Ohio State wins first national title since 2014, topping Notre Dame 34-23 in CFP championship game

ATLANTA (AP) – Instead of mourning another collapse, Ohio State can celebrate another national title after holding off a Notre Dame comeback Monday night to walk away with a 34-23 victory over the Fighting Irish.

Will Howard hit wide receiver Jeremiah Smith for 56 yards on a late third-and-11 to lock up a game that was a laugher, then turned into something else.

Trailing 31-7, Notre Dame scored two touchdowns and two 2-point conversions to make it a one-score game late in the fourth quarter.

The Irish stopped Ohio State on the first two plays of the next drive and used their timeouts. But on third down, Howard found Smith in single coverage on the right side and dropped his best pass of the season into the hands of the second-team All-American.

He set up the field goal that got the celebration started in earnest, capping a seven-week climb from the depths of a 20-point loss by lesser Michigan to the pinnacle of college football. Ohio State will return its sixth “natty” and first since the 2014 season at the Horseshoe in Columbus.

Howard, a Kansas State transfer success story, threw for 231 yards and two scores, but nothing will top a pass to Smith with everything on the line.

The receiver, who got hammered by Texas in the semifinals and then was pretty quiet for most of this game, finally broke free for the type of game he’s been playing all year. He finished with five catches for 88 yards.

Ohio State scored touchdowns on its first four possessions, then added a field goal on its fifth.

When Quinshon Judkins (100 yards, 11 yards, three TDs), a transfer from Mississippi who highlighted Ohio State’s judicious use of an ever-growing field goal, broke off a 70-yard run to make it 28-7, it was a game to watch .