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Kirk Herbstreit cries while attempting to sum up Ohio State national title

Barkley-Truaxby:Barkley Truax•01/20/25•

BarkleyTruax

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(Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports)

Ohio State‘s national championship win over Notre Dame on Monday night was an emotional victory for Buckeyes past and present. Kirk Herbstreit is no different.

Joining Scott Van Pelt on ESPN in the aftermath of the College Football Playoff win, Herbstreit was visibly emotional when asked to describe the story of his alma mater during the season and deferred initial comments to his broadcast partner, Chris Fowler.

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“When I call these games I’m incredibly objective,” Herbstreit said after the game, gathering his emotions. “I love all of these Ohio State teams, but this team because of what they went through to get to this point, you’re just happy.”

Herbstreit has been an advocate for the Buckeyes down the stretch this season. Before their national semifinal game vs. Penn State, the ESPN College GameDay host labeled Ohio State as a ‘hardened’ team and pushed back on the perception that their entire roster was bought out of the NCAA transfer portal.

In the end, Herbstreit, who played quarterback at Ohio State from 1989 to 1993, has been proud of what his alma mater has accomplished in the face of adversity this season.

“They went to hell and back. We can try to make this sound soft, but my thing is, I talk to these players. I talk to these coaches. I know what they faced after that Michigan game,” Herbstreit continued. “I know the pain, and I know that a lot of people thought, ‘The hell with this guy. Who else can be the guy?’ … [Ryan Day] just handled it, took the high road and didn’t say anything.

“He went out, got his team ready to play four games, and they won it. And I think that’s why I’m emotional.”

The Buckeyes now sit atop the college football mountaintop for the ninth time in program history and Ohio State’s first since the College Football Playoffs’ inception in 2014.

It’s the first national championship as a head coach for Ryan Day, who has been the subject of criticism this season for losing arguably its two biggest games of the regular season. Ultimately, they were left out of the Big Ten Championship game but were able to turn their fortunes around in the playoffs. Now, they’re national champions.