Ohio State wins 1st national title since 2014, outlasting Notre Dame 34-23 in CFP championship game

ATLANTA (AP) — The pass seemed to hang up there forever. Did it feel like seven weeks? Did it feel like 10 years?

What a great debate for Ohio State fans to have forever.

When that teardrop of a throw from Buckeyes quarterback Will Howard on third-and-11 finally landed, light as a feather, in the hands of receiver Jeremiah Smith late in the fourth quarter Monday, Ohio State had locked up what would be a 34-23 victory over Notre Dame for its sixth national title and first in a decade.

It was that 56-yard gain that snuffed out a feverish Notre Dame comeback and made the Buckeyes the champion of the sport's first 12-team playoff, just as they were champions of its first four-team tournament a decade ago.

“They were running man coverage and I said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna let this loose and let him make a play on it,’” Howard said of a play that felt about 100 years removed from Ohio State's once program-defining “Three yards and a cloud of dust.”

This was a win that hardly anyone thought possible a mere seven weeks ago — Nov. 30 — when a 13-10 loss to Michigan led to a near-riot on the field and questions over whether coach Ryan Day would keep his job when the calendar flipped.

“It’s a great story about a bunch of guys who have just overcome some really tough situations, and at the point where there’s a lot of people that counted us out (they) just kept swinging and kept fighting,” Day said.

It might be that much sweeter because of how it went down in a jam-packed stadium in the middle of SEC country that looked like a Christmas tree — Ohio State fans on one half in red, Notre Dame's on the other in green.

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 in-stadium camera found legendary Irish coach Lou Holtz in his luxury box, and he ignored all those booing Buckeye fans and flashed a thumbs-up.

But Notre Dame's time was running out. After stopping the Buckeyes on their first two plays and using their timeouts, the Irish put Christian Gray — whose interception wrapped up Notre Dame's semifinal win over Penn State — in single coverage on Smith.

Smith got behind Gray on the right sideline and Howard dropped his best pass of the season into the hands of the second-team All-American.

It set up a field goal that started the celebration in earnest, and also helped Ohio State cover the 8 1/2-point spread at BetMGM Sportsbook.

“It was do or die, it was that type of down,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said. “He’s a heck of a player. He’s difficult to cover.”

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

The receiver, who had been bottled up by Texas in the semifinals then fairly quiet for most of this game, finally got loose for the kind of play he’s been making all year. He finished with five catches for 88 yards.

“We felt at the end we wanted to give Jeremiah that shot,” Day said. “We really hadn't thrown it all night, but I thought, ‘Know what, let’s be aggressive, let's do this and lay it on the line.'”

Ohio State didn't really look like a team that needed to take risks after scoring touchdowns on its first four possessions, then adding a field goal on its fifth.

When Quinshon Judkins (100 yards, 11 carries, three TDs), a transfer from Mississippi who highlighted Ohio State’s judicious use of the ever-growing portal, busted a 70-yard run to set up the score that made it 28-7, this game looked over.

It wasn’t, and now Freeman will have to answer a few tough questions — one about the failed fake punt in the third quarter that turned into a field goal for a 31-7 lead; the other about sending Mitch Jeter in for a short field goal attempt while down 16 and facing fourth-and-goal from the 9. It might have looked like a better call had Jeter’s kick not clanged off the left upright.

“I know it’s still a two-score game, but you have a better probability of getting 14 points than you do 16 points,” Freeman said.

Really, though, Ohio State was the better team. The Buckeyes outgained Notre Dame 445 yards to 308. Howard completed his first 13 passes and never really got stopped. Ohio State punted a grand total of once.

The Buckeyes rolled through four games in the new, expanded playoff — what great timing for Ohio State that the tournament swelled to a dozen teams in a year it didn't even play for the Big Ten title — by an average score of 36-21.

Ohio State was seeded eighth, but the seedings were pretty much meaningless. The worse seed won every game in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, and the Buckeyes dominated in this title-game showdown of No. 7 vs. No. 8.

It puts to rest, for now, any angst about that 13-10 Michigan loss in November — Ohio State’s fourth straight in the series — that ended with a brawl after Wolverine players tried to plant a flag at midfield.

The whole scene left a lot of folks, both in and out of Buckeye circles, thinking Day, in his sixth season, had outlived his usefulness on a campus that hadn’t tasted a title in a decade.

Instead, the Ohio State marching band can dot the “I” next time with the national-title trophy. And Day can join a list of title-winning coaches with Urban Meyer (2014) Jim Tressel (2002), Woody Hayes ("Three yards and a cloud of dust") and Paul Brown (who went on to become the namesake of the NFL's Cleveland Browns).

Also, Day’s .873 winning percentage coming into the game was third among coaches with 50-plus games — one spot behind none other than the Notre Dame legend Knute Rockne, himself.

The Notre Dame loss means college football still has never had a Black coach win the national title. Freeman was trying to become the first.

Instead, another kind of history. This marked the first time the Big Ten has taken back-to-back titles since 1942. Last year’s champion was Michigan, which was sitting home watching this one, but still played a special role in a Buckeyes redemption story hardly anyone saw coming.

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Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Egbuka celebrates after their win against Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day celebrates with the trophy after their win against Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Ohio State celebrates after their win against Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Ohio State celebrates after their win against Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Ohio State celebrates after their win against Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

Ohio State quarterback Will Howard celebrates after a touchdown by running back Quinshon Judkins during second half of the College Football Playoff national championship game against Notre Dame Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

Notre Dame linebacker Drayk Bowen forces a fumble by Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Egbuka during second half of the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Notre Dame place kicker Mitch Jeter reacts after missing a field goal against Ohio State during second half of the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Notre Dame wide receiver Jaden Greathouse catches a touchdown pass ahead of Ohio State cornerback Jordan Hancock during second half of the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard runs for a touchdown against Ohio State during first half of the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Ohio State quarterback Will Howard passes against Notre Dame during first half of the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith celebrates after scoring against Notre Dame during first half of the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith runs for a touchdown against Notre Dame during first half of the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Ohio State quarterback Will Howard passes against Notre Dame during first half of the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard is tackled by Ohio State defensive end JT Tuimoloau during first half of the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Ohio State cornerback Jermaine Mathews celebrates after the first half of the College Football Playoff national championship game against Notre Dame Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

Ohio State quarterback Will Howard celebrates after a touchdown by running back Quinshon Judkins during second half of the College Football Playoff national championship game against Notre Dame Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith celebrates after scoring against Notre Dame during first half of the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith catches a pass against Notre Dame during second half of the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith catches a pass against Notre Dame during second half of the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Ohio State place kicker Jayden Fielding celebrates after a field goal against Notre Dame during second half of the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day speaks during a news conference ahead of the College Football Playoff national championship game Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025, in Atlanta. The game between Ohio State and Notre Dame will be played on Monday. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman speaks during a news conference ahead of the College Football Playoff national championship game Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025, in Atlanta. The game between Ohio State and Notre Dame will be played on Monday. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

FILE - A Notre Dame flag waves in the wind in front of the The Word of Life Mural, aka "Touchdown Jesus," on the Hesburgh Library before an NCAA college football game between Notre Dame and Northern Illinois, Saturday Sept. 7, 2024, in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo/Michael Caterina, File)

Ohio State quarterback Will Howard celebrates after the Cotton Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal game against Texas, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

FILE - Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard (13) scrambles up field during the first half against Georgia in the quarterfinals of a College Football Playoff, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton, File)

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day, left, and Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman pose with the trophy after a news conference ahead of the College Football Playoff national championship game Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025, in Atlanta. The game between Ohio State and Notre Dame will be played on Monday. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — At least 24 Venezuelan security officers were killed in the dead-of-night U.S. military operation to capture Nicolás Maduro and spirit him to the United States to face drug charges, officials said Tuesday.

Venezuela’s Attorney General Tarek William Saab said overall “dozens” of officers and civilians were killed in the weekend strike in Caracas and that prosecutors would investigate the deaths in what he described as a “war crime.” He didn’t specify if the estimate was specifically referring to Venezuelans.

In addition to the Venezuelan security officials, Cuba’s government had previously confirmed that 32 Cuban military and police officers working in Venezuela were killed in the raid. The Cuban government says the personnel killed belonged to the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior, the country’s two main security agencies. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller on Monday said U.S. officials believe that the Cuban government, which provided Maduro with security protection in Caracas, was undercounting the death toll of its personnel.

The U.S. has said some of the nearly 200 U.S. personnel who took part in the operation were injured but none were killed. The Pentagon has not provided any details about the injuries despite multiple inquiries over several days.

A video tribute to the slain Venezuelan security officials posted to the military’s Instagram features faces of the fallen over black-and-white videos of soldiers, American aircraft flying over Caracas and armored vehicles destroyed by the blasts. Meanwhile, the streets of Caracas, deserted for days following Maduro's capture, briefly filled with masses of people waving Venezuelan flags and bouncing to patriotic music at a state-organized display of support for the government.

“Their spilled blood does not cry out for vengeance, but for justice and strength,” the military wrote in an Instagram post. “It reaffirms our unwavering oath not to rest until we rescue our legitimate President, completely dismantle the terrorist groups operating from abroad, and ensure that events such as these never again sully our sovereign soil.”

President Donald Trump on Tuesday pushed back against Democratic criticism of this weekend's military operation, noting that his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden had also called for the arrest of the Venezuelan leader on drug trafficking charges.

Trump in remarks before a House Republican retreat in Washington grumbled that Democrats were not giving him credit for a successful military operation, even though there was bipartisan agreement that Maduro was not the rightful president of Venezuela.

In 2020, Maduro was indicted in the United States, accused in a decades-long narco-terrorism and international cocaine trafficking conspiracy. White House officials have noted that Biden's administration in his final days in office last year raised the award for information leading to Maduro's arrest after he assumed a third term in office despite evidence suggesting that he lost Venezuela’s most recent election. The Trump administration doubled the award to $50 million in August.

“You know, at some point, they should say, ‘You know, you did a great job. Thank you. Congratulations.' Wouldn’t it be good?" Trump said. "I would say that if they did a good job, their philosophies are so different. But if they did a good job, I’d be happy for the country. They’ve been after this guy for years and years and years."

Trump's latest comments came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top officials briefed leaders in Congress late Monday on the Venezuela operation amid mounting concerns that the Republican administration is embarking on a new era of U.S. expansionism without consultation with lawmakers or a clear vision for running the South American country.

Democratic leaders said the session lacked clarity about the Trump administration’s plans for Venezuela. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., an Iraq War veteran, said there is no dispute with Trump that Maduro was a “brutal dictator.”

"But the problem we have is the fact that yet again we have now entered into a war where there is no known off-ramp," Duckworth said.

Americans are split about the capture of Maduro — with many still forming opinions — according to a poll conducted by The Washington Post and SSRS using text messages over the weekend. About 4 in 10 approved of the U.S. military being sent to capture Maduro, while roughly the same share were opposed. About 2 in 10 were unsure.

Nearly half of Americans, 45%, were opposed to the U.S. taking control of Venezuela and choosing a new government for the country. About 9 in 10 Americans said the Venezuelan people should be the ones to decide the future leadership of their country.

Maduro pleaded not guilty to federal drug trafficking charges in a U.S. courtroom on Monday. U.S. forces captured Maduro and his wife early Saturday in a raid on a compound where they were surrounded by Cuban guards. Maduro's No. 2, Delcy Rodriguez, has been sworn in as Venezuela's acting president.

In the days since Maduro's ouster, Trump and top administration officials have raised anxiety around the globe that the operation could mark the beginning of a more expansionist U.S. foreign policy in the Western Hemisphere. The president in recent days has renewed his calls for an American takeover of the Danish territory of Greenland for the sake of U.S. security interests and threatened military action on Colombia for facilitating the global sale of cocaine, while his top diplomat declared the communist government in Cuba is “in a lot of trouble.”

Trump administration officials have said his administration will now “run” Venezuela policy and would press the country's leaders to open its vast oil reserves to American energy companies.

Colombia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Rosa Villavicencio said Tuesday she’ll meet with the U.S. Embassy’s charge d’affaires in Bogota to present him with a formal complaint over the recent threats issued by the United States.

On Sunday, Trump said he wasn’t ruling out an attack on Colombia and described its president, who’s been an outspoken critic of the U.S. pressure campaign on Venezuela, as a “sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States.”

Villavicencio said she’s hoping to strengthen relations with the United States and improve cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking.

“It is necessary for the Trump administration to know in more detail about all that we are doing in the fight against drug trafficking,” she said.

Meanwhile, the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom on Tuesday joined Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in defending Greenland’s sovereignty. The island is a self-governing territory of the kingdom of Denmark and thus part of the NATO military alliance.

“Greenland belongs to its people,” the statement said. “It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”

—

Madhani reported from Washington and Janetsky from Mexico City. AP writers Sagar Meghani, Isabel DeBre, Linley Sanders and Manuel Rueda contributed reporting.

Government supporters gather for a women's march to demand the return of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, three days after U.S. forces captured him and his wife. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

President Donald Trump walks off stage after speaking to House Republican lawmakers during their annual policy retreat, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump dances as he walks off stage after speaking to House Republican lawmakers during their annual policy retreat, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)