Desmond Howard: Loss in National Championship would be catastrophic for Ohio State, Ryan Day

Ohio State has rebounded in impressive fashion from its rough ending to the regular season. But the Buckeyes must finish it off with a win in the national championship game against Notre Dame for this season to truly be a success, according to ESPN college football analyst Desmond Howard.

Saturday morning on SportsCenter, Howard declared that it would be “catastrophic” for Ohio State and Ryan Day to lose to Notre Dame.

Get your team’s official College Football Playoff watch from AXIA by CLICKING HERE: “Watches that tell so much more than time”

“Catastrophic. I mean when you look at the reason we’re here, to put it in context, don’t forget a year ago Michigan won the national championship. And right after that game, Ryan Day and the athletic director, they had like an emergency meeting,” Desmond Howard said.

“They had just lost to Michigan three years in a row, and they hadn’t even been to the Big Ten Championship. So the AD said, ‘What do we need to do?’ At that point they dug into the portal.”

Ryan Day and Ohio State brought in several big-time transfers from the portal in an effort to make the 2024 season a special one.

“They spent the most money on high-end talent in the portal during the offseason. That’s why the whole offseason was about loading up,” Howard said. “They stacked the deck. They got the No. 1 safety in the portal, Caleb Downs from Alabama, the No. 1 running back in the portal, Quinshon Judkins from Ole Miss.”

Ohio State also made changes to its coaching staff, including Ryan Day bringing in his close friend and former coach in Chip Kelly from UCLA.

“The big fish was they went to UCLA and got Chip Kelly. He quit his job as the head coach to become the offensive coordinator for Ohio State, and he’s been in his bag this whole postseason,” Howard said. “And they did that for three reasons – No. 1, to beat Michigan again, which obviously they didn’t do. No. 2 to win the Big Ten Championship game – they didn’t play in the Big Ten Championship game. But, No. 3, to get to the national championship.”

Ohio State, of course, is in the national championship game, but if they don’t beat Notre Dame as sizeable favorites then Howard feels like this season wasn’t a success.

“They’re here, they’re in the natty,” Howard said. “And so Monday night we can see if everything they put into the offseason was worth it.”