The confetti had fallen, the Ohio State marching band was belting out Queen’s “Fat Bottomed Girls” and Mercedes-Benz Stadium was a scarlet and gray free-for-all.
In the din, a Buckeyes fan named Dan Jarvis gave his summation of the proceedings after Ohio State claimed the 2024 College Football Playoff title with a 34-23 win over Notre Dame Monday night at MBS.
“It was worth every penny,” he said, and you’ll understand the significance of his valuation shortly.
If you watched the game from home, here’s what you didn’t see.
Long before kickoff, the aforementioned Dan Jarvis of Wheelersburg, Ohio, was in his front-row seat on the Ohio State side along the west end zone. He wore a red and white wig, red shoulder pads with spikes, a Buckeyes jersey, black football pants, Ohio State wristbands, scarlet gloves and a red towel tucked into his pants that read “Jesus.”
Jarvis, 64, said he had paid $16,000 for a pair of front-row seats, one for him and the other for his daughter Arista Treadway. Jarvis holds six Ohio State season tickets and rarely misses road and postseason games. A utility contractor, Jarvis estimated that he spends around $100,000 per year to support the Buckeyes.
“I own a company and this is my one thing I do that’s crazy,” he said. “My wife’s a pastor and she doesn’t understand what I’m doing.”
For those sympathizing with Jarvis’ wife, it could at least be seen as a way for him to spend time with his daughter, his travel companion.
“I’m getting old and I want to do this before I’m gone,” he said.
I asked him how long he had had his outfit. He said “ever since James Laurinaitis,” introducing a whole new level of fandom. You may love Georgia or Georgia Tech, but do you measure time by your team’s star linebacker?
So, how long have you been married?
Ever since Keith Brooking.
A funny thing about Jarvis. While his daughter’s allegiance is to the Buckeyes, his three sons’ favorite teams are Oklahoma, Notre Dame and ... Michigan.
For four football seasons after his Michigan-favoring son turned 15, Jarvis made him live in a three-room house in the back yard of the family property that Jarvis built for that purpose. Jarvis painted it scarlet and gray.
“I was born to like Ohio State,” Jarvis said, and no challenges were offered.
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
At much less cost, Ohio State student Mike Sterling had his own seat in MBS, with the school marching band. Sterling had a starring role in the pregame, being one of two sousaphone players accorded the honor of dotting the “I” in Script Ohio — the iconic drill in which the band marches to spell out “Ohio” in cursive, with a sousaphone player completing the formation by high stepping to the top of the lowercase “I” and bowing with a flourish. (For road and neutral-site games, the band spells out “Ohio” on both sides of the field; for home games, it’s just one Ohio.)
“It’s super surreal, getting the chance to dot the I,” he said as the band waited in the stands before taking the field.
All fourth- and fifth-year sousaphone players get to perform at home at least once and also have chances to perform away from home. Sterling dotted at the Rose Bowl in the quarterfinal win over Oregon and then won a special CFP championship game “dot-off,” as determined by junior members of the tuba section. Monday was also his last game in the band. An aspiring corporate pilot, Sterling actually graduated in 2023 and has been taking classes to remain a student and play in the band.
“I got lucky enough that they voted me in,” Sterling said. “I’m super blessed and thankful they did that.”
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
As the game wound to a close, the tunnels beneath the stands were a hive of activity. Game staff wheeled carts stacked with cardboard boxes toward one of the portals leading to the field. They contained the T-shirts and caps to be awarded to the champion.
Did the game staff have gear for both teams in the tunnel? A woman pushing one of the carts paused, debating whether to divulge the secret.
“We do,” she said.
Both teams’ boxes sat along a wall by the portal entrance until it became clear that Ohio State had victory in hand. Then, the Notre Dame boxes were loaded quickly and ferried with urgency into a storage room.
On the field after the confetti had fallen, players and coaches crowded onto and near the stage set up for the trophy presentation. The band filled the stadium with the Buckeyes’ fight song. Giddy fans clapped and sang along.
“It feels amazing,” defensive tackle Ty Hamilton said. “I’m just blessed to be here.”
Outside the Notre Dame locker room, coach Marcus Freeman waited to be escorted to a postgame news conference. On a television across the hallway, he watched Ohio State players celebrating on the field. Cheers filtered through the portal. Freeman held his chin in his hand. You wondered what was going through his mind.
Shortly after his coach headed off, quarterback Riley Leonard emerged from the locker room to meet the media. He wiped his red eyes with a towel.
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Inside the Fighting Irish locker room, one player sat hunched over, his head in his hands. Another sobbed. Others hugged and offered encouragement to each other. Down 31-7 midway through the third quarter, they had fought back to close the margin to 31-23 with 4:15 to play before Ohio State kicked a game-clinching field goal with 26 seconds left.
“Obviously, we didn’t get the result we wanted,” right tackle Aamil Wagner said. “We’re a little sad in the locker room, but we’ll continue to be proud of the season we had, to be proud of the progress we made and just to be proud of the standard we set in this era of college football, this new era of Notre Dame.”
I caught up with the I-dotting Sterling again as the band filed out of the stands onto the field. Band members scooped up confetti and took photos lying in it. Sterling picked up a gold streamer with his gloved hand as a souvenir. It had been a night. With his family in the stands, he said he “kind of blacked out” as he dotted the I in his last game as a band member. And his school had won the national championship.
“I’m crying the whole time right now,” he said. “I’m trying to hold it together while we get out of here.”
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