Estimated 30,000 Attend Ohio State’s National Title Celebration of Champions
1/27/2025 1:45:00 PM | Football
Coach Day, dignitaries, captains Egbuka, Henderson, Sawyer and Simon, plus QB Howard, share memories of the title run
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The virtual confetti was falling on the video screen behind a black track podium that had been turned into a trophy case at Ohio Stadium.
A crowd of around 30,000 fans was filing into Ohio Stadium. The national champion Ohio State Buckeyes walked down the north tunnel just after noon on Sunday. And the collection of hardware Ohio State claimed during its epic tear through the College Football Playoff was glistening in the sun that finally peeked through the crowds on this chilly January day.
Turns out, even with a crystal football, a gold-plated trophy and a couple individual awards from the title game on display, that was just a fraction of the spoils of victory after the greatest run in college football history.
"We don't have that trophy yet either," Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork joked after introducing the Associated Press championship. "We've got lots of trophies on the way."
The Buckeyes claimed a few more that also didn't fit on the stage, but putting the Rose Bowl or Cotton Bowl artwork on public display wasn't really necessary. There were already plenty of reminders of those historic victories scattered throughout the hourlong celebration, one that also included a few new honors for the Buckeyes with coach Ryan Day receiving a key to the city of Columbus and a new Champions Way street sign being unveiled to pay tribute to the first-ever winners of the 12-team playoff.
The tributes to the remarkable resilience of the program were glowing from a list of speakers that included Ohio governor Mike DeWine, Columbus major Andrew Ginther and Ohio State president Ted Carter before the Buckeyes took over the microphone to close the show. And the scarlet-and-gray-clad crowd roared its approval from start to finish as it added one more memory in the Horseshoe with the 2024 national champions.
- "Thank you for bringing us such great joy in Ohio," DeWine said.
- "We are thrilled to celebrate these amazing men who showed us great perseverance, resilience and commitment to one another as great examples for our city, our state and our nation," Ginther said.
- "I want to say congratulations on this amazing run to this amazing football team … because this year was not like any other year in college football history," Carter said.
The uniquely difficult, lengthy path for the Buckeyes wasn't just reflected by the trophy display. And as the festivities neared their conclusion, Day offered several more reminders of exactly what his team accomplished by rattling through what was surely the most entertaining audio-visual lecture the Ohio State students in the standing-room-only section on the field have ever attended.
Captains Emeka Egbuka, TreVeyon Henderson, Jack Sawyer and Cody Simon all had turns telling their stories, with cameos from quarterback Will Howard and a prayer from Gee Scott Jr. But Day punctuated the afternoon with highlights from all six top-10 victories the Buckeyes racked up, starting with the road win at Penn State and eventually rolling through all four College Football Playoff triumphs.
"Those memories will live in Ohio State history forever," Day said. "The reason we're able to tell the story is we were able to finish the mission.
"Now let's go get another one of these."
The Buckeyes still don't even have all of the trophies they earned this season in their possession.
But before that celebration was officially over, Ohio State was already thinking about winning more.
