio State came into the College Football Playoff with no momentum. In fact, one could argue that they had negative momentum. After losing to TTUN for the fourth straight year, they looked like a dead team walking. Instead, they turned that pain into one of the best runs we've seen.
There were a lot of great moments during this run to a national title. When you take down those four iconic teams in a row, there are going to be a lot of fantastic moments. Quite frankly, it was hard to narrow it down to just three from this CFP run, but that's what I did.
These three moments will be remembered most when people think about this run five or ten years from now. In my opinion, these aren't just the three most memorable, but they are the three best moments from the postseason run that the Buckeyes made.
The first moment is really more of a collection of moments from one of the games during this run.
3. Ohio State's dominant first half against Oregon
After destroying Tennessee in the first round at the Shoe, fans were feeling better about the Buckeyes. Still, a lot of them were hesitant. The game against the Vols was at home and it was by far the best the Ohio State Buckeyes had played all year long. Could they repeat that performance against the number-one team in the country?
The answer turned out to be a resounding yes. Ohio State ended up taking it to the Ducks just like they did the Volunteers. In fact, the first half was an absolute clinic. That's why it was hard to pick a single moment from this game; the entire first half was memorable.
Jeremiah Smith started things off with a touchdown on the first drive. He ended up finishing the game with seven catches for 187 yards and two touchdowns. Most of that damage was done in the first half because the Ducks kept playing man-to-man.
TreVeyon Henderson had a big touchdown run for the second consecutive game, escaping on a 66-yard touchdown run that showed Oregon had no answers for Ohio State's offense. Quite frankly, it was the best first half of football I've ever seen the Ohio State football team have in my life.
When it was all said and done, the Buckeyes had a 34-8 halftime lead. They finished with a 41-21 victory after they went into cruise control in the second half. That was the win that really showed the rest of the country that they had a shot to win a national championship.
The second-best moment on this run happened in the final game of the season against Notre Dame.