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1977 Ohio State Football: Key Losses Foreshadow The End Of An Era

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After going to four straight Rose Bowls from 1972-75, Woody Hayes’ program had slipped behind Bo Schembechler and Michigan in 1976. The Buckeyes continued the pattern in ‘77. They were good, but they lost all of their biggest games—including the only one that matters to fans in Columbus and Ann Arbor. The 1977 Ohio State football season was a harbinger for the end of Hayes’ legendary tenure.

Woody, as always, built his success around the running game. Ron Springs ran for almost 1,110 yards. Jeff Logan was a good complementary runner and an All-Big Ten fullback. The offensive line had an All-American in tackle Chris Ward. Tight end Jimmy Moore was All-Big Ten, and in this scheme, it certainly wasn’t about his ability to catch passes. Moore could block and the running game could muscle people. Ohio State quarterbacks, led by Rod Gerald, only completed 66 passes on the season.

The defense ranked fourth nationally in points allowed and had three All-Americans in the lineup—Aaron Brown up front, Tom Cousineau at linebacker, and Ray Griffin in the secondary. Kelton Dansler was all-conference at defensive tackle, while Mike Guess earned that same honor at defensive back.

Ohio State was ranked #5 in the preseason polls. An unimpressive tune up over a bad Miami team ended with a 10-0 win. The Buckeyes then had an early conference test against Minnesota. The Gophers were bowl-bound and would upset Michigan later in the season. But on this September afternoon in Columbus, Ohio State’s muscle was too much. Springs ran for 146 yards. Gerald added 64 more and threw a touchdown pass. The final was 38-7 and the Buckeyes moved up to #4.

The stage was set for a massive showdown against third-ranked Oklahoma. In a wild game, Ohio State fell behind 20-0 on their home field. They rallied and came back to lead 28-20. After the Sooners scored a late TD, the Buckeyes stopped the two-point play and appeared to have the game won. But they failed to cover the onside kick and were beaten on a last-play field goal. The 29-28 crusher was a blow to their national title hopes and pushed them down to #6 in the polls.

Ohio State closed the non-conference portion of their schedule by beating up a bad SMU team, 35-7 on the road. They came back home to play Purdue. The Boilermakers had a potent passing game, led by quarterback Mark Herrmann. Ohio State simply ran over them. Springs rolled up 151 yards. Freshman running back Joel Payton scored four touchdowns. The final was 46-zip.

That started a string of wins against sub-.500 Big Ten teams. The Buckeyes went to Iowa and won 27-6. They easily won at Northwestern, 35-15 Back-to-back shutouts followed, 42-0 over Wisconsin at home, and 35-0 against Illinois in Champaign.

Indiana finished the year 5-5-1 and was coached by Lee Corso, but the Buckeyes rolled the Hoosiers too, 35-7. They were back to #4 in the polls and the money part of the season had arrived.

Michigan was ranked #5 and the winner of the head-to-head battle would stay alive for the national championship in the Rose Bowl. Playing on the road, the Buckeyes were ready. Between the 20-yard lines they dominated play. But the red zone was problematic. The first three trips inside the Michigan 20-yard line produced two field goals and a lost fumble. The Wolverines’ two red zone trips ended in touchdowns. Ohio State trailed 14-6 late in the game.

There was no overtime in college football prior to 1996, so the best the Buckeyes could hope for was a tie when they began their last drive. But a tie, while killing national title hopes, would still put them in the Rose Bowl, thanks to Michigan’s loss to Minnesota.

Ohio State got in the red zone one more time. And one more time, they came up empty. Another lost fumble effectively ended the game at 14-6. An enraged Hayes knocked over an ABC sideline cameraman, an incident that was an ominous foreshadowing of when he would hit a Clemson player in the following season’s Gator Bowl and lose his job as a result.

There was still a chance at redemption. The Buckeyes’ 9-2 finish and #9 national ranking were enough to get a Sugar Bowl bid to play third-ranked Alabama. But the afternoon in New Orleans was an utter disaster. Even though the Tide fumbled the ball an astonishing ten times, Ohio State only recovered two of them. And they did nothing else well. The result was an embarrassing 35-6 loss and a final #11 finish in the polls.

The end of the Hayes era was drawing near. While the aforementioned Gator Bowl incident was the reason, there’s also no question Ohio State was starting to slip behind Michigan. 1977 was the last major bowl trip in the great head coach’s amazing career and a sign that the end was near.

1976 Ohio State Football: The Beginning Of The End For Woody Hayes

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Woody Hayes had taken Ohio State to four straight Rose Bowls from 1972-75. The 1976 Ohio State football team was still loaded and ranked #4 to start the season. They were certainly good, as evidenced by the fact they won a major bowl game. But some notable losses, including the one loss no Buckeye fan will tolerate, set the stage for a marginal decline over the remainder of Hayes’ legendary tenure in Columbus.

The Buckeyes had All-Americans on each side of the ball in offensive tackle Chris Ward and defensive end Bob Brudzinski, and they controlled the tempo of games with a powerful ground attack. Jeff Logan ran for over 1,200 yards to lead the team and powerful fullback Pete Johnson ground out over 700 more. The two quarterbacks, Jim Pacenta and Rod Gerald only threw a combined 94 passes all season long.

Ohio State opened the season by blasting Michigan State 49-21, and some upheaval among other top teams quickly moved the Buckeyes to #2. The next game was a trip to Penn State, the first one Ohio State would ever make to Happy Valley.

The Buckeyes played opportunistic football against the seventh-ranked Nittany Lions. They forced a pair of turnovers in the red zone, built a 12-0 lead and then hung on after Penn State rallied. Ohio State forced one more turnover with 1:41 left and secured a 12-7 win.

But a letdown did the Buckeyes in back home in Columbus. They faced a Missouri team that was decent, but on their way to a 6-5 season, the Tigers should not have been able to compete with Ohio State. Instead, Hayes’ team suffered a 22-21 loss and skidded back to #8 in the polls. The schedule didn’t get easier with a visit from fourth-ranked UCLA. The Buckeyes settled for a 10-10 tie.

The national championship was gone, with a loss and a tie, and Ohio State took it out on their next six Big Ten opponents. The conference only had one other winning team beyond OSU and Michigan, and that team—Minnesota—was only 6-5.

Ohio State won 34-14 at Iowa, and then knocked off Wisconsin in Camp Randall, 30-20. The Buckeyes came back home and played some tough defense in a 24-3 win over Purdue. A road trip to play Lee Corso’s Indiana team resulted in a 47-7 blowout. The Buckeyes crushed Illinois 42-10.

They were #8 in the polls and the big part of the season was at hand. The road trip to Minnesota was the appetizer that would set up Michigan’s visit.

The Buckeyes and Gophers traded field goals and it was tied 3-3 in the second quarter. Ohio State then marched 73 yards for a touchdown. After the missed extra point, it was 9-3 going into the locker room.

Even though the Buckeye offense never even mounted a serious drive again, the defense took over. Minnesota capitalized on a bad punt to reach the Ohio State 11-yard line in the third quarter, but that ended with a missed field goal. A Gopher quarterback named Tony Dungy was kept on the run most of the afternoon by Buckeye pressure and the 9-3 score held. It wasn’t an inspiring win by any means, but it kept Ohio State unbeaten in league play. It clinched at least a share of the conference title, since Michigan had lost to Purdue. And it set up the Buckeyes to play for a Rose Bowl bid.

Another bitter home loss awaited. The game was scoreless in the first half when Gerald threw an interception in the end zone just prior to halftime. That was the last time Ohio State seriously threatened to win the game, as Michigan took over the second half and won 22-0. The Buckeyes dropped to #11 but got a chance at redemption when the Orange Bowl came calling.

The Buckeyes would be playing a team for whom the ticket to South Beach was anything but a consolation prize. Colorado shared the Big Eight title and was an upstart in this game. And the Buffaloes opened the scoring with a 26-yard field goal. Then they converted a 4th-and-2 from the Buckeye 11-yard line into a touchdown pass that gave them a surprise 10-0 lead.

Ohio State’s passing attack was inept Gerald completely only two passes on the night. The Buckeyes lost the turnover battle 4-2. But their powerful running game alone was enough to turn the momentum. A 36-yard touchdown run up the middle by Logan cut into the lead and a field goal tied it up. Before the half was over, Ohio State drove 99 yards for a 17-10 lead.

The defense was settled in, the Colorado offense was going nowhere, and Ohio State kept adding to the lead. A short field goal made it a two-score margin, and a final tack-on touchdown finished it off at 27-10.

Any season that ends at #6 in the polls and a major bowl victory has to be considered a good one. But the culture of Ohio State and Michigan is different, and that difference was even more dramatic in the 1970s than it is today. They measured themselves by each other. The Buckeyes lost to the Wolverines again in 1977 and were then hammered in the Sugar Bowl. They lost to Michigan in 1978 and settled for the Gator Bowl. In that Gator Bowl, Hayes’ career came to an infamous end over his confrontation with an opposing player on the sidelines.

The 1976 Ohio State football season is marked as the last major bowl victory in Hayes’ illustrious career. But it’s also marked as the beginning of the end for Woody.

1973 Ohio State Football: A Controversial Rose Bowl Run

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Woody Hayes had been in Columbus for over two decades. He had national titles under his belt from 1954 and 1968. The 1973 Ohio State football team nearly gave him a third. Even coming up short, they still gave Woody his fourth Rose Bowl triumph. And along the way, they played one of the most legendary—and controversial—tie games in college football history.

The Buckeyes were anchored by the stingiest defense in the country. Randy Gradishar was an All-American linebacker, bound for a solid NFL career in Denver. Van DeCree was another All-American at defensive end. There were All-Big Ten players at each level of the defense—Pete Cusick up front, Rick Middleton at linebacker and Neal Colzie in the secondary.

With a defense like that, it’s easy to see why Woody eschewed the passing game and played it extremely safe—even by the standards of this run-heavy era—on offense. Cornelius Greene played quarterback and attempted just 46 passes all season.

But Greene was good with his legs, running for over 700 yards. And there was no need to throw the ball much when you could hand it off to Archie Griffin. The sophomore back who would win Heismans in both his junior and senior seasons, ran for nearly 1,600 yards in this ’73 campaign and averaged over six a pop.

All-American offensive tackle John Hicks was so well-regarded nationally that he finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting—a distant second, but the last time an offensive lineman has ever placed so high in the Heisman race. Ohio State’s offense ranked fourth nationally in points scored.

The Buckeyes were #2 in the opening polls and began the season at home against Minnesota. This era of Big Ten football is rightly remembered as one where Ohio State and Michigan were clearly head-and-shoulders above the field. But in 1973, the Gophers were just as clearly the third-best team and would win seven games. This was no easy way to begin a season.

Only Ohio State made it look easy. Griffin rushed for 249 yards. Colzie brought a punt back 78 yards to the house. Minnesota’s only points came when they returned a kickoff for a touchdown. And the Gophs had plenty of opportunities to return kickoffs—Ohio State racked up eight touchdowns in a 56-7 romp.

By the time the Buckeyes played again on September 29, they were #1 in the country. They hammered a bad TCU team 37-3 and they beat mediocre Washington State 27-3. Three more subpar Big Ten teams were next on the schedule. Ohio State shut out Wisconsin 24-0, went to Indiana and racked up a 37-7 win, then buried Northwestern 60-zip for the home crowd.

Illinois and Michigan State were mediocre opponents that would each finish 5-6 on the year. The Buckeyes opened November by winning 30-0 in Champaign. A week later, at home against the Spartans, that Ohio State defense put another goose egg on the board—a 35-0 win. A 55-13 rout of hapless Iowa completed what amounted to a long tuneup for the games everyone was waiting for—the road trip to Ann Arbor and then (hopefully), a Rose Bowl rematch with USC.

Michigan was also undefeated and ranked #4, so the rivalry game had national title implications both ways. Ohio State came out ready to go and was controlling the game in the first half. Griffin, along with big fullback Pete Johnson shared the load on the ground and led a touchdown drive. The Buckeyes added a field goal and led 10-0 at the half.

In the second half, Woody—even by the standards of this year’s team—got ultra-conservative. Michigan got momentum. They got a field goal. The Wolverines drove down to the Ohio State 10-yard line and faced fourth-and-inches. They converted. The game was tied 10-10.

The Buckeyes were now back on their heels. A tie would be devastating to their national title hopes in a year where Notre Dame and Alabama were both unbeaten and headed for a Sugar Bowl showdown. It was also believed in the moment that a tie would kill their Rose Bowl hopes. The Big Ten had a long tradition of not allowing the same team to go to Pasadena in consecutive years. Ohio State had gone in 1972. While that rule had been thankfully lifted prior to this season, there was an understandable belief that the conference would default to the old rule if a tie in this game created a co-championship.

What’s more, the tie almost became a non-factor. Michigan started another drive as the clock got under two minutes. Ohio State’s defense held and a 58-yard field goal try that was hopeless from the start ended up missing. But Greene threw an interception and gave the Wolverines another chance. This time, they lined up for a 43-yard try. But it missed again. The 10-10 tie was in the books.

The Rose Bowl bid would be settled by a vote of the Big Ten athletic directors. Woody seemed resigned to the fact his team’s season was over—conference schools were also prohibited from going to any other bowl besides the Rose, so everything hinged on this vote.

But in what proved to be pleasant surprise in Columbus, Ohio State won the vote. The backroom intrigue and implications of this vote have made for documentaries. To say Michigan coach Bo Schembechler was upset would be an understatement. But the Buckeyes were going back to the Rose Bowl.

A year earlier, Ohio State had been blown out by USC in a Rose Bowl game that settled the national championship. This one didn’t have those stakes, with the Buckeyes now ranked #4 and the Trojans at #7. But there was considerable pressure on Ohio State from within—the conference ADs reportedly voted for them because of a belief the Buckeyes gave the league a better chance to win. Now they had to back it up.

After spotting USC an early field goal, Pete Johnson ran in for a go-ahead touchdown. The great Buckeye defense showed soft spots in the second quarter. The Trojans added another field goal, then scored a touchdown when star running back Anthony Davis threw a TD pass off a trick play. The subsequent two-point conversion had Ohio State down 14-7. Even when Johnson scored again to tie the game by halftime, Davis answered with a TD of his own in the third quarter.

Trailing 21-14 and conference pride on the line, the Buckeyes took over. Griffin got rolling and finished the game with 149 yards. Ohio State scored two touchdowns in the third quarter to take a 28-21 lead. They scored two more in the fourth quarter, the last a 47-yard gallop from Griffin that sealed the deal. A decisive 42-21 win vaulted the Buckeyes to #2 in the final polls behind Sugar Bowl-winning Notre Dame.

Woody still had five more years to coach in Columbus and he would win Big Ten championships each of the next two seasons. But this 1973 Ohio State football team holds a special place in program lore as the last time the great head coach won in Pasadena.

1983 Ohio State Football: A Redemptive Fiesta Bowl Win

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The honeymoon was over for Earle Bruce in Columbus. After taking Ohio State to an undefeated season in his first year in 1979, Bruce had lost the Rose Bowl that year and then failed to make any major bowl game—much less the coveted Rose—in the ensuing three years. The 1983 Ohio State football season needed to see a move back in the upward direction.

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Bruce had good skill position talent on hand for 1983, and it started with running back Keith Byars. The big back ran for nearly 1,200 yards and one year later he would finish second to Doug Flutie in the Heisman Trophy voting. Byars was the workhorse of the Big Ten in carries and still finished a solid fourth in yards-per-attempt. His 20 touchdowns also led the conference.

Mike Tomczak had a long NFL career ahead of him, including quarterbacking some playoff teams. In 1983 at Ohio State, Tomczak completed a respectable 55 percent of his passes for a solid 8.2 yards-per-attempt. His top target with tight end John Frank, while wide receiver Cedric Anderson was a big play threat and Thad Jemison a solid third target.

The Buckeyes weren’t loaded defensively, but defensive back Kelvin Bell intercepted five passes. The high expectations that have been in Columbus seemingly forever were in place in 1983, as they were ranked ninth in the preseason poll.

Oregon was a subpar team and they came into Columbus for a perfunctory 31-6 trouncing that got the Buckeyes for their trip to second-ranked Oklahoma.

Frank made a key decision before the game—an observant Jew on Rosh Hashanah weekend, he decided to play. Whether it was the right move isn’t something for a non-Jew to comment on, but it was a big help for the football team. Frank caught two first-half touchdown passes and Ohio State stunned the crowd in Norman by taking a 21-0 lead by the third quarter. They won 24-14 in a game not as respectable as the score makes it sound.

Oklahoma would prove to be a four-loss disappointment, but for now, Ohio State was riding high and moved up to #3 in the national rankings.

But the start of Big Ten play brought problems and the Buckeyes dropped a tough 20-14 decision at seventh-ranked Iowa. Ohio State slipped to #8, before rebounding with wins over bad Minnesota and Purdue teams, scoring 102 points in the process. The Buckeyes were #6 going into Illinois on October 15.

The Illini were in the midst of a year that would see them reach the Rose Bowl and when they beat Ohio State 17-13, the Buckeyes were realistically out of contention. Not only would they miss the Rose Bowl again, they wouldn’t even play for the prize at Michigan on November 19.

Ohio State posted a pedestrian 21-11 win over a sub-.500 Michigan State team. Wisconsin was up next. The Badgers had beaten the Buckeyes each of the last two seasons and were in the mix to finish in the top three of the conference. The potential for a disappointing conference season to turn even worse was there when Bucky came to Columbus on October 29.

The running of Byars saved the Buckeyes. An up-and-down first half had Ohio State ahead 28-21, but Wisconsin immediately drove for a touchdown to start the third quarter, before missing the extra point. The Buckeyes took the game over from there.

Byars finished with 174 yards, while Tomczak was sharp and efficient, 12/14 for 162 yards. Ohio State controlled the line of scrimmage and pulled away to a 45-27 win. They followed it up with thumpings of lowly Indiana and Northwestern by a combined 111-24.

The Buckeyes might have been out of the Rose Bowl mix, but they were back in the Top 10 and the Sugar Bowl announced it planned to invite the winner of their game against Michigan as the foil for third-ranked Auburn. Even the loser would get a nice consolation prize in the Fiesta Bowl.

Another opportunity was met with disappointment though. Ohio State lost 24-21 and Bruce’s decision to try a trick “fumble-rooskie” play (where the quarterback sets the ball on the ground and an offensive lineman scoops it up and goes running) blew up in his face, creating a turnover when the Buckeyes were driving to tie or take the lead.

Ohio State’s final chance at redeeming this season would come in Tempe. The ideal opponent in that regard would have sixth-ranked SMU and their 10-1 record. But the Mustangs were not good television. Pitt was 8-2-1 and a nice story, having continued to win after the departure of Dan Marino to the NFL. The Buckeyes and Panthers would meet in the Fiesta Bowl.

John Congemi was the new Pitt quarterback and he threw a first-half touchdown. Ohio State got rushing TDs from Tomczak and Byars and led 14-7 at the half. The score held into the fourth quarter when suddenly things got crazy. Pitt tied the game, but Byars, who told the press afterward how much he wanted this game, took the kickoff back 99 yards for a touchdown.

Another touchdown pass by Congemi put Pitt into position to tie the game, but they opted for a two-point try that missed. No matter, the Panthers got the ball back and kicked a field goal with 2:39 left. Trailing 23-21 against a good defense, the Buckeyes looked ready to endure one more disappointment.

Tomczak, often underappreciated for his importance in the offense due to the excellence of Byars, responded to the moment. He pushed Ohio State just past the Pitt 40-yard line, closing on field goal range. But the field goal wouldn’t be necessary. The number 39 proved to be magic–Tomczak found Jemison a 39-yard touchdown strike with 39 seconds left and the Buckeyes had a 28-23 win.

Ohio State had a big win and they got to #9 in the polls. It still wasn’t the wins the good people of Columbus wanted, but it was partial redemption. And the Buckeyes went back to the Rose Bowl a year later.

1980 Ohio State Football Starts A Disappointing Trend

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The 1980 Ohio State football team came into the season riding high. They had narrowly missed sharing the national title in 1979, the first year under coach Earle Bruce. The Buckeyes entered 1980 as the preseason #1 team in the country.

READ ABOUT THE LOU HOLTZ ERA AT NOTRE DAME

Junior quarterback Art Schlichter posted the second of three straight top 6 finishes in the Heisman Trophy voting. His 1,980 passing yards were third in the Big Ten behind only Purdue’s Mark Herrman and Illinois’ Dave Wilson, both of whom played in pass-happy attacks. Schlichter’s 8.5 yards-per-attempt were second in the conference and his 15/9 TD-INT ratio was good by the standards of the time.

Schlichter had two solid receivers in Doug Donley and Gary Williams and the offensive line was led by guard Joe Lukens, who got some All-American recognition. But perhaps no one mattered more to the offense than running back Calvin Murray.

Murray churned out over 1,200 yards and won the Big Ten rushing title. Even more impressive, he did it with efficiency, averaging a conference-best 6.5 yards-per-rush. And when Murray needed a break, Tim Spencer stepped in and produced 577 yards.

The defense wasn’t quite as decorated, but still had All-American linebacker Marcus Marek. Ohio State came out of the gate fast with a 31-21 win over Syracuse and a 47-0 blasting of Minnesota.

Those were wins over mediocre teams, but you couldn’t say the same about Arizona State. The Sun Devils came to Columbus ranked #20 and ended the season with seven wins. Both offenses cut loose, combining for over 1,000 yards and over 50 first downs. Schlichter threw two touchdown passes to Donley and another to Williams. The final was 38-21 and the Buckeyes remained atop the polls.

Another Pac-10 foe came to the Shoe a week later though, and the offense disappeared. UCLA, ranked #11, pressured Schlichter constantly. The Bruins sacked him five times and the quarterback had to leave early in the fourth quarter due to a combination of a slight concussion and poor play. A 17-0 loss sent Ohio State down to #9 in the rankings.

The Big Ten wasn’t very good this year and the next six games saw just one opponent with a winning record and that was Indiana who finished 6-5. The Buckeyes beat the Hoosiers 27-17 and on November 8 they had to survive a shootout with Illinois, 49-42.

Otherwise, the conference schedule leading into the finale with Michigan didn’t offer any challenges. There was 63-0 blasting of Northwestern, a 48-16 rout of Michigan State, a 41-7 demolition of Iowa and a historic 21-0 shutout at Wisconsin.

The latter game was history-making, because as a ten-year-old growing up just outside Madison, it was the first college football game I ever attended. I also learned that when attending an outdoor sporting event in cold weather, wear multiple pairs of socks.

Purdue was a legitimate challenger for the Big Ten title, but they were the one conference foe not on the Ohio State schedule. The Boilermakers lost to Michigan, so the traditional finale between the Buckeyes and Wolverines had the clarity of being for the undisputed conference title.

Ohio State had moved up to #5 in the rankings. Michigan was #10. But the Wolverines were coming on strong after two early non-conference losses and their defense completely dominated the game. The Buckeyes D was awfully good in its own right, but Ohio State lost 9-3. They settled for the Fiesta Bowl, ranked #11 at the end of the regular season.

The Fiesta Bowl wasn’t the major bowl that it is today—that was still a year off. But this game was the highlight of the bowl undercard in 1980. You had Ohio State, Penn State—then an independent–and a Top 10 finish at stake for both teams on the day after Christmas.

After spotting the Lions a 7-0 lead, the Buckeyes controlled the rest of the first half. Especially Schlichter. The quarterback went 15/22 for 214 yards and threw three first-half touchdown passes. Two went to Donley and another to Williams. The only downer for Ohio State was two missed extra points, and the game went to halftime at 19-10.

But the second half went downhill. Schlichter only went 5/13 for 58 yards and threw two interceptions after intermission. Ohio State had net zero total yards in the third quarter. Penn State cut the lead to 19-17.

Meanwhile, the Nittany Lion running game was gashing the Buckeye defense. Ohio State gave up over 350 rushing yards on the game and two rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The Fiesta Bowl ended as a 31-19 loss.

The Buckeyes slipped to #15. Ohio State’s three-loss season started a trend. They lost at least three games each year through 1986. Those years included a Rose Bowl trip and victories here at the Fiesta Bowl and the Cotton Bowl, but that wasn’t the Buckeye goal. Bruce was fired after a 6-4-1 season in 1987.

1993 Ohio State Football: A Vintage John Cooper Season In Columbus

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John Cooper walked the sidelines in Columbus for 13 seasons. His teams were generally pretty good, contended for Big Ten titles and occasionally more than that. His teams also came up short in the season’s biggest moments and usually left the fan base with a sour taste in their mouths at the end. The 1993 Ohio State football team very much fit that description in all aspects.

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Cooper had a good offensive line keyed by tackles Korey Stringer and Jason Winrow, both of whom got recognition in the All-American voting. Raymont Harris, a running back who later played with Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers, rolled up 1,344 yards. When Harris didn’t carry the ball, it went to Butler By’not’e, a Big Ten champion sprinter who added 474 yards.

Ohio State didn’t have to throw a lot, which was good, because Bobby Hoying had pedestrian numbers at quarterback. But they had a big-time playmaker on the outside in wide receiver Joey Galloway. With his 47 catches at an astonishing twenty yards a pop, the future NFL wideout and current ESPN analyst kept defenses from getting too comfortable focusing on the run.

Hoying’s shortcomings kept the offense at 30th in the country in points scored. That was fine though, because the defense was better. Dan Wilkinson, known as “Big Daddy” was an All-American defensive tackle, the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and became the first overall pick in the NFL draft the following spring. Wilkinson keyed a defense that ranked 12th nationally in points allowed. Defensive back Walter Taylor was a beneficiary of the discomfort opposing quarterbacks felt with his five interceptions.

Ohio State was ranked #17 in the country. Michigan had won at least a share of the last five Big Ten championships. Penn State had just arrived in the league and was a national contender. The Buckeyes were seen as good, but not anything for a program with their standards to get super-excited about.

After a 34-7 win over mediocre Rice opened the season, Ohio State got a chance on the national stage. They hosted 12th-ranked Washington in ABC’s prime-time game. Brent Musberger was calling the game and I’d be interested in a broadcast review that counted the number of times he said the words “Big Daddy” in very dramatic tones. Not only was it very Brent-ish, it was justified—Wilkinson was dominant.

The Buckeyes took a 14-3 lead, with Harris on his way to 102 yards and Galloway catching a 35-yard touchdown pass. Washington cut the margin to 14-12 with eleven minutes to play. By’not’e’ put it away with a 49-yard gallop that sealed the 21-12 win. Ohio State moved up to #11 in the polls. After blowing out lowly Pitt 63-28 a week later, the Buckeyes were in the top 10.

Big Ten play started against a bad Northwestern team and produced another easy win, 51-3. Mediocre teams in Illinois and Michigan State were up next. Ohio State wasn’t dominant, but won both games, by scores of 20-12 and 28-21 respectively. The Buckeyes went to Purdue, who was absolutely awful, and won 45-24.

Ohio State was up to #3 in the nation and the money time of the season had arrived. A home date with Penn State was next, followed by a road trip to surprising Wisconsin who was making their first foray into contention under Barry Alvarez. The Buckeyes would then host Indiana, a tough bowl-bound team that would win eight games. After that came to the trip to Ann Arbor. Time to find out how good this Ohio State team really was.

Against Penn State, the answer seemed to be “awfully darn good.” Playing in a cold and snow that got worse as the game went on, Harris pounded his way to 151 yards on the ground. Ohio State’s defense forced five turnovers. The biggest came in the second quarter. Leading 10-6, Taylor intercepted a pass at his own 35 to stop a Lion drive. Hoying led the offense down the field, hit Galloway with a 25-yard touchdown pass and Ohio State never looked back. They won 24-6.

Florida State and Notre Dame were 1-2 in the polls and headed toward a showdown with each other. The bowl commitments of the time meant that Ohio State had to play the Pac-10 champ in the Rose Bowl. So they needed help. They needed the team that won the ND-FSU game to then turn around and lose. It seemed like a longshot this late in the season. But with the perspective of history we know that’s exactly what happened.

Could Ohio State take care of business? They went to Wisconsin. The Buckeye offense couldn’t get going. With under five minutes to play, they trailed 14-7 and were pinned on their own 1-yard line. In an astonishing drive, keyed by Galloway’s explosiveness, Ohio State went the distance in four plays and 46 seconds.

Prior to 1996 there was no overtime in college football, so Cooper had a decision to make. Kick the extra point and a likely tie? Or go for two and the win. The Buckeyes needed a W to stay in the national title race. But they would keep control of the Rose Bowl bid with a tie. Cooper kicked the extra point.

It almost bit OSU in the rear end. Wisconsin drove down and had a chance at a makeable field goal on the game’s final play. The Buckeyes blocked the kick. They slipped to #5 in the polls, but the 14-14 tie meant that they were still just two wins from Pasadena, a trip they had not made since 1984.

Indiana was a tough sandwich opponent, dropped right in between Wisconsin and Michigan and the Hoosiers played tough. Harris was tougher though, running for 162 yards and leading the way to a 23-17 win.

All that was left was to go to Michigan and this was a struggling Wolverine team, coming in at 6-4. They were out of the Big Ten race, which was now down to Ohio State and Wisconsin.

With everything on the line, the Buckeyes could not have played worse. They lost 28-0. This writer, living in Wisconsin, was watching the game with fellow Badger fans and we couldn’t believe our good fortune. Ohio State just melted down from the opening kickoff. It was never a game.

The Buckeyes slid to #11 in the polls. Even worse, they didn’t get any respect from the bowls in what was still a good 9-1-1 season. They settled for the Holiday Bowl and a date with a fairly pedestrian BYU team.

Ohio State’s Tim Patillo blocked a punt, returned it for a touchdown and a quick 7-0 lead. The Buckeyes led 21-7 in the second quarter, but the normally reliable defense sprung leaks and this was a 21-21 game at halftime.

The offenses slowed down and that score held deep into the fourth quarter. Ohio State reclaimed the lead at 28-21 when Harris got his third touchdown of the night with just over four minutes to play. Again, the normally reliable defense sprung a leak and the Cougars drove to the Buckeye 6-yard line with a 1st-and-goal.

Ohio State forced two incompletions. Then, on third and fourth down, coverage broke down, and BYU receiver Tim Nowatzke was left wide open. Nowatzke dropped one pass and was underthrown on another. The Buckeyes survived.

The nature of the victory, especially in a minor bowl, didn’t do a lot for Ohio State. They stayed at #11 in the final rankings. In all its good and all its disappointment, the ’93 Buckeyes were very much in the John Cooper tradition.

1984 Ohio State Football: A Return To The Rose Bowl

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Ohio State had missed the New Year’s stage for three straight years after their meeting with USC following Earle Bruce’s electric first season of 1979. The Buckeye program restored a little momentum in 1983 when they reached the Fiesta Bowl and won it. The 1984 Ohio State football edition got back to the Rose Bowl.

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Bruce returned an excellent running back in Keith Byars to build the offense around. Byars rushed for 1,764 yards and did so with a 5.2 yards-per-carry average. He had the most carries of any back in the Big Ten, the most yards and his YPA was still third. Byars’ 22 touchdowns were twice as many as the next man on the list.

He finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting to Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie. It was a distant second, as Flutie had a dominant regular season and then a magical finish with his legendary desperation pass to beat Miami in the finale. But it’s worth noting that Byars was the runner-up by a landslide as well, easily outpacing candidates like Miami quarterback Bernie Kosar, and BYU signal-caller Robbie Bosco, who posted huge numbers for the eventual national champion.

The offensive line was anchored by Jim Lachey, an All-American and future NFL mainstay with the Washington Redskins. Lachey would become one of the last of the “Hogs” and be an integral part of the franchise’s 1991 team that won the Super Bowl. As a diehard Redskins fan myself, I wore Lachey’s #79 in my Wednesday Night men’s basketball league over twenty years later, making me perhaps the only basketball player in the history of civilization to wear #79. But I digress.

Another future NFL legend in Cris Carter was at wide receiver, and he finished with 41 catches for 648 yards, the latter good for sixth among Big Ten receivers. Mike Lanese wasn’t far behind at 41/618 respectively. John Woolridge had 633 receiving yards of his own, as quarterback Mike Tomczak spread the ball around.

Tomczak would go on to a long NFL career, and he had a solid season in 1984. The completion percentage was a sharp 59%, he threw for nearly 2,000 yards and his 8.6 yards-per-pass was second in the conference.

Ohio State opened the season ranked #7, but they didn’t play well in a 22-14 home win over lowly Oregon State and slipped to #9. A bounce back win over Washington State—led by quarterback Mark Rypien, the man whose blind side Lachey would protect in the NFL—was a 44-0 rout and upsets elsewhere had the Buckeyes up to #5.

A home showdown with #14 Iowa was next and Ohio State was dominant. Byars ran for two touchdowns and even threw a 35-yard scoring pass. The Buckeyes had a 31-14 lead by the second quarter and they won 45-26. When they followed it up with a 35-22 win at Minnesota, in their first year under Lou Holtz, Ohio State was up to #2 in the nation.

But a trip to Purdue quickly undid the national title push. The Boilermakers had a future NFL quarterback of their own in strong-armed Jim Everett and they upset the Buckeyes 28-23. Ohio State was down to #8 in the polls.

They rallied with a 45-38 win over defending conference champion Illinois, and then won at Michigan State 23-20. But a 16-14 loss at Wisconsin closed October and seemed to dim the Rose Bowl hopes. All three opponents, the Illini, Spartans and Badgers were good teams, but this wasn’t what the Ohio State faithful had in mind.

When November began, Iowa was in first place with a 5-1 record, while Ohio State, Illinois and Purdue were all chasing at 4-2. Michigan, on a disappointing season was 3-3, as was Wisconsin.

Ohio State crushed winless Indiana 50-7 and then started to get some breaks, mainly thanks to the very Wisconsin team that had beaten them. The Badgers played Iowa to a tie and the conference lead was cut to a half-game. Ohio State then smoked two-win Northwestern 52-3 and Wisconsin did an even bigger favor by knocking off Purdue. Iowa was upset by Minnesota and suddenly the Buckeyes were in control.

Coming into the season finale with Michigan, Ohio State and Illinois were tied for first at 6-2. But the Illini were on probation and ineligible for the Rose Bowl. In either case, the Buckeyes owned the tiebreaker, so the stakes for them were the same—beat the Wolverines and go to Pasadena. The Illinois probation only meant that it would be Iowa as the beneficiary if Ohio State should lose.

Michigan, predictably, came out with one of their best efforts of a lackluster 6-5 season. Byars couldn’t find any running room in the first half and even going into the fourth quarter, Ohio State led just 7-6.

The great running back was able to get loosened up after halftime though, rushing for 71 yards after intermission and by the fourth quarter that took its tool. Tomczak converted a big 3rd-and-12 to key one touchdown drive, the Buckeyes added another score and won 21-6. They were going to the Rose Bowl.

A vintage opponent in USC was waiting. But this anything but a vintage Trojan team. They had four losses, including their final two regular season games to UCLA and Notre Dame. The Buckeyes were ranked #6 and smelling the top five national finish that would surely be theirs if they won the game.

Except it didn’t work out that way. Even though Ohio State kicker Rich Spangler set a Rose Bowl record in the first half with a  52-yard field goal, those were their only points of the first half. The Buckeyes dug themselves a 17-3 hole. They kept fighting and when Tomczak hit Carter on an 18-yard touchdown pass midway through the fourth quarter, the deficit was cut to 20-17. But the comeback bid ended there.

Little did anyone know that Bruce had only three years left in Columbus. He won the Cotton Bowl two years later, but the angst of the faithful, fueled by losses like this one in Pasadena where his team was a favorite, pushed him out the door in 1987. Ohio State did not make it back to the Big Ten’s most prestigious stage until 1996.

1979 Ohio State Football: A National Championship Near-Miss

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It was a new era for 1979 Ohio State football. The Buckeyes had a relatively disappointing season in 1978 and it was followed by a disastrous ending in the Gator Bowl when legendary head coach Woody Hayes punched an opposing player and was fired. Earle Bruce was the new coach and had healing to do within the program, as well as get the tide turned against archrival Michigan, who had won the previous three games and Rose Bowl bids.

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Bruce had a talented sophomore quarterback in Art Schlichter, who would finish in the top six of the Heisman voting three straight years and eventually be the second overall pick in the NFL draft before wrecking his career with a gambling problem. The offense was well-balanced, with Calvin Murray and Ricardo Volley sharing the rushing load and wide receiver Doug Donley catching 37 passes for 800 yards, the latter a high number by the standards of the time.

Ken Fritz was one of the best guards in the country and made All-American and in spite of all the turmoil, this was still Ohio State. But the pollsters didn’t see it that way and amazingly, given the lack of parity in college football at the time, the Buckeyes were unranked to start the year.

Ohio State opened with a 31-8 win over an average Syracuse team and quickly got back in the polls at #15. Then the Buckeyes went to mediocre Minnesota and fell behind 14-0. In what was perhaps a turning point for the program, Ohio State rallied and won 21-17. They rolled Washington State 45-29 and prepared for a nationally televised visit to UCLA.

The bad year the Bruins would have, finishing 5-6, was by no means apparent at this time, though they had lost to Houston already. UCLA was still ranked #17 and they bolted to a quick 10-0 lead. For the second time in the month of September, Ohio State faced a double-digit deficit.

Murray ripped off a 34-yard touchdown run and after three quarters the game was tied 10-10. UCLA got a field goal and drove deep into Buckeye territory before missing a chip shot field goal. Ohio State had the ball on their own 20 with 2:21 left. Schlichter calmly completed six straight passes, including the winning touchdown with 46 seconds The 17-13 win vaulted the Buckeyes to #8 in the rankings.

After a lackluster 16-7 win over Northwestern to open Big Ten play, Ohio State clicked into high gear. They blasted Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Illinois and Iowa by a combined score of 223-20 and moved up to #2 in the AP poll, trailing only unbeaten Alabama.

Now it was time to go to Ann Arbor. It hadn’t been a great year for the 13th-ranked Wolverines, but they had still only lost twice, to Purdue and Notre Dame. Ohio State needed the win just to get back to the Rose Bowl, to say nothing of the national title.

The Buckeye secondary allowed a deep touchdown pass to spectacular Wolverine wide receiver Anthony Carter and trailed 7-6 at halftime. In the third quarter, after being set up with good field position by a shanked punt, Schlichter threw a touchdown pass and even after the missed two-point conversion, they led 12-7.

Another deep ball allowed to Carter set up a Michigan touchdown and two-pointer and the game was 15-12. Ohio State turned to their special teams to win it. They went all-in for a punt block midway through the fourth quarter, exploiting what had been a Wolverine flaw throughout the year. Jim Laughlin blocked the punt, Todd Bell recovered it and scored. Ohio State won 18-15 and was returning to Pasadena.

Ohio State also moved to the top of the AP poll, while Alabama retained the top spot in the UPI poll. USC was ranked right behind the two 11-0 teams. The Crimson Tide would play Lou Holtz’s Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl early in the day. If the Tide lost, the Buckeyes and Trojans would take the field knowing they were playing for an undisputed national championship. And even if Alabama won, Ohio State would still play for a share of the crown.

The raw talent level of USC, their accomplishments of recent seasons and their relative homefield advantage led them to be a 7 ½ point favorite. And in spite of being eliminated by an Alabama victory in the early time slot, USC jumped out 10-0, with McDonald throwing a 53-yard touchdown pass. But Ohio State had come back all season long and they did again here, grinding out a 16-10 lead with five minutes left in the game.

But the Trojans’ Heisman-Trophy winning running back Charles White broke hearts across the state of Ohio. He tore off two runs that totaled 60 yards, then finished it off with a short TD run. USC won 17-16.

It was a crushing loss, but there was hope for the future. Where the real disappointment comes in is that Ohio State didn’t make it back to Pasadena until 1984, when they again lost to USC. It would be well into the late 1990s before the Buckeyes again made a serious run at a national championship. And it would be 2002 before they would actually win it all for the first time in the post-Woody Hayes era.

1977 College Football Season: The Road To The Major Bowls

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The 1977 college football season defined by a dramatic January 2, when the four major bowl games were played. Two big blowouts created chaos and a controversial national champion.

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Oklahoma and Michigan spent the first half of the season trading the #1 spot, moving up and down based on victories that were less than impressive. In October, both fell. Michigan’s loss was an upset to Minnesota, while OU lost a showdown battle with Texas. The Longhorns were the program on the rise.

Texas, after opening the season unranked, with a first-year head coach in Fred Akers, came barreling through the regular season as the nation’s only undefeated team. They had a Heisman Trophy winner at running back in Earl Campbell and were fully expected to make the national championship an easy vote in the Cotton Bowl.

Notre Dame was the opponent in Dallas, ranked #5. The Irish had bounced back from an early season to Ole Miss to get their season around. If Notre Dame could win, other candidates for the top of the polls included Orange Bowl foes Oklahoma and Arkansas, who had only lost to Texas. Third-ranked Alabama was hoping to make its case in the Sugar Bowl against Ohio State. And Michigan was still out there, ranked fourth and headed for the Rose Bowl to face unheralded Washington.

The Fighting Irish stunned the nation and the crowd in Dallas with a 38-10 blowout that was out of hand by halftime. Alabama blasted Ohio State, while Michigan was upset by Washington. There would still be no real debate if second-ranked Oklahoma could win—but the Sooners were crushed by the suspension-laden Razorbacks.

Notre Dame and Alabama were who the debate revolved around, with Arkansas, the runner-up in the old SWC to Texas, destined to finish third. The Irish had lost to an SEC opponent and had been ranked two spots behind the Tide coming into the bowl games. Conversely, another common opponent was USC—whom Notre Dame beat by thirty and Alabama beat by one. And the Irish had buried the consensus #1 team in a road-neutral environment.

The vote went to Notre Dame. The rise from #5 to #1 has not been duplicated since, and with the advent of the new era of playoff football, it never will

READ MORE ABOUT THE ROAD TO THE 1978 COTTON BOWL
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READ MORE ABOUT THE ROAD TO THE 1978 ROSE BOWL

The Seasonal Narrative Of 1981 Ohio State Football

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Earle Bruce was in his third year as head coach at Ohio State. After a sterling start to his tenure in Columbus with an 11-0 regular season in 1979, Bruce lost the national championship in the Rose Bowl. Ohio State lost the Fiesta Bowl following the 1980 season and continued a downward trend in 1981, settling for a Liberty Bowl bid. But beating Michigan soothes all wounds and the 1981 Ohio State football team put that feather in their cap before the year was over.

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Ohio State was led by quarterback Art Schlichter, about to be top five overall pick in the coming NFL draft. Schlichter had a bit of a disappointing senior season though. His stats of a 52% completion rate, 7.3 yards-per-attempt and 17/10 TD-INT ratio were middle of the pack in the Big Ten. Not bad, but not the stuff of the Heisman contender he had been the previous two years and was expected to be again in 1981.

Schlichter’s primary targets were wide receiver Gary Williams, who caught 50 passes for 941 yards and tight end John Franks who caught 45 more. Franks would end up being a second-round pick by the San Francisco 49ers of Bill Walsh and Joe Montana. Cedric Anderson, another big-play threat, rounded out the receiving corps.

Tim Spencer led the way in the ground game, rushing for over 1,200 yards and gaining 5.4 yards-per-carry. Jimmy Gayle was a solid #2 running back, with 732 yards at 4.8 a pop. The Ohio State offense was just fine—it was the defense that had problems. Ohio State had no defensive personnel show up in any of the All-American lists and they finished a woeful 83rd in the country in points allowed.

Ohio State opened the season ranked #11 and began by easily knocking off two mediocre opponents, Duke and Michigan State by 34-13 and 27-13 counts. The Buckeyes did not play well at subpar Stanford, but survived 24-19. The poor performance was a foreshadowing though. Florida State came to Columbus on October 3. The Seminoles were destined for a 6-5 year, but they won this game 36-27. Ohio State dropped to #18 in the polls.

Things didn’t get any better on a road trip to Wisconsin. The Buckeyes had beaten the Badgers 21 straight times, including consecutive shutouts, but this was an improved Wisconsin team that would win seven games and get a bowl bid.

In the final thirty seconds of the first half, Ohio State fumbled a punt to that set up a quick UW touchdown. Then Schlichter made an errant pitch to Spencer resulting in another turnover and a last-second Badger field goal. The Buckeyes trailed 24-14 late in the fourth quarter before a touchdown with 1:30 left made the final score cosmetically closer at 24-21. Ohio State disappeared from the national rankings.

A 34-27 win over a pretty good Illinois team restored some order and the Buckeyes then blew out lowly Indiana 29-10. Ohio State outgunned Purdue 45-33 and closed October atop the Big Ten standings at 4-1.

1981 was a year of change in the Big Ten after twelve years of things coming down to the Ohio State-Michigan game. This year, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois were all packed within a game of the lead. And the Buckeyes shot themselves in the foot when they were upset 35-31 at mediocre Minnesota.

Even though Ohio State massacred winless Northwestern 70-6, the Rose Bowl was a longshot when the Buckeyes went to Ann Arbor on November 21. Michigan controlled its destiny for Pasadena, but if Ohio State won they needed help—Iowa needed to lose to Michigan State.

The Buckeyes trailed 3-0 in the second quarter and Michigan was driving, but Ohio State got an interception at their own 18-yard line to kill the threat. Then they put together a 13-play/82-yard drive to get a 7-3 lead.

Ohio State was able to run the ball, with Spencer gaining 110 yards in a battle with Michigan counterpart Butch Woolfolk, who won the conference rushing title. And the defense was finally coming through. Even though they gave up a couple field goals, the Buckeyes picked off two more passes. The biggest one came in the end zone by Kelvin Bell in the fourth quarter.

The turnovers allowed the Buckeyes to put together one more drive and they reached the Michigan six-yard line with less than three minutes to play. Schlichter had a run-pass option play called for him and made a nice pump fake to create space and then bolted into the end zone. Ohio State had a 14-9 win. Even though Iowa also won, the Buckeyes had beaten their archrival and redeemed the season.

A Liberty Bowl date with Navy came on December 30. Schlichter struck first, hitting Williams on a 50-yard touchdown strike and a blocked punt set up a Buckeye field goal. The Midshipmen clawed back to tie the game 10-10 in the second quarter, but Ohio State recovered a fumble to set up another touchdown and they led 17-13 at the half.

It was Ohio State’s turn for a special teams gaffe in the third quarter, as they allowed a blocked punt to the Mids and fell behind 20-17. Navy was getting a good running effort from Eddie Meyers, who rushed for 117 yards. But the prolific Buckeye offense fought back.

Spencer carried 22 times for 96 yards and he got valuable help from Gayle, who added 88 yards on 15 carries. It was Gayle who scored the go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, Schlichter tossed a nine-yard touchdown pass to Anderson for a touchdown that all but sealed the deal. Navy scored another touchdown and two-point conversion, but not until there were just eight seconds left and Ohio State won 31-28.

The victories over Michigan and in the Liberty Bowl ended the season on an up note, but Ohio State was settling into a pattern of three-loss seasons. That’s a pattern that eventually cost Bruce his job at the end of the 1987 season.

The Road To The 1980 Fiesta Bowl: Ohio State & Penn State

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The 1980 Fiesta Bowl marked a threshold moment for both teams involved, Penn State and Ohio State, as well as the bowl game itself. Here’s a look back on the road the Nittany Lions and Buckeyes took through the 1980 college football season, the Fiesta Bowl itself and the aftermath for the teams and the bowl.

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Ohio State came into the season riding high. They had narrowly missed sharing the national title in 1979, the first year under coach Earle Bruce. The Buckeyes entered 1980 as the preseason #1 team in the country.

Junior quarterback Art Schlicter posted the second of three straight top 6 finishes in the Heisman Trophy voting. His 1,980 passing yards were third in the Big Ten behind only Purdue’s Mark Herrman and Illinois’ Dave Wilson, both of whom played in pass-happy attacks. Schlicter’s 8.5 yards-per-attempt were second in the conference and his 15/9 TD-INT ratio was good by the standards of the time.

Schlicter had two solid receivers in Doug Donley and Gary Williams and the offensive line was led by guard Joe Lukens, who got some All-American recognition. But perhaps no one mattered more to the offense than running back Calvin Murray.

Murray churned out over 1,200 yards and won the Big Ten rushing title. Even more impressive, he did it with efficiency, averaging a conference-best 6.5 yards-per-rush. And when Murray needed a break, Tim Spencer stepped in and produced 577 yards.

The defense wasn’t quite as decorated, but still had All-American linebacker Marcus Marek. Ohio State came out of the gate fast with a 31-21 win over Syracuse and a 47-0 blasting of Minnesota.

Those were wins over mediocre teams, but you couldn’t say the same about Arizona State. The Sun Devils came to Columbus ranked #20 and ended the season with seven wins. Both offenses cut loose, combining for over 1,000 yards and over 50 first downs. Schlicter threw two touchdown passes to Donley and another to Williams. The final was 38-21 and the Buckeyes remained atop the polls.

Another Pac-10 foe came to the Shoe a week later though, and the offense disappeared. UCLA, ranked #11, pressured Schlicter constantly. The Bruins sacked him five times and the quarterback had to leave early in the fourth quarter due to a combination of a light concussion and poor play. A 17-0 loss sent Ohio State down to #9 in the rankings.

The Big Ten wasn’t very good this year and the next six games saw just one opponent with a winning record and that was Indiana who finished 6-5. The Buckeyes beat the Hoosiers 27-17 and on November 8 they had to survive a shootout with Illinois, 49-42.

Otherwise, the conference schedule leading into the finale with Michigan didn’t offer any challenges. There was 63-0 blasting of Northwestern, a 48-16 rout of Michigan State, a 41-7 demolition of Iowa and a historic 21-0 shutout at Wisconsin. The latter game was history-making, because as a ten-year-old growing up just outside Madison, it was the first college football game I ever attended. I also learned that when attending an outdoor sporting event in cold weather, wear multiple pairs of socks.

Purdue was a legitimate challenger for the Big Ten title, but they were the one conference foe not on the Ohio State schedule. The Boilermakers lost to Michigan, so the traditional finale between the Buckeyes and Wolverines had the clarity of being for the undisputed conference title.

Ohio State had moved up to #5 in the rankings. Michigan was #10. But the Wolverines were coming on strong after two early losses and their defense completely dominated the game. The Buckeyes D was awfully good in its own right, but Ohio State lost 9-3. They settled for the Fiesta Bowl, ranked #11 at the end of the regular season.

Penn State had their own recent miss of a national title, although that was now two years ago, back in 1978. The Lions slipped to a 7-4 season in ’79 and were looking to get trending back upward in 1980.

Joe Paterno had two good sophomore quarterbacks on his roster. He opted for Todd Blackledge. The numbers in 1980 weren’t very impressive—48% completion rate (though that was more tolerable in 1980 than it would be today) and a meager 6.5 yards-per-attempt. But Blackledge would be the leader of coming excellence in Penn State football.

The backup? Jeff Hostetler transferred out of Happy Valley after the season and did okay for himself, enjoying a good two years at West Virginia and a long NFL career, mostly as a backup, and highlighted when he stepped in for Phil Simms and led the 1990 New York Giants through the playoffs to a Super Bowl title.

Your program is in good shape when you can let a Hostetler walk and have no regrets. And this Penn State program was in good shape. They had a talented sophomore running back in Curt Warner, who rushed for over 900 yards. Booker Moore pounded out over 700 more, and both backs ran behind a good line that had All-Americans in guard Sean Farrell and tackle Bill Dugan.

Penn State opened the season ranked #18. They opened with a tuneup game, blowing out Colgate. Two weeks off allowed them to rise to #12 by the time they played at Texas A&M. The Aggies weren’t very good and the Lions won 25-9. But a visit to third-ranked Nebraska didn’t go as well, ending in a 21-7 loss and sending Penn State back down to #17.

The Lions played a third road game in as many weeks, going to ninth-ranked Missouri. Blackledge threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Brad Scovil early on, but Penn State trailed 21-16 at the half. The defense began to take over in the second half and a pair of third-quarter field goals gave the Lions a one-point lead. Blackledge then scrambled 43 yards for a touchdown that clinched a 29-21 win.

Penn State continued to be road warriors, playing their fourth straight road game and again playing a good team in Maryland. The Lions’ future Big Ten East rival would win eight games in 1980. Mike Tice, the future head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, was the Maryland quarterback and running back Charlie Wysocki rolled up over 1,300 yards in a ground-heavy attack. Penn State still muscled out a 24-10 win.

Wins over mediocre teams from the East followed, 24-7 over Syracuse and 20-15 at West Virginia. A Miami Hurricane program that was getting close to the breakthrough that would transform college football three years later came north to Happy Valley. These ‘Canes won eight games, but the Lions dispatched them 27-12.

The steadily competitive schedule continued with a home date against N.C. State, who won six games. Penn State won that won 21-13 and then crushed lowly Temple 50-7. The Lions were rolling, at #7 in the polls but they ran into an outstanding team in archrival Pitt. The Panthers would finish the season with just one loss and ended up #2 in the country. They came into Happy Valley and won 14-9. Penn State finished the regular season ranked tenth.

So both Ohio State and Penn State took the field in Tempe the day after Christmas having lost to their biggest rivals, but still coming off 9-2 seasons and having a Top 10 finish at stake.

It was the Lions who struck first. On their first offensive play, Warner bolted 64 yards for a touchdown. The rest of the first half mostly belonged the Buckeyes and especially to Schlicter. The quarterback went 15/22 for 214 yards and threw three first-half touchdown passes. Two went to Donley and another to Williams. The only downer for Ohio State was two missed extra points, and the game went to halftime at 19-10.

The Penn State defense responded the way they had at Missouri, and that’s by taking over the football game after halftime. In the second half, Schlicter went only 5/13 for 58 yards and threw two interceptions. Ohio State had net zero total yards in the third quarter. Penn State cut the lead to 19-17.

Meanwhile, the Nittany Lion running game was gashing the Buckeye defense. Penn State ended up with 351 rushing yards for the game. They got another touchdown on the ground to take a 24-19 lead and then Moore sealed the deal with a 37-yard jaunt. Penn State won 31-19. Warner got Offensive Player of the Game, while defensive lineman Frank Case got honors on that side of the ball. It was an appropriate recognition of a game where the Lions ran the football at will and the defensive front stopped Ohio State.

The Lions ended up ranked #8 while the Buckeyes slipped to #15. This was the game that marked the two programs passing each other like ships in the night, at least for much of the 1980s. Ohio State’s three-loss season started a trend. They lost at least three each year through 1986. Those years included a Rose Bowl trip and victories here at the Fiesta Bowl and the Cotton Bowl, but that wasn’t the Buckeye goal. Bruce was fired at the end of a 6-4-1 season in 1987.

Penn State came back to the Fiesta Bowl one year later and shut down USC’s Heisman Trophy-winning running back Marcus Allen, a win that got the Lions to third in the nation. In 1982, Paterno won his first national championship. Penn State played for titles again in 1985 and 1986, winning the ’86 crown.

And the Fiesta Bowl? Big things were afoot here too. The following year’s game between Penn State and USC was on January 1, marking the bowl’s entry to “major” status. The Fiesta hosted the Penn State-Miami national title game following the 1986 season and has continued to be one of the sport’s elite postseason games. The 1980 game was the last year the Fiesta Bowl spent on the December undercard.

The Road To The 1978 Gator Bowl: Ohio State & Clemson

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The 1978 Gator Bowl is most remembered for being the final game for Ohio State’s legendary head coach Woody Hayes, ending in unfortunate circumstances. It was also a big breakout game for Clemson. Here’s a look back on the paths both the Buckeyes and Tigers took to Jacksonville for what proved to be an unexpected historic night on December 29, 1978.

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OHIO STATE

Hayes had been the Ohio State coach since 1951, winning national titles and 1954 and 1968, and in recent years having gone to six straight major bowl games, including the Rose Bowl each year from 1972-75. The 1978 edition would not be one of his vintage teams.

Art Schlicter was a freshman quarterback and did a lot of good things—his 50% completion rate was third in the Big Ten and his 7.1 yards-per-pass was second in the conference. But his TD/INT ratio was also 4/21—even allowing for the much weaker passing numbers of this era, that’s still downright awful.

Schlicter had a bright future—over his final three seasons he would be in the top six of the Heisman Trophy voting each year and eventually become a #4 overall NFL draft pick before a gambling problem ruined his career. But there were growing pains his freshman season in Columbus.

Nor did Ohio State have a powerhouse running back—four different backs shared duty and Schlicter also ran for nearly 600 yards. The offensive line wasn’t stacked. Nor was there elite talent at wide receiver. To make room for Schlicter, Hayes moved Rod Gerald to wideout. Gerald had quarterbacked the two previous Buckeye teams to major bowl games and the positon switch foreshadowed what Braxton Miller would do 36 years later.

Tom Cousineau was an All-American at linebacker, and it wasn’t as though every program in America had All-Americans stacked everywhere in the lineup. But by Ohio State standards, especially under Hayes, having Cousineau as the only player even getting All-American mention was thin.

The Buckeyes opened the season ranked #7 in the country, but a home game with Penn State to start the year quickly exposed the flaws. The Nittany Lions were on their way to an undefeated regular season and they hung a 19-0 shutout on Ohio State.

A 27-10 win at mediocre Minnesota followed, but a narrow 34-28 win over a poor Baylor team and then a 35-35 tie to subpar SMU—both in Columbus no less—were bad signs as the remainder of the Big Ten schedule loomed.

Ohio State traveled to Purdue, who had a good team that would compete for the conference title deep into the season and the Boilermakers beat the Buckeyes 27-16. Ohio State tumbled from the land of the ranked teams.

The Big Ten wasn’t exactly renowned for its depth in this time period—in fact, having anyone other than Ohio State or Michigan be competitive constituted a stacked year. The Buckeyes had a soft schedule ahead. They crushed terrible teams in Iowa and Northwestern to at least get some momentum pick.

A visit to Wisconsin to start November would provide a modest test—the Badgers would finish the season with a winning record. Schlicter got Ohio State off to a fast start. He took an option run 46 yards, setting up an early touchdown. The Buckeyes went on to score a touchdown off a blocked punt, another with a kickoff return and still another via the Pick-6. They won the game 49-14 and when it was followed with a 45-7 win over Illinois, Ohio State crawled back into the rankings at #19.

The Buckeyes went to Indiana, then coached by Lee Corso. The Hoosiers weren’t very good, but they gave Ohio State a tough battle before OSU pulled out a 21-18 win. No one in Bloomington would have guessed that it was the final victory for Woody Hayes.

And in spite of not looking impressive, Ohio State was in a familiar position—playing Michigan with a chance to go to the Rose Bowl. The two rivals were in a three-way tie with Michigan State for the conference lead, but the Spartans were on NCAA probation. Purdue, having lost to Michigan, had also suffered a tie to Wisconsin, which proved to be the break the Buckeyes needed to control their own destiny at home against the Wolverines.

It was an opportunity Hayes’ team couldn’t take advantage of. Michigan was ranked sixth in the country and a significantly better team. It showed in a 14-3 win over Ohio State. The Buckeyes settled for the Gator Bowl bid, where they arrive ranked #20.

CLEMSON

Charley Pell took over the Clemson program prior to the 1977 season when hard times had settled on Death Valley. The Tigers had losing seasons in eight of the previous nine years. Pell promptly turned them into a 8-2-1 team and got a Gator Bowl bid. They were trounced in that game by Pitt and came into ’78 ranked #18 and hungry to get a bigger breakthrough.

This was an extremely talented team at the skill positions. Steve Fuller was the quarterback, one who would start for the Chicago Bears off and on during the early years of the Mike Ditka era and lead the ’84 Bears to the NFC Championship Game. In 1978, Fuller was at or near the top of the ACC in the key passing categories, ran for 649 yards and was named ACC MVP.

Fuller had two great targets, both of whom would be successful in the NFL themselves. Jerry Butler was the prime target, catching 58 passes—sixth in the nation—for over 900 yards. Butler went on to play for some good Buffalo Bills teams and make a Pro Bowl. The other receiver was Dwight Clark, who went on to make one of the most famous catches in NFL history as a member of the 1981 San Francisco 49ers.

Lester Brown didn’t make a name for himself in the NFL, but he was a very good college running back. Brown ran for over 1,000 yards and got All-American mention. Marvin Sims was a change-of-pace back who rolled up nearly 700 yards himself.

Clemson crushed the Citadel to start the season and though they lost at Georgia, the 12-0 defeat to a team that would finish second in the SEC was a further sign that the Tigers were coming. Clemson followed it up with easy wins over Villanova, Virginia Tech, Virginia and Duke, by a combined 127-29.

The Tigers, having fallen from the polls after the Georgia game, were now back to #20. A road trip to N.C. State, a bowl-bound team was important in the ACC race and Clemson hung a 33-10 beatdown on the Wolfpack. Then the Tigers crushed Wake Forest 51-10.

A home win over mediocre North Carolina didn’t come easy, 13-9, but it moved Clemson to #12 and set up a big battle with 11th-ranked Maryland. The ACC title and a spot in the Top 10 hung in the balance. It was a showdown between the league’s two best quarterbacks, as the Terps’ Tim O’Hare ran neck-and-neck with Fuller in the major statistical categories.

The game proved to be everything it was billed to be. Big plays dominated. Maryland got a 98-yard touchdown run from Steve Atkins. Fuller responded by hitting Butler on an 87-yard touchdown pass, and hooking up with Clark from 62 yards. Clemson clung to a 28-24 lead when Maryland drove across midfield. The Tiger defense held and they were ACC champs.

Clemson closed the regular season with its traditional rivalry gram against South Carolina, then a mediocre independent and won 41-23. The Tigers were ranked #7 and were ready to validate that national ranking against a traditional power in the Gator Bowl.

Then turmoil came to Death Valley. Pell accepted the head coaching job at Florida, then a lowly SEC team who had never won anything. Pell was willing to coach Clemson in the Gator Bowl, but the administration refused. They wanted a coach would be focused solely on the opportunity presented by playing Ohio State. Assistant coach Danny Ford was elevated.

THE 1978 GATOR BOWL

Ohio State may have had the reputation, but Clemson made its talent advantage show. They controlled the line of scrimmage. But Schlicter showed his growth and did not make mistakes. The Buckeyes were still in striking distance, down 17-9 in the fourth quarter. Schlicter led a drive that he capped off with a touchdown run with eight minutes left. Clemson made the stop on the two-point conversion and kept a 17-15 lead.

Fuller and the offense could not control the ball though, Ohio State got it back and began another drive. They reached the Clemson 24-yard line and faced third down, though the chance of a winning field goal was very much alive. It looked the Tigers might have to wait for that breakthrough victory at a time when the ACC was seen as a midmajor conference.

Schlicter dropped back to pass and looked over the middle. He then threw his 21st and final interception of the year, woefully underthrowing the ball and having it picked off by defensive tackle Charlie Baumann.

Baumann was tackled out of bounds on the Ohio State sidelines. As he got up, Hayes hauled off and punched him. By morning, the replays were being shown over and over. There are reports that Hayes, a diabetic, was not on his proper medication. The head coach refused to acknowledge what he’d done. Bo Schembecler, a close friend of Hayes in spite of their rivalry, traveled to see his mentor and recalled that Hayes was honestly convinced he hadn’t done what everyone in the country had plainly seen.

Perhaps more than anything, that suggests that the old coach needed to go. It was terrible that it had to happen this way, but there was no other choice for the Ohio State administration. Hayes was fired.

While the fall of a legend is clearly the historical legacy of the game, we shouldn’t overlook what it meant for Clemson. Ford became the permanent head coach and by 1981, the Tigers were upstarts no more—the year they won the national championship.

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