The Newest Era of Champions: Ohio State Wins Inaugural 12-Team College Football Playoff 10 Years After Winning First Four-Team CFP

Ten years and eight days after winning the first College Football Playoff national championship, the Buckeyes have another first in the CFP era, this time in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff.

To put it simply, the CFP has helped Ohio State in ways that didn’t exist before it. While there are plenty of flaws with the CFP and the selection committee as those continue to get ironed out, the new era (both since 2014 and again this season) has helped the Buckeyes in ways that didn’t exist before a decade ago.

Prior to 2014, there’s a chance that one loss during the regular season would have derailed a team’s hopes of making the BCS championship. Before this season, two losses during the regular season would have made it damn near impossible to make the CFP, let alone the BCS title game. Fast forward to the debut of the 12-team CFP and it was a two-loss team up against a one-loss team whose loss was to Northern Illinois, who went just 7-5, including a dismal 4-4 in the MAC. If it was any other season before this one, Ohio State and Notre Dame wouldn’t have had a shot at the national championship.

The Buckeyes were the sixth-ranked team in the final CFP rankings (and the No. 8 seed in the CFP). Between 2014-23, Ohio State would have fallen two spots short of making the playoff. Before 2014, OSU would have been four spots short of making the BCS national title game.

Even after barely losing to Oregon and then getting embarrassed by Michigan at home in the regular-season finale, the Buckeyes saved their best for last, just like they did a decade ago.

Ridiculed for his performance against top-five teams, Ryan Day is now 6-6 all-time against teams ranked in the top five, including an exceptional 5-1 record in those games this season due to getting the opportunity to make the CFP due to the expanded field.

Looking back at the 2014 season, Ohio State lost to Virginia Tech in the second game but then won 13 straight games to win the first College Football Playoff. It was a stretch that included a dominant 59-0 thrashing over Wisconsin to secure a spot in the four-team CFP and then wins over Alabama and Oregon to win it all.