Ohio State Loses National Championship To Alabama

MIAMI, FL — In the end, a hobbled and injury-plagued Ohio State team could not upset the Alabama Crimson Tide in the college football national championship game.

Coming into Monday night's game, there were numerous questions swirling around the health of Buckeyes star quarterback Justin Fields. Many pundits suspected coach Ryan Day would lean on the ascendant Trey Sermon to rush Ohio State to a title.

That game plan went up in smoke on the Buckeyes' first offensive series of the game. Sermon got the ball, ran two yards and was hurt. He was later taken to the hospital with an apparent shoulder injury.

Sermon was one of the stars of Ohio State's resounding win over Clemson, rushing the ball for 194 yards.

With the weight of the game squarely on his shoulders, Fields managed to toss 194 yards and one touchdown, but it took him 33 passes to do so. Meanwhile, Alabama's offense rolled seemingly at will into the endzone.

The Crimson Tide's star quarterback, Mac Jones, threw for 464 yards and five touchdowns. Heisman-winning wide receiver DeVonta Smith caught 12 passes for 212 yards and three touchdowns.

Despite the seemingly lopsided numbers and injury woes, Ohio State actually held its own through the first quarter (and a half), before Alabama broke the game open. But the Tide broke the game open quickly. It was 35-17 at halftime. Things only got worse from there.

Alabama added 17 more points in the second half to run the score to 52-24. Then Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban trotted onto the field and claimed his seventh national championship, an unprecedented collection of hardware.

As confetti fell and buckets of Gatorade were dumped on coaches, Ohio State's players milled around and then left the field. It was a sad ending to an otherwise stellar and bizarre season.