Ohio
Look: Kirk Herbstreit gets emotional on TV after Ohio State wins national championship
Ohio State fans react to Jeremiah Smith’s big catch vs. Notre Dame
Ohio State fans at the Gateway Film Center in Columbus reacted to Will Howard’s 56-yard completion to Jeremiah Smith late in the fourth quarter of the CFP national championship against Notre Dame. Ohio State won, 34-23.
Kirk Herbstreit is as professional as it comes when he calls college football games for ESPN.
However, the former Ohio State football quarterback could not control his emotions after the Buckeyes’ 34-23 win over Notre Dame in Monday’s College Football Playoff national championship game. In a segment with ESPN Sportscenter’s Scott Van Pelt, Herbstreit got emotional when talking about the national championship for the Buckeyes.
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“Don’t start with me, man. I am a little emotional,” Herbstreit said. “I’m just fired up for these guys. When I call these games, I am incredibly objective, and I love all these Ohio State teams, but this team, because of what they went through to get to this point, is just happy. Just happy for them.”
Van Pelt asked fellow commentator Chris Fowler a question to allow Herbstreit to collect himself. Then, he appeared back on screen with a napkin and wiped the tears away from his face.
The Buckeyes were denied a chance to play in the Big Ten Conference championship game after a major upset loss to rival Michigan in the final week of the regular season. However, Ohio State bounced back with four straight wins, including a win over No. 1 Oregon, to win the national championship.
Herbstreit attended Centerville High School in Centerville, Ohio, and played for the Buckeyes from 1989 to 1993. In his senior season, he earned a starting role and led the Buckeyes to the Florida Citrus Bowl. Herbstreit’s father, Jim Herbstreit, was a co-captain on the 1960 Ohio State team and later became an assistant coach.
With Monday’s win, the Buckeyes clinched their first national championship since 2014, the first year of the 4-team CFP. Monday’s championship game concluded the first version of the 12-team CFP.
Ohio
Ohio State coach’s quarterback son commits to Big 10 rival
Ryan Day will have some very familiar competition in the Big 10 soon.
The son of the Ohio State football coach, R.J. Day, announced his commitment to Northwestern for the Class of 2027 on Sunday.
Northwestern plays in the same conference as Ohio State and the schools will face each other.
R.J. Day, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound quarterback from — not surprisingly — Columbus, Ohio, has started for three years at St. Francis DeSales HS as he heads towards his senior season.
According to reports, the younger Day had other offers from Purdue, Syracuse, Cincinnati and South Florida, as well as others.
Northwestern has eight quarterbacks on head coach David Braun’s roster.
And the offensive coordinator for the Wildcats is Chip Kelly, who served in the same role for Ryan Day at Ohio State when the Buckeyes won the title in 2024.
Kelly, the former head coach at UCLA and Oregon, was also the offensive coordinator at New Hampshire when Ryan Day was the team captain from 1998-2001.
Most recently, Kelly was the OC with the Las Vegas Raiders before he took the job with Northwestern.
“It’s really surreal when you think about the relationships that we’ve had with those two as a family over the years,” R.J. Day told ESPN earlier this month. “Coach Kelly coached my dad in college, so that adds another layer to it.”
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Urban Meyer recalls Pete Rose’s texts about Ohio State football
Cincinnati Reds legend and well-known gambler Pete Rose was possibly more than just curious about Ohio State football’s 2012 season when he texted Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer.
Appearing on “The Triple Option” show with Alabama running back Mark Ingram May 6, Meyer told a story about his relationship with Rose.
After OSU hired Meyer, the Reds asked him to throw out the first pitch at a game. Meyer threw to his son, Nathan, and walked into the dugout, where Rose, MLB’s all-time hit leader, was waiting to greet him.
“I couldn’t get enough talking about ‘Big Red Machine,’ and he wanted to talk college football,” Meyer said on the podcast, explaining how the two spoke for hours and exchanged numbers.
Meyer said that during his first season, Rose texted him early on. He wanted information about the team, like news on Braxton Miller’s shoulder injury.
“I told that to someone, and they said, ‘You’re an idiot. Do you know he’s trying to get information from you for gambling, and you could get in trouble?’ ” Meyer said.
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Though Meyer asserted that he never disclosed much, he started to steer the conversations clear of college football after he realized Rose potentially wanted information for gambling.
The two had another conversation in Las Vegas, where Rose told Meyer he gambled daily after retiring.
Rose was banned from baseball for betting on the sport, something he admitted to in his 2004 autobiography. Rose was reinstated in 2025 and so is considered eligible for the Hall of Fame.
Still baseball’s most prolific hitter (4,256 hits), Rose died in 2024.
Ohio
8th Annual Trumbull County Special Olympics Invitational held in Girard
GIRARD, Ohio (WKBN) – Over 100 athletes came together for the 5th Annual Trumbull County Special Olympics Invitational Saturday morning in Girard.
These athletes represent five different schools across Trumbull County to compete and spread the message of inclusion, achievement, and sportsmanship.
The Invitational continued its long-standing tradition of honoring the legacy of Randy Suchanek while celebrating the dedication and accomplishments of Special Olympics athletes throughout the region.
“You can hear all the excitement for this, for the athletes that are here today,” said superintendent Bryan O’Hara. “They work hard all year long to participate. We’ve always worked hand in hand with the rotary to get this accomplished is a lot of work behind the scenes.”
Participating schools included Ashtabula, Geauga, Columbiana, Kent-Portage and Trumbull Fairhaven
“There’s a lot of nice participation from girard students as you see behind us, and a lot of participation from the community helping out,” Girard-Liberty Rotary co-president Andy Kish added.
O’Hara added that the event keeps everything in perspective, seeing the athletes compete in the spirit of fun, along with the courage and determination that they show.
Alex Sorrells contributed to this report.
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