Two days after Thanksgiving, Ohio State’s national championship hopes seemed all but over.
The Buckeyes, ranked second in the nation at the time, were three-touchdown favorites at home against bitter rival Michigan.
Despite the Wolverines being the reigning national champions, this year’s squad was not close to last season’s team. So, it should have been an easy win for OSU.
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But they lost, calls for Ryan Day to be fired grew louder and there were serious doubts about what the Buckeyes would be able to do in the College Football Playoff.
They got over it quickly and dominated every team in their path en route to a national championship earlier this week.
Emeka Egbuka went 0-4 against the Wolverines in his career. He admitted in a recent interview with Fox News Digital he’d “have to think about” trading his new national title for a sweep of the Wolverines, considering those games are “almost as big as” the championship.
If the playoff remained at four teams, the loss would have ended the Buckeyes’ hopes of a title, and they would have been playing, in Egbuka’s words, “another meaningless bowl.” But, with the expansion to 12 teams, the Buckeyes had a chance at revenge and took it.
“It was definitely tough to be able to walk into the building the next day and look at my brothers in the face and look my coaches in the face knowing that we hadn’t achieved what we set out to achieve,” Egbuka said.
“But, you know, in that moment, we had a choice to make, because we knew we were going to be in the playoffs. We could have just rolled over and died, or we could have said, ‘We have the opportunity to be able to finish this the right way.’ So we all gathered together as brothers, and we were like, ‘We’re gonna do this thing.'”
The anger of the loss lingered after the game, when members of both teams brawled after Michigan players planted a UM flag at midfield. The pressure was on Day, but Egbuka admitted that the short memory came from players-only meetings, not necessarily from anything Day did.
“It wasn’t too much what coach Day said. To be honest, we did a lot of player meetings. Just the leadership on our team and our seniority really shined through,” said Egbuka.
“When you look at some of the greatest teams in college football history, they all have great leadership. They all have great seniors, and that’s really who you remember being on the team. We really took that to heart.
“We knew that the team was gonna run through us. Coach Day is a phenomenal coach, but he can only do so much. We’re the ones on the field. We have to go out and play. And we just needed to permeate our mindset throughout the rest of the team because that’s what great leaders do, and that’s what we tried to do in that moment.”
Egbuka was part of Celsius’ Essential Six. The energy drink partnered with Egbuka, Travis Hunter and four other college stars as part of a stacked roster before the season began. Egbuka said his record-setting season, during which he became OSU’s all-time reception leader, wouldn’t have been possible without his daily 200 milligrams of caffeine in the morning.
“Ever since our partnership, the product is great. It’s energizing and fueling me all the time. The fuel that I got from it and everything and just helping it start my days. I mean, this has probably been the most intense season of my life.
“When it comes to meetings and practice, I’m waking up every day early in the morning, and I don’t get home till, you know, 9, 10 p.m. That’s hard to do with low energy, so I think Celsius has really helped me with that.”
There isn’t much time for celebration, though. After a parade Sunday, Egbuka will be in NFL Draft mode and will have to start training for next month’s combine.
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It’s practically a nonexistent offseason for him, but Egbuka is ready for it.
“I am. I’m ready for this next chapter in my life. It is important to take breaks and take rests. So, I have a couple days where I’ll spend with loved ones leading up to training for the NFL. But it’s the life I signed up for.
“So, can’t complain about it too much. I’m just grateful to be in this position. A lot of people aren’t able to get here.”
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