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September 4, 2015Chad Zumock joins the show to talk sports talk radio – WFNY Podcast – 2015-09-04
September 4, 2015Last year, college football fans, especially TCU and Baylor supporters, hit the roof when the Ohio State Buckeyes earned a berth in the inaugural College Football Playoff. The Bucks embraced the underdog spirit in a Sugar Bowl victory over Alabama and title game triumph against Oregon. When the confetti fell in Dallas, OSU concluded their odyssey from “we aren’t even supposed to be here” to “undisputed national champions.” Now comes the hard part: heightened expectations.
The Associated Press released their annual preseason college football poll on Sunday. Not surprisingly the Buckeyes received 61 first-place votes and comfortably landed in the top spot. For the first time since the AP’s initial preseason poll in 1950 a team received all first-place votes to be the unanimous choice at the top of the pyramid. Pollsters believe their quarterbacking coterie, smashmouth running attack, and punishing defense will power Ohio State in 2015. The Men of Scarlet and Gray are not strangers to lofty expectations. The voters have chosen OSU No. 1 on seven other occasions. Let’s take a look at how those seasons played out.
1958: 6-1-2 (4-1-2 Big Ten), finished #8 in AP Poll
Coming off a national championship in 1957, Woody Hayes and the Buckeyes entered the 1958 season with major potential. Ohio State began the campaign a strong 4-0, but a pair of ties surrounding a loss to Northwestern dropped them into the middle of the polling pack. OSU engineered an upset over No. 2 Iowa on the road and defeated Michigan in The Game to mostly salvage the season. Amazingly the Buckeyes played four ranked Big Ten teams in consecutive weeks — No. 13 Wisconsin, No. 11 Northwestern, No. 8 Purdue, and No. 2 Iowa. A sparse eight bowl games populated the college football landscape in those days so Ohio State, third in the conference, did not qualify for a postseason contest and finished the season #8 in the AP poll.
1962: 6-3 (4-2 Big Ten), finished unranked in AP Poll
In 1961, the Football Writers Association of America named Ohio State the national champions, the third under Woody Hayes. Once again the club entered the subsequent season No. 1 in the preseason poll. However, due to a scheduling quirk the club endured a Week 1 bye and dropped down before even playing a game. The Buckeyes reclaimed their top spot in October, but dropped a heartbreaker to UCLA 9-7 at Memorial Coliseum. The club played unevenly during the Big Ten slate dropping a home game to No. 8 Northwestern 18-14. (The Wildcats were not to be trifled with back in the day.) Ohio State finished unranked, but defeated Michigan 28-0 in The Game.
1969: 8-1 (6-1 Big Ten), Big Ten Co-Champions, finished #4 in AP Poll
Following the trend set by previous teams, the Buckeyes followed up their 1968 Rose Bowl win/National Championship by entering the season as the top ranked squad. Quarterback Rex Kern, nose tackle Jim Stillwagon, and a number of other playmakers returned to Columbus looking to repeat. Ohio State held the No. 1 position through its first eight games, winning by an average margin of 38 points. The jugger-nut could practically smell the roses. The dream of a repeat abruptly ended when OSU traveled to the Big House. No. 12 Michigan handed the Buckeyes a 24-12 loss while simultaneously claiming a share of the Big Ten title. To add insult to injury, the Wolverines represented the conference in the Rose Bowl while the Buckeyes stayed home to wonder what might have been.
1970: 9-1 (7-0 Big Ten), NFF National Champions, Big Ten Champs, finished #5 in AP Poll,
Most of the playmakers from the previous year returned with one goal in mind: run the table. A stacked Ohio State team rolled through the regular season a perfect 9-0 including a revenge victory over No. 4 Michigan 20-9. The Buckeyes won their third consecutive conference championship and would tangle with Stanford in the Rose Bowl. At the time, the National Football Federation named their national champion before any bowl games were played; they chose the Buckeyes as the best team in the country. Early on New Year’s Day No. 6 Notre Dame upset No. 1 Texas, which opened the door for No. 2 Ohio State to claim another AP national title. After three Rose Bowl quarters OSU led Stanford 17-13. However, Stanford’s Heisman Trophy winning QB Jim Plunkett threw two clutch touchdowns to propel the west coast team to the victory, denying the Buckeyes a unanimous championship. Still the school claimed the NFF’s championship, the last one for Woody Hayes.
1980: 9-3 (7-1 Big Ten), finished #15 in AP Poll
The hype surrounding the 1980 Buckeyes stemmed from their success in 1979. Behind quarterback Art Schlichter the ’79 club won the Big Ten and came within a point of beating No. 3 USC in the Rose Bowl. Many expected a loaded Ohio State team to climb the mountain in 1980. After a 3-0 start, OSU lost a home game 17-0 to No. 11 UCLA. Earle Bruce and the Bucks recovered with six straight wins before dropping a disappointing 9-3 decision to Michigan in Columbus. In the Fiesta Bowl Ohio State met their future conference mate Penn State, losing 31-19.
1998: 11-1 (7-1 Big Ten), Sugar Bowl Champions, Big Ten Co-Champions, finished #2 in AP Poll
In the inaugural year of the Bowl Championship Series, the Buckeyes’ roster looked stacked. Wideout David Boston, DB Antoine Winfield, and LB Andy Katzenmoyer would all become first-round NFL picks the following year. John Cooper’s club looked up the task of the top spot by winning its first eight games. Shockingly the Buckeyes lost a home game to unranked Michigan State which dropped them in the polls. Victories over No. 8 Michigan in The Game and #11 Texas A&M in the Sugar Bowl were not enough as OSU finished No. 2 in the AP Poll and left out of the BCS Title Game. A contention window closed as Ohio State dropped to 6-6 in 1999.
2006: 12-1 (8-0 Big Ten), Big Ten Champions, finished #2 in AP Poll
The 2006 regular season was one of the best in Ohio State’s history. Prognosticators favored senior quarterback Troy Smith to win the Heisman Trophy. Coach Jim Tressel compiled a team that proved solid in all phases of the game. The club made a strong statement in Week 2 when they defeated the No. 2 Texas Longhorns in Austin before a national TV audience. Ohio State mostly cruised through their next nine games including wins over No. 24 Penn State and No. 13 Iowa. At 11-0, all that remained was The Game. Only this would be the most hyped version ever as it featured #1 OSU hosting #2 UM. Called “The Game of the Century,” Ohio State emerged victorious 42-39. Students stormed the field and the Scarlet and Gray began preparing for a BCS Championship matchup with No. 2 Florida. In the meantime Troy Smith indeed received the coveted stiff armed trophy. Alas, history would not be made; Florida trounced Ohio State 41-14. The Gator defense harassed Smith all day to the tune of 4-of-14 passing for 35 yards, 5 sacks, 1 interception, and 1 fumble. After 13 games, the number one team finally fell.
Year | Wins | Losses | Ties | B1G W’s | B1G L’s | B1G T’s | Accomplishments | Final Poll # |
1958 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | – | 8 |
1962 | 6 | 3 | – | 4 | 2 | – | – | n/a |
1969 | 8 | 1 | – | 6 | 1 | – | B1G Champs | 4 |
1970 | 9 | 1 | – | 7 | 0 | – | Nat’l Champs,1 B1G Champs |
5 |
1980 | 9 | 3 | – | 7 | 1 | – | – | 15 |
1998 | 11 | 1 | – | 7 | 1 | – | Sugar Bowl Champs, B1G Champs |
2 |
2006 | 12 | 1 | – | 8 | 0 | – | B1G Champs | 2 |
Total | 61 | 11 | 2 | 43 | 6 | 2 | 1x Nat’l Champs, 4x B1G Champs, 1x Sugar Bowl Champs |
6 (average) |
Considering the past, a No. 1 preseason ranking has led to mixed results for Ohio State’s football team. Here are the team’s numbers in seven such seasons.
- 61-11-2 (43-6-2 Big Ten)
- 1 National Championship (NFF)
- 1 Sugar Bowl Championship
- 4 Big Ten Championships
Several of those accomplishments are strongly affected by how college football operated at the time. Few bowl games created scarcity; some of the earlier clubs who did not win the conference would have still received a bowl invite in today’s landscape. Reviewing previous No. 1 ranked team shows that expectations can be met, but college football is unforgiving. One misstep can be a club’s undoing.
- As voted on by the National Football Federation. [↩]
4 Comments
Nice work.
First time ever undisputed #1 for any team. We’ll see what happens. I am going to let Monday come to me. Wouldn’t want to speed through a nice weekend.
Deck is stacked a #1 so highly touted like the Buckeyes hasn’t won back to back titles in quite awhile but if you are a competitor this is what you live for I would imagine. I watched “Scarlet and Gray Days” on BTN and Urban Meyer started with the inspiration day 1 talking about how nobody including the coaches should/would talk about a national championship that this team is focused on a Big Ten Championship and nothing else.
Just out of curiosity (and as a control), I wonder what the numbers are on the rest of the preseason #1s historically?
I suspect that in the crapshoot of polls, especially preseason, very few actually win it all.
I watched some of that TUN last night against Utah and even though it was the first game they didn’t look as horrible as I hoped. I don’t think it will take long for Harbaugh to snap that team back into shape and when he does what a rivalry The Big Game will be again!