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J.J. Post, ESPN
The Ohio State Buckeyes are back on top of the college football world.
Ten years and eight days removed from their most recent national championship, Ohio State returned to the sport’s summit on Monday night with a 34-23 win over Notre Dame. Quarterback Will Howard excelled for the Buckeyes, throwing for 231 yards and two touchdowns. Ohio State running back Quinshon Judkins added 100 yards on the ground and two scores himself.
A lot has changed since Ohio State last hoisted a national championship trophy on Jan. 12, 2015. Here’s what the world looked like the last time the Buckeyes ruled the college football world.
The Golden State Warriors capture their first title in 40 years
Led by league MVP Stephen Curry and fellow Splash Brother Klay Thompson, the Warriors were a roaring success in head coach Steve Kerr’s first season. At the time of Ohio State’s championship victory, the Warriors were 29-5 and coming off a win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, their eventual opponent in the NBA Finals.
The Cavaliers got out to a 2-1 lead in those Finals. In Game 4, however, Andre Iguodala joined Golden State’s starting lineup and the Warriors dominated, winning the next three games for their first championship since 1975. Iguodala was named Finals MVP after averaging 16.3 points in the series.
It was the first of three titles in a four-year stretch for Curry, Thompson, Iguodala & Co.
‘Uptown Funk’ tops charts
Three weeks into 2015, Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk” featuring Bruno Mars ascended to the top of the Billboard Hot 100.
“Uptown Funk” spent 14 weeks at No. 1 until mid-April. It ended the 2010s as the No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 for the decade as well.
‘American Sniper’ thrives at the theatres
No. 1 at the box office the weekend after OSU took home the title was “American Sniper,” starring Bradley Cooper as Navy SEAL Chris Kyle.
“American Sniper” enjoyed a run of four weekends atop the box office that January.
The USWNT returns to women’s soccer’s summit
After hoisting the trophy in two of the first three editions of the Women’s World Cup, the U.S. women’s national team came up short of a title in 2003, 2007 and 2011.
In 2015, though, the USWNT returned to World Cup glory, embarking on an impressive run that saw the team concede just one goal in its first six games of the tournament. The final against Japan — a rematch of the 2011 final — turned into a rout, as Golden Ball winner Carli Lloyd’s hat trick helped the U.S. to a 5-2 win.
Joe Burrow and Denzel Ward enroll at Ohio State
Neither Burrow or Ward entered as the most highly touted players in the Buckeyes’ 2015 recruiting class — ranked 12th and 20th in the class by ESPN — but both ascended to stardom in due time.
Burrow spent three seasons as a reserve and backup in Ohio State’s quarterback room before transferring to LSU where he’d put together a two-year stint that resulted in a 60-touchdown 2019 season, a national title and a Heisman Trophy. The top pick in the 2020 NFL draft now ranks among the league’s top quarterbacks.
Ward spent three years in Columbus, with his third year being a prolific All-American campaign. The Cleveland Browns rewarded him for his impressive season by taking him as the No. 4 pick in the 2018 NFL draft. He picked up his fourth Pro Bowl with the team this season.
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