This past Monday, January 12, 2015, Ohio State University (OSU) emphatically upset the University of Oregon  42-20 in the first ever college football playoff. Ohio State won its first national championship in 12 years and handed Urban Meyer his third national title as a coach. As gold and silver confetti fell from the ceiling of AT&T Stadium, both teams couldn’t believe their eyes.

This past year, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) decided to transition from the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) to the College Football Playoff system and no one knew what to expect. But this first season in a new college football era was remarkable. The playoff meant four teams would be selected to compete for a spot in the final championship game.

It came down to the University of Oregon versus Florida State University in the first semifinal game in the Rose Bowl, and Ohio State versus the behemoth-like University of Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. With Alabama  ranked number one, few could predict the two teams that would make the final, and the insane game they would play. The National Championship title was decided by the Ohio State University Buckeyes and Oregon University Ducks. OSU came in the biggest underdog, and most definitely portrayed why they deserved that spot, on that stage.

What’s most incredible about this game, is that Cardale Jones, OSU’s third-string quarterback (and Ohio native), led the team to victory. The redshirt sophomore, nicknamed “12-Gauge” because of his #12 jersey and the amount of power and length that he can throw a football, lit up the Oregon defense and exhibited extreme composure under pressure.

MVP of the night was sophomore tailback Ezekiel Elliott of OSU who carried the ball 36 times for 246 yards and 4 touchdowns. This was the highest rushing total by an FBS player in a championship game.

Although Oregon received the ball and motored down the field to achieve the game’s first points and touchdown, towards the end of the first quarter Elliott tied the game at 7 apiece. It was all downhill for Oregon’s defense from there. Making matters worse for the Ducks, Jones did an efficient job throwing the ball when Elliott wasn’t running it.

When Jones fought his way into the end zone with 4:49 left in the second quarter, the score became 21-7; OSU up. This was the largest deficit the Ducks faced this season, and it didn’t look like they would be making a comeback. Towards the beginning of the third quarter, Jones threw a screen intended for his receiver, but it bounced off his receiver’s hands and directly into the hands of the Duck’s Danny Mattingly. On the first play of the Duck’s now offensive possession, their quarterback Marcus Mariota threw a 70-yard touchdown pass to Byron Marshall and they showed a spark. With only a few minutes left in the fourth quarter, OSU had intercepted Mariota and got the ball back for their prolific offense. Elliott then punched the ball into the end zone from one yard out, making his final score and the last score of the game; it was the nail in the coffin.

So in a season where no one expected Ohio State to make it to this stage, they more then showed up and proved to be the best team in the first season of a great college football era to come.