Graham Rahal's New Year's Day celebration lasted deep into the night as he watched the telecast of the Ohio State Buckeyes running over the University of Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.

Rahal, of suburban Columbus, Ohio, has been an Ohio State fan for as long as he can remember. He attended football games at Ohio Stadium with his father, legendary Indy car driver and current Verizon IndyCar Series team co-owner Bobby Rahal, and Jack Arute once interviewed the younger Rahal on the sideline during an ABC telecast.

Rahal will watch the national championship game, pitting Ohio State and Oregon, in person Jan. 12 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

“I won’t miss that one,” Rahal said. “We’ve got our tickets, got our flights, got everything. We’re ready for it. It’s pretty cool.”

Rahal was confident heading into last week’s big matchup against Alabama at the Mercedes Benz Superdome in New Orleans.

“I was nervous because of who it was, however, I thought all along that the team that showed up against Wisconsin if that team showed up again they would beat Alabama,” Rahal said. “I didn’t think that would even be a topic of conversation. However, it’s a young team. There are more freshman and sophomores on that team than any other class, and if you look at Alabama that is an old team with a lot of experience. You never really know because it can go either way. Those guys have a lot of experience and our guys are awfully young. Mistakes come in.

“All along I thought our athletes were better and everybody looked at me like I was crazy. I don’t think they had more speed, I don’t think they had more strength. I didn’t think Derrick (Alabama running back) Henry would be able to run the ball on us like others. I definitely thought they would shut down (wide receiver) Amari Cooper because frankly everybody who had been highly touted that we played all year got shut down like Tony Lippett from Michigan State and Melvin Gordon from Wisconsin. Gordon ran all over Auburn was shut down by Ohio State. I thought they would hold up very well against those sorts of people but you never really know.

“Early in the game when they got into scoring territory twice and didn’t convert and then had the two turnovers that gave Alabama the two touchdowns you thought it was going to be a long night. Then they completely and utterly shut them down and Alabama had no response.”

Rahal will participate in the “Roar Before the 24” sports car test at Daytona International Speedway this weekend before heading to the title game.