Ohio State's Ryan Day completes long, painful climb to college football mountaintop

ATLANTA — As the final few notes of "Carmen Ohio" floated toward the cavernous roof at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the players and coaches from Ohio State removed their arms from around each other's shoulders and used them to spell the state where college football's newest national champion resides. It's a tradition the Buckeyes honor after every game they play — home or away, win or lose — and never has the mood been happier than it was on Monday night, when the ninth national championship in program history was secured with 34-23 victory over Notre Dame. Dear Alma Mater ... O-H-I-O! 

From his perch on the celebratory platform where this year's trophy presentation was just completed, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day offered a variation to the traditional arm movements that conclude the song. Rather than mime the letters O-H-I-O with the rest of his team, as he normally does each week, Day simply hoisted the 50-pound prize made of gold, bronze and stainless steel instead. He'd finally completed the long, painful climb to the top of his highly scrutinized profession.

And how satisfying that moment must have felt after everything Day had stomached over the course of this season and the preceding three, none of which included Big Ten Championships or victories over archrival Michigan. How beautiful the song must have sounded on this night and this stage when juxtaposed with the hollow ringing at Ohio Stadium on Nov. 30, when the Buckeyes suffered their fourth consecutive loss to the Wolverines and a brawl was beginning to erupt near midfield, the pepper-sprayed reality of which failed to resonate with a shell-shocked and stupefied Day. How much lovelier the embrace with his family must have been knowing that his children won't be