The Lineup
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Michael Shearer
SPORTS EDITOR
Brian White
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
Lori Schmidt
OSU BEAT REPORTERS
Joey Kaufman
Bill Rabinowitz
COLUMNIST
Rob Oller
PHOTO EDITOR
Kyle Robertson
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Adam Cairns
Doral Chenoweth
Samatha Madar
Barbara J. Perenic
DESIGNERS
Lee Benson, Joey Schaffer
PROJECT COORDINATOR
Gene Myers
SPECIAL THANKS
Chris Thomas
Chris Fenison
ABOVE: On Nov. 30, 2024, second-ranked Ohio State charges onto the field at Ohio Stadium for The Game, the annual grudge match against Michigan, unranked although defending national champion. ADAM CAIRNS / COLUMBUS DISPATCH
About the book
“Scarlet Reign” condenses a year’s worth of the world’s best coverage of the Ohio State Buckeyes from The Columbus Dispatch. Follow the Buckeyes at dispatch.com. Order a print subscription at 888-884-9026. The book includes coverage from the USA TODAY Network, which includes The Dispatch.
On the cover
The Ohio State Buckeyes celebrate their 34-23 victory over Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Jan. 20, 2025. ADAM CAIRNS / COLUMBUS DISPATCH
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the copyright owner or the publisher.
Published by Pediment Publishing, a division of The Pediment Group, Inc. • www.pediment.com
Printed in Canada.
This book is an unofficial account of the Ohio State Buckeyes’ 2024 season by The Columbus Dispatch and is not endorsed by The Ohio State University or the NCAA.
CHAPTER
‘NATTY OR BUST’ MANTRA FAILS THE EYE TEST
After Judkins’ quiet debut, transfer from Ole Miss explodes on the scene
BY BILL RABINOWITZ • SEPT. 7, 2024
QUINSHON JUDKINS’ DEBUT AS an Ohio State running back a week ago was underwhelming. He was stuffed on his first three runs and gained just 55 yards on 13 carries in the victory over Akron. Blame subpar blocking more than Judkins, who had proven he’s an elite runner by gaining 2,725 yards and running for 31 touchdowns in two seasons at Ole Miss.
That Judkins was on full display
Saturday in the Buckeyes’ 56-0 demolition of Western Michigan.
Judkins officially gained 108 yards on only nine carries, including two 23-yard touchdown runs. His stats would have been spectacular had an 80-yard touchdown run in the second quarter not been brought back because of a holding call that occurred after Judkins was already behind the defense. Judkins ran through two would-be tacklers and then burst past
everyone to the end zone.
Judkins shrugged off the negated touchdown after the game. He was more excited that the run game that sometimes sputtered against Akron clicked.
“The O-line played together as a whole, and not just those guys but the team as a whole,” he said.
Backfield mate TreVeyon Henderson added 66 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries. The duo might be the
best in the country. They looked like it Saturday night.
Quarterback Will Howard said Judkins and Henderson are so interchangeable that sometimes he’s not even aware which player is in the backfield.
“The coolest thing about those two is that there’s zero ego (about) anything,” Howard said. “They’re very tight and get along super well. Those two embody what this culture is about. They
OPPOSITE: After 31 rushing touchdowns at Mississippi, running back Quinshon Judkins relished his first trips to the end zone as a Buckeye. In the first half against Western Michigan, Judkins scored on three straight drives — a 23-yard run, an 80-yard run and a 23-yard run. The 80-yarder, though, was nullified by a holding penalty.
ADAM CAIRNS / COLUMBUS DISPATCH
don’t care who gets all the rushes or who scores a touchdown. Obviously, tonight they both did and did a great job.”
Howard, who came from Kansas State, and Judkins arrived at Ohio State together as transfers in January. Though they had success at their previous schools, both probably felt their way a bit against Akron.
Both were sharp from the start Saturday. Howard completed his first 10 passes versus Western Michigan.
“I think he settled in, too, this week,” Howard said. “He finally was like, ‘I’m comfortable’ and did his thing.
“You saw some of the elusiveness he has and the ability to break tackles. The thing that makes him and Tre both so dangerous is that they’re not only fast and quick, but they’re strong. They’re going to run over guys. They’re both multi-faceted. You were able to see that tonight.”
At almost any other program, Henderson or Judkins would be the undisputed main running back. Both have embraced sharing the duties at Ohio State and are quick to celebrate each other’s success.
“I think (it’s) just the relationship we have off the field,” Judkins said. “When you spend so much time with someone, and the effort that we put into each day as far as practice and preparation, the (successful) moments that we have together, we cherish those moments.”
Judkins said they also critique and motivate each other.
“We realize how special this is and how special this team is,” he said. “We just continue to get each other better.”
LEFT: Wide receiver Jeremiah Smith turns a 7-yard pass into a 70-yard touchdown reception. It gave the Buckeyes a 14-0 lead with 4:00 left in the first quarter. Smith’s five catches produced 119 yards. ADAM CAIRNS / COLUMBUS DISPATCH
OPPOSITE: The Broncos can surround Quinshon Judkins but can’t corral him as he dashes toward the end zone. Judkins carried the ball nine times for 108 yards and two touchdowns. BARBARA J. PERENIC / COLUMBUS DISPATCH
BELOW: Like Judkins, fellow running back TreVeyon Henderson ran for a pair of TDs — a 3-yarder on Ohio State’s first drive and this 16-yarder in the third quarter. He carried the ball 10 times for 66 yards. ADAM CAIRNS / COLUMBUS DISPATCH
How OSU freshman Jeremiah Smith became college football’s breakout star
BY JOEY KAUFMAN • OCT. 31, 2024
THE FIRST GLIMPSES OF Jeremiah Smith’s abilities came in a neighborhood park north of Miami. Before he grabbed the attention of the college football world with highlight-reel catches week after week, he captivated his father’s friends.
Chris Smith would take his 4-yearold son to Scott Park in Miami Gardens, bring a football, and a game of catch ensued among all of them.
They were amazed at how little Jeremiah plucked the ball out of the air.
“Grown men were beaming him the ball,” Chris said, “and he was actually catching it. Not like how you flick a ball to a baby and they catch it. They were throwing him the ball like he was a big kid.”
Chris never pondered what those catches might foretell about Jeremiah’s future. He saw their trips to the park as father-son bonding. Nonetheless, they
revealed his physical promise.
Jeremiah is an athletic marvel, a rare combination of sure-handedness and explosive twitch wrapped into a 6-foot-3 body that belies his age.
If the 18-year-old was eligible to enter the NFL draft next year, former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer muses he would be a top-five selection.
“You just never see someone so big,” said Meyer, now an analyst with Fox Sports. “He’s got an incredible future.”
In his first fall with the Buckeyes, Smith has shown the present is pretty good too, living up to the sky-high expectations that followed him as one of the most hyped prospects in the recruiting rankings era.
With 35 receptions for 623 yards and eight touchdowns, he was on pace to rewrite Ohio State’s freshman record books. His next receiving touchdown will break the true freshman record set by Cris Carter four decades ago. It
could be as soon as this weekend at unbeaten Penn State. Smith has caught a touchdown in every game so far.
“You’re getting into the second half of the season and some of those freshmen can start to fray a little bit,” Buckeyes coach Ryan Day said. “That’s not the way he’s been. He’s been better every week.”
Through seven games, Jeremiah is one the biggest breakout stars in the sport, an emergence many see as owed to an uncommon maturity.
“He’s as serious a football player as I’ve been around,” offensive coordinator Chip Kelly said. “His goal every single day is just to improve. It’s almost like you’re dealing with a 10-year NFL veteran.”
Training ground
The workouts that molded Jeremiah Smith into a freshman phenom began at age 8, scattered across South
Florida.
They involved learning to run routes, from his release off the line of scrimmage to the catch point. Sly Johnson, a former wide receiver at Miami University, tutored Smith in those concepts at weekend camps beginning in elementary school and continuing through high school.
The decade’s worth of reps ingrained fundamentals. Movements became second nature.
“If you get a Russian gymnast, they’re not going to tell you how they do the jump, split, twist or somersault,” Johnson said. “They just know how to do it, and that’s who he is. He’s done it so long, he doesn’t know how to do it wrong.”
Smith’s polish as a route runner was complemented by his physical development.
When he was 11, he and his youth football teammates would trek to Vista
OPPOSITE: From the moment he stepped on campus, freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith seemed destined for stardom. Through seven games, he had scored at least one touchdown in each game. Here, he lets out a yell after a 4-yard TD catch against Iowa, which turned a 7-0 lead to 14-0 in the third quarter.
SAMANTHA MADAR / COLUMBUS DISPATCH
VS. NO. 7 NOTRE DAME MERCEDES-BENZ STADIUM
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Scarlet & Great! Buckeyes go up 24 points, hold off Irish for national championship
BY JOEY KAUFMAN AND BILL RABINOWITZ • JAN. 20, 2025
ATLANTA — ALL SEASON, “LEAVE
no doubt” had been Ohio State’s rallying cry. The Buckeyes didn’t want to leave their fate to one play or official’s call.
Well, the Buckeyes left a little bit of doubt in the College Football Playoff championship game. But for the first time in a decade, the Buckeyes are the kings of college football after holding on to beat Notre Dame 34-23 in front of 77,660 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
The Buckeyes led 31-7 before Notre
Dame scored two touchdowns and added a pair of two-point conversions to make it a one-possession game with 4:15 left.
But on third-and-11 with 2:45 left, Will Howard connected with Jeremiah Smith for a 56-yard completion to the Fighting Irish 9.
The Irish vowed before the game to stick with their man-to-man coverage. It cost them when it mattered most when Smith got behind Christian Gray. With 26 seconds left, Jayden Fielding
clinched the championship with a 33-yard field goal.
Howard completed his first 13 passes and ran for several clutch first downs to earn offensive player of the game honors. He finished 17 of 21 for 231 yards and two touchdowns.
Quinshon Judkins ran for two touchdowns and caught another.
After Notre Dame’s opening touchdown drive, the Buckeyes’ top-ranked defense allowed 11 yards in the Irish’s next four possessions as Ohio State
built its 24-point lead. Linebacker Cody Simon, with eight tackles, was the defensive player of the game.
Ohio State earned the title
The Buckeyes (14-2) navigated an unprecedented stretch to win the school’s seventh national championship. It took four playoff victories to lift the trophy, including toppling three of the selection committee’s five highest-ranked teams.
Their résumé was not spotless. The
OPPOSITE: Linebacker Sonny Styles lowers the boom on Irish quarterback Riley Leonard. For much of the game, Notre Dame’s strategy was to run Leonard and then run him again. Discounting the two times he was sacked for minus-13 yards, Leonard rushed 15 times for 53 yards. Three backs combined for 17 yards on nine carries. DALE ZANINE / IMAGN IMAGES
ABOVE: As the fifth Ohio State coach to win a national championship, Ryan Day earned the right to let out a good yell in Atlanta. Can he join Woody Hayes as the only OSU coach to win more than one national title? MARK J. REBILAS / IMAGN IMAGES
OPPOSITE: When the clock reached 0:00, Mercedes-Benz Stadium signaled That School Up North no longer reigned as national champions. The new kings of college football wore scarlet and gray. JAMES LANG / IMAGN IMAGES
Like beauty, national championships are in the eye of the beholder
College football crowned a champion for well over a century (1869-1998) without a title game and went even longer (until 2014) before instituting a playoff. For that reason, declaring how many titles a college owns is not as straightforward as one might think.
In Ohio State’s case, following its victory over Notre Dame, the Buckeyes claim nine national championships — 1942, 1954, 1957, 1961, 1968, 1970, 2002, 2014 and 2024. The Columbus Dispatch counts seven of these, omitting 1961, when the Buckeyes were awarded the national championship by the Football Writers Association of America, and 1970, when they were honored by the National Football Foundation.
The 1961 Buckeyes finished 8-0-1 and ended up No. 2 behind Alabama (11-0) in the final Associated Press sportswriters poll and United Press International coaches poll. The NFF also declared the Crimson Tide to be the top team in the country.
In 1970, OSU went 9-1, and while the NFF selected the Buckeyes cochampions alongside Texas (11-1), UPI gave the nod to Texas. The AP
honored Nebraska (11-0-1), which received 39 of 52 first-place votes. Notre Dame (10-1) received eight first-place votes, Texas three and Ohio State none. The FWAA awarded its MacArthur Bowl Trophy to the Longhorns.
For the seven years that The Dispatch recognizes, Ohio State won the designated national championship game (2002, 2014, 2024) or was voted No. 1 in the AP or UPI polls.
This has long been The Dispatch’s policy.
The NCAA has never recognized a football champion for its highest classification. Its website simply lists a year, champion(s) and selecting organization(s), an alphabet soup of 11 outlets over the decades (CFP, BCS, AP, FWAA, NFF, USA TODAY/ ESPN, USA TODAY/CNN, UPI, CFRA, HAF, NCF).
But whether you argue Ohio State has won seven championships or believe the number is nine, there is no debate that the Buckeyes’ 34-23 victory over Notre Dame was for a championship fans long will remember.
— LORI SCHMIDT
‘We just love all of Buckeye Nation’: At the Shoe, 30,000 celebrate champs, who thank the fans and each other
BY SHERIDAN HENDRIX • JAN. 26, 2025
WHEN MAHI PATEL AND JANKI
Patel arrived at Ohio Stadium at 6:45 a.m., nine others already were in line in front of them.
The Patels, Ohio State students and cousins from Cleveland, followed the Buckeyes with anticipation all season. Mahi was lucky enough to score a student ticket to see the national championship game at Atlanta.
“No matter where the Buckeyes go, we show up,” Mahi said. “There was no other way I could’ve ended the season.”
They were among tens of thousands of fans who flooded the stadium on Jan. 19, 2025, to celebrate the Buckeyes’ latest national championship. The event was free and seating was available on a first come, first serve basis.
Slated to start at noon, the gates for the celebration opened at 10:30 a.m., but hundreds started lining up hours beforehand.
Ohio State officials estimated a crowd of at least 30,000. About 2,500 students were huddled together in a standing-room-only section on the field.
Fans watched a condensed version of the Buckeyes’ 34-23 victory over Notre Dame on the big screen while they waited for the team. Minutes before noon, The Best Damn Band in the Land marched down the ramp into Ohio Stadium to the beginning bars of Queen’s “We Are the Champions” before switching to the band’s traditional “Buckeye Battle Cry.”
As the sun began to shine through partly cloudy Sunday skies, TBDBITL members parted an aisle on the field for the Buckeyes to make a grand entrance. Players, coaches and their families were met with raucous cheers
from fans and the melodic sounds of the band playing “Across the Field” as they walked to a stage on the stadium’s south end.
Governor, mayor pay respects
Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork emceed the afternoon’s events, which began with an invocation by senior tight end Gee Scott Jr.
Bjork lauded the Buckeyes for conquering “by far the hardest path to the national championship victory” in the College Football Playoff. The 2024 team tied a school record with 14 victories and trailed for only six minutes and five seconds during its four playoff games.
“This team is now legendary in Buckeye lore,” Bjork said.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, sporting his best Jim Tressel-esque scarlet sweater
vest, praised the Buckeyes for their actions on and off the field. He said these athletes were some of “the most visible teachers in the state” to Ohio’s youth, and their grit and tenacity exemplified the best of Ohioans.
“You’ve shown how to overcome adversity,” DeWine said. “That when you get knocked down, you get back up.”
DeWine declared it THE Celebration of Champions Day, and Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther gave OSU President Ted Carter a street sign to place outside Ohio Stadium: Champions Way.
‘Where were you when …?”
Coach Ryan Day was full of thanks for his athletes, for his coaches and support staff, for the families backing their loved ones and for Buckeye Nation.
OPPOSITE: For late January in Columbus, no fan could ask for more than temperatures poking above 40 degrees, partly sunny skies and a national championship celebration at Ohio Stadium. Ohio State officials estimated that at least 30,000 fans came to the Shoe to pay their respects to and to be entertained by their Buckeyes. ADAM CAIRNS / COLUMBUS DISPATCH