College Football National Championship 2015: LeBron James, More React to OSU Win

The confetti has barely settled on Ohio State's 42-20 victory over Oregon in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game on Monday night, but the reaction from athletes around the Internet is still coming fast and furious. 

Arguably the most famous Ohio State fan visible at AT&T Stadium was LeBron James. The Cleveland Cavaliers star hasn't been able to help his team on the court recently due to an injury, but this B/R video shows the Ohio native very proud of what the Buckeyes accomplished:

There's a fascinating element at play with Ohio State's win. There are professional sports teams all over the state, but the Buckeyes seem to be the most galvanizing force because they are the premiere team in Ohio with their consistent level of success and lack of competition for fans to spread their allegiances. 

LeBron seems to get at that, even though he is an Akron kid, the emotion and exuberance shown in his video suggests that Ohio State may be the most popular team in that state. 

Moving to actual Ohio State alumni, San Francisco 49ers running back Carlos Hyde was all over Twitter during and after the game. Given the performance by Ezekiel Elliott in this game specifically, but also dating back to the Big Ten Championship Game, Hyde gave his successor a shoutout:

Hyde then got closer to the field after the game to capture the scene for his Buckeyes, as this image from his Instagram account shows:

Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins, who played at Ohio State from 2005-08, captured a nice moment on the sidelines with former Buckeyes players as the game was going on:

That brotherhood hashtag also taps into something that Urban Meyer said after the game. The Ohio State coach, not one for emotion, said that he "loves these players" in The Associated Press video embedded below:

There's a fraternity aspect to college teams that doesn't exist in pro sports. Players, no matter how far removed from their school days, are always linked to the university. Meyer's players get to experience the victory firsthand, but it's shared by everyone who has ever been associated with the Buckeyes. 

Just for good measure, Jenkins tweeted out a collage of pictures from the field and one that will make fans of the classic Nintendo game Duck Hunt very happy:

There's more than just football at Ohio State. The basketball program is among the best in the country and has churned out NBA talent in recent years. Mike Conley, who is currently playing for the Memphis Grizzlies, wasn't holding back his excitement on Twitter:

It's incredible now to think that the Buckeyes were viewed as a controversial pick for the College Football Playoff because of the injury to J.T. Barrett. The oddsmakers, which Conley lightly touched on, certainly didn't see Ohio State getting this far. 

Under Meyer's leadership, via SportsCenter, the Buckeyes are no strangers to being underdogs—and winning as underdogs:

Evan Turner, who was named college basketball's National Player of the Year in 2010, gave a simple show of respect on Instagram:

Nick Swisher, who was born in Columbus and played baseball at Ohio State before returning to the state with the Cleveland Indians in 2013, believes that the Buckeyes had destiny on their side:

Whatever the Buckeyes had working in their favor, whether it was karma or just an insane amount of talent brought in by Meyer over the last three years, it worked to perfection. Everything lined up for Ohio State to be beaten by Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game, Alabama in the Sugar Bowl and Oregon in the title game. 

The hard part will be finding a way to recapture this success again. There will be questions about what happens with all these quarterbacks looking for playing time and wide receiver Devin Smith is graduating, but Ezekiel Elliott will return and at least one of Braxton Miller, Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett will be back. 

The schedule sets up nicely for Ohio State to enter its final two games against Michigan State and Michigan undefeated. The Spartans will be among the best teams in the country again, while the Wolverines should get a boost from new head coach Jim Harbaugh.

Whether that's enough to take down the Buckeyes is the big questions, but now is just a time for Ohio to celebrate the Buckeyes' first championship since 2002.