The Ohio State football team has been through a ton this season, and in a past year it wouldn't even get a chance to compete for a national title after two regular season stumbles. Now, however, the Buckeyes have gotten hot at the right time and rolled through the 12-team College Football Playoff all the way to the championship game. On Friday night, Ryan Day and company knocked off Texas in the semifinals at the Cotton Bowl.

This game tested the mettle of this Ohio State squad. After blowing out Tennessee and Oregon in their first two games of the CFP, the Buckeyes were locked in a tense battle with Texas in the fourth quarter of the final four contest. In the end, a touchdown by Quinshon Judkins and a goal line stand that is becoming a signature of this Ohio State team lifted it to a 28-14 win over the Longhorns.

After the game, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day talked about how the Buckeyes' two losses this season and the adversity that came from them helped them get through this tight fourth quarter, according to Chris Vannini of The Athletic.

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“Without going through those things, we wouldn’t have come through like we did in the fourth quarter,” Day said, per Vannini. “I couldn’t be prouder, but we’ve got to finish this thing, and they know it.”

Ohio State went through a lot of adversity during the regular season. Their 32-31 loss against Oregon up in Eugene was a coin flip game that could have gone either way, but a mental mistake by quarterback Will Howard cost them dearly at the end of the game. Then, the Buckeyes played their worst game of the year in a rivalry loss to Michigan that was as big of an upset as we had in the country this season.

Since that Michigan loss, Ohio State has crushed Tennessee, gotten revenge on Oregon in another blowout and showed grit and resilience to beat Texas in the fourth quarter. Now, Day and company are just 60 minutes away from a national championship. The Buckeyes will look to stake their claim at the top of the college football mountain on Monday, Jan. 20 against Notre Dame.