Maurice Clarett, Beanie Wells Proud Alums As Buckeyes Run To National Title

The Ohio State ground game saved its best for last.

In the College Football Playoff National Championship Game win against Notre Dame on Monday, the Buckeyes ran the ball a season-high 41 times. The 214 yards rushing against the Irish was the most against a Power 4 opponent this year for the Buckeyes. It was also the most yards rushing allowed to a Power 4 opponent this year for Notre Dame.

Junior running back Quinshon Judkins led the Buckeyes with 100 yards rushing on 11 attempts, including a 70-yarder on the second play of the third quarter. Quarterback Will Howard rushed for a season-high 57 yards on a season-high 16 attempts. Senior running back TreVeyon Henderson added 49 yards on 12 attempts.

Coming into the game, it was believed that the team that ran the ball best and stopped the run best would come out with the win. Those beliefs became reality as the Buckeyes held Notre Dame to just 53 yards rushing on 26 attempts — and 44 of those yards came on the Irish’s first drive of the game.

It was a dominating effort on the ground for the Buckeyes, and watching it from the sidelines were a pair of former Ohio State running back greats — Maurice Clarett and Chris “Beanie” Wells.

Clarett, who rushed for 1,237 yards as a true freshman in 2002 and helped lead the Buckeyes to a BCS National Championship, has been embedded with this team all season long. He’s been in the locker room and on the sidelines providing the kind of mentorship that carries more value than just football.

He’s also seen the very highs and the very lows of this team, which only added to the meaning of Monday night’s title win.

“It’s phenomenal, man,” Clarett told Buckeye Huddle. “I’ve been with these guys the entire season and just to watch them put together what feels like a second season after the Michigan game. Just the teams they’re playing. You come home and you beat Tennessee the way that you did, and you beat Oregon in the Rose Bowl the way you did, and you beat Texas in Texas. Just the gauntlet of stuff that they’ve been through in the midst of so much adversity. It’s just been phenomenal to be a part of.”

Wells, meanwhile, is now a studio analyst for CBS Sports. As a true freshman in 2006, his Buckeyes fell to Florida 41-14 in the BCS National Championship Game. The Buckeyes then fell short to LSU in the championship game the following year. In his three years at Ohio State, Wells rushed for 3,382 yards and 30 touchdowns.

Knowing the pain of coming up short in this game, Wells was very proud of the effort put forth by the Buckeyes.

“Oh man, they faced adversity like I’ve never seen before,” he told Buckeye Huddle. “Such a resilient bunch to be able to come out on the other side of what they’ve been through, nothing short of amazing. I couldn’t be prouder as an alum.”

The Buckeyes again had to be resilient against the Irish despite running out to a 31-7 lead in the third quarter. Notre Dame fought back to 31-23 in the fourth quarter and had all of the momentum.

Until they didn’t.

On third-and-11 with under three minutes to play, Will Howard dropped back and threw deep to freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith, who hauled in the pass and was tackled at the Notre Dame 10-yard line. A few plays later, kicker Jayden Fielding sealed the win with a field goal to give the game its final score at 34-23.

Clarett has had a front-row seat the entire season, though he’s also been right in the middle of it as well. He knew Monday night’s game wasn’t going to be easy, but he also knew the Buckeyes were going to be able to handle whatever came their way.

“When I see the guys in the locker room, I’ve been able to gauge their temperament from game one to now, and they were just ready to play,” Clarett said. “Anytime these guys are overexcited or acting super-aggressive, it just doesn’t flow naturally. Before the pregame, I get nervous. But when you see them go out here before this game, it felt a lot like they were compared to Oregon. So from the pregame, I didn’t feel a bit of nerves. I just felt like they were prepared.”

Given everything this team has been through, nobody was surprised that they’d have to face just a little bit more adversity before celebrating.

“Right? And that’s one of the things that when you go through tough moments during the season, you prepare for something like this,” Wells said. “They’ve been through the most adversity in college football this year, so this was going to be nothing to them. This was just another part of the journey that they had to go through to get to where they wanted to be, and that’s hoisting the National Championship Trophy.”