ATLANTA — Following Ohio State‘s fourth straight loss to Michigan, the players had a meeting with coach Ryan Day during which they “really hashed some things out,” quarterback Will Howard said Saturday, a turning point in their season that helped propel the team to Monday’s national championship game against Notre Dame.

“It was really a truth-telling time,” Howard said at the College Football Playoff media day. “The facts were laid out there. People were challenged. Everyone including myself had to look in the mirror a little bit and say, ‘What can I do better? How can we fix this thing?’ The thing that we clung to was we still have this opportunity out in front of us to right all these wrongs and go play for a national championship and here we are. We’re right where we wanted to be. A lot of people wrote us off, but we really just believed in ourselves.”

The Buckeyes were favored by 21 points against Michigan, the widest point spread for the rivalry since 1978, according to ESPN Research. Since then, they have reeled off three straight playoff wins — against Tennessee, Big Ten champion Oregon and SEC runner-up Texas.

Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly said the team has shown its resiliency over the past few weeks, but had a choice to make.

“They talked through it,” Kelly said. “I think they understood what was presented, what’s ahead of us. I think that’s a big point. When you look at the game against Michigan, it could be one of two things: It could be your tombstone, or it could be a stepping stone, and Ryan and our players turned it into a stepping stone.”

Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said the 13-10 loss to Michigan made the team closer. After the first loss of the season to Oregon, Knowles said, “There were a lot of fingers being pointed at the defense. And the second one, it was kind of the other way.”

“I made a point to say to our guys, ‘Remember what that felt like the first time? You need to go out of your way to pick up your brothers on offense,'” Knowles said. “In a way they did, and it kind of really merged us.”

The Buckeyes are making their sixth national championship game appearance (national championship games began with the inception of the BCS in the 1998 season), but haven’t won one since the 2014 season. Ohio State is 2-3 in national championship games. The Buckeyes are trying to win their first national title under Day, who faced heavy backlash and questions about his job security following the loss to Michigan.

“Every year you learn and you grow,” he said, “trying to be self-aware enough to surround yourself with people who will tell you the truth, hoping to get better, and that’s really all you can do.

“When you go through great moments, you really grab on to the people who are around you, and it’s the same thing when you go through difficult moments,” Day said. “That’s why you build relationships.”

Ohio State has a 6-2 lead in the all-time series and has won six straight. Notre Dame’s last win over Ohio State came in 1936. Knowles said Day never allowed any of the criticism to impact his work or effect the staff.

“It’s not something we talk about because we just try to put our heads down and work,” Knowles said. “But in the end, brothers in arms, you’re happy he is being seen for the quality of person and coach that he is because he does a great job and he cares about the players and is in tune with what’s going on with the staff. The only thing you can do to help is win, so I’m glad we have done that.”

ATLANTA — After being limited to one catch in Ohio State‘s Cotton Bowl semifinal victory over Texas, freshman phenom Jeremiah Smith gave a warning Saturday in advance of the Buckeyes’ national championship matchup against Notre Dame.

“If you are going to play man [to-man defense] against Ohio State, be ready,” Smith said. “I can’t wait to put on a show.”

Smith, who repeatedly pointed out during his media day availability that the Irish play man-to-man defense “80%” of the time, acknowledged that he relishes when defenses try to stop him with only one defender.

“What [the Irish do] they do very, very well. So for them to change up what they do, would be kind of silly,” Ohio State wide receivers coach Brian Hartline told ESPN. “They’re really, really good players, great players on the outside. And we’re really great players on the outside, too. It’s what you want in a game of this magnitude.”

Following Smith’s best game of the season against Oregon in the Rose Bowl (187 yards and two touchdowns), Texas’ secondary sold out to stop Smith, whose only catch in the Buckeyes’ win was for 3 yards.

“You watch the film — they doubled, tripled me,” Smith said. “It’s frustrating, but being a decoy helped us win the game.”

In his first year at Ohio State, Smith has been a supernova, catching 71 passes for 1,227 yards and 14 touchdowns. Heading into this game, he’s averaging 17.3 yards per catch.

“He’s one of the most talented dudes I’ve been around … you always want to try to get him the ball,” quarterback Will Howard said. “But he can also take out two or three guys at a time [as a decoy], and sometimes that’s a good thing.”

Smith’s performance in the Cotton Bowl was by far his least productive of the season, but it helped to open up opportunities for other skill players such as Carnell Tate (seven catches for 87 yards) and Quinshon Judkins (two receiving touchdowns).

Whether the Irish try to go away from their usual playing style in order to limit Smith or stick to their scheme remains to be seen. Although Smith noted that Notre Dame’s secondary might be the best they have faced all season, he is ready for the challenge.

“If I’ve got to be a decoy in this game, I’ll be a decoy,” Smith said. “All I want to do is win.”

Also, Ohio State star DE JT Tuimoloau, who rolled his ankle against Texas, talked about his health and the injury.

“I feel really good. I feel really good. One thing, our strength coach says you can’t do too much of taking care of your body, so I’m overloaded on take care of everything.”

Tuimoloau said he’s been somewhat limited in practice to nurse the ankle back.

“Me and Coach Day bumped heads; I want to get out there, he wants me to rest, so we met somewhere in the middle.”

The lawyer for Xavier Lucas says the ex-Wisconsin player is transferring to Miami, even though the cornerback’s former school never entered his name into the portal.

Darren Heitner has been representing Lucas, who indicated on social media last month that Wisconsin was refusing to put his name in the portal and that it was hindering his ability to talk to other schools. Lucas had announced earlier in December that he planned to enter the portal.

The NCAA issued a statement Friday saying that “NCAA rules do not prevent a student-athlete from unenrolling from an institution, enrolling at a new institution and competing immediately.”

Yahoo Sports first reported Lucas’ plans to transfer to Miami, as well as the NCAA statement.

Wisconsin officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Yahoo and the Wisconsin State Journal have reported that Lucas had entered into an agreement to continue playing for Wisconsin before requesting the transfer.

Heitner said in an X post that Lucas had agreed to a memorandum of understanding that was conditioned on the approval of the House settlement — which calls for schools to pay players directly for use of their name, image and likeness — and Lucas attending classes no later than this spring. Heitner added that Lucas has since unenrolled from Wisconsin.

Heitner also said that Lucas hasn’t received any money from Wisconsin and therefore owes no money to the school.

Lucas, who is from Pompano Beach, Florida, had 12 tackles, an interception and a sack as a freshman for Wisconsin this season.