Big Ten primer — Ohio State’s greatest football moment

Ohio State, like Michigan, is Big Ten football royalty. USC has spent decades facing Ohio State and Michigan in Rose Bowls as a member of the Pac-12 (formerly the Pac-10, Pac-8, AAWU, Pacific Coast Conference, etc.). Now, USC joins the Buckeyes and Wolverines in the Big Ten. As the Trojans prepare for their new conference era, it’s worth wondering what is Ohio State’s greatest football moment.

Ohio State is, one could argue, the most consistently good college football program of all time. Yes, Alabama, Georgia and Clemson have been the supreme national championship-level programs of the past 15 years, but over a much longer period of time, Ohio State has in many ways set the standard for consistency. If you look at Ohio State’s season-by-season record, few programs can match OSU’s number of nine- or 10-win seasons. We have seen this recently under Ryan Day. An 11-1 regular season feels like a disappointment because the one loss is to Michigan, the biggest game on the schedule. Nevertheless, Ohio State just keeps stacking 10, 11, and 12-win seasons with numbing regularity. The Buckeyes are — and have been — better than Michigan in that regard.

Given this history of so regularly playing in big bowl games, which is the one game which stands above the rest? To be sure, the 2014 national title won over Oregon is a significant moment. So is the 2003 Fiesta Bowl win over Miami. However, the 2003 Fiesta Bowl is also remembered for a controversial penalty called on Miami at the end of the game. That makes Jim Tressel’s national title slightly less historically impressive.

If there is a moment worthy of being No. 1 in Ohio State football history, it has to be a “meeting on the mountaintop” event, something draped in mythology and involving the worthiest possible opponent.

A great example of that: The 1969 Rose…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/big-ten-primer-ohio-state-015017193.html

Author : Trojans Wire

Publish date : 2024-07-22 01:50:17

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