Ohio State's Greatest Games

In case you were wondering, the Big Ten Conference and television both existed prior to 2006.  You would not know that, however, judging from the TV Guide listings for the Big Ten Network over the last month.

Evidencing an incredible dearth of programming, the Big Ten Network resorted to showing a marathon of The Big Ten’s Greatest Games.  Apparently, they want to challenge TNT as the cable network most likely to be comprised solely of marathons.

If you were lucky enough to flip to channel 220 on DIRECTV (Comcast channel TBD) in June, you were treated to encore presentations of games you did not care about the first time.

The BTN is guessing the marginally relevant interviews sprinkled throughout the broadcast will make all the difference. Oh, and they never seem to show an Ohio State game.

This got us thinking—what are Ohio State’s greatest games?  The BTN has only gone back a couple of seasons, but we thought we would expand that a little—we considered the entire Jim Tressel era.

Greatest Regular Season Game: 2006 vs. Michigan

You could choose any of Troy Smith’s games against Michigan, but this one really stands out—the first ever No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup in the history of The Game; Bo’s death days before; and a national title game berth on line.  What more could you ask for?

Michigan played a nearly perfect game, executing their game plan flawlessly.  With the exception of the some third quarter turnovers which let Michigan back into the game, Troy and the Buckeyes were more than equal to the task.

The 3:30pm kickoff added to the intensity as the majority of the game was under the lights.  In our opinion, Troy’s play-action pass to Ted Ginn is one of the best-looking plays in Ohio State history.

Greatest Bowl Game: 2003 Fiesta Bowl vs. Miami

Duh.

Greatest Comeback: 2005 vs. Michigan

There were slim picking in this category, which means Tressel’s teams rarely get behind and/or rarely rally once they fall behind, and this was the clear winner.

Troy Smith came out on fire and led the squad to a TD on the first drive.  Then things got sticky.  Michigan started reeling off big plays and Ohio State’s offense ground to a halt.

With the Buckeyes down 21-12 in the fourth quarter, it did not look good.  When Smith airmailed a wide-open Holmes on a post pattern, the game looked lost.  Seconds later, however, Troy connected with Santonio on the exact same play (nice adjustment Michigan), and the comeback was on.

On their final drive, Troy took the team the length of the field, highlighted by Gonzalez’s acrobatic grab.  Pittman ran it in with 25 seconds remaining.

Greatest First Half: 2001 vs. Michigan and 2002 vs. Texas Tech

This is not really a tie (the Michigan win being clearly better), but they came in back-to-back regular season games and provided the same sense of surprise, although relative to different circumstances, as they both featured dominating rushing performances and created energy well beyond the single game.

In 2001, Tressel’s first team had been uneven, giving up big comebacks to Penn State and Wisconsin, but the Senator had made his pseudo-prediction eleven months earlier and was not going to back down.  Whatever he fed Jonathan Wells before the game caused him to go off in the first half and cramp up tremendously in the second half.

The Buckeyes' 21-0 lead at intermission was enough to get the win, 26-20.  The energy of that first performance has been felt in the series ever since—rather uncomfortably by Michigan, I might add.

Likewise, the vibe created in the 2002 opener versus Texas Tech resonated for the entire season, ultimately culminating in a National Championship.  Maurice Clarrett’s dominating performance gave the Buckeyes a weapon they had not had since Eddie George.

Love him or hate him, Maurice provided the Buckeyes with the much-needed energy, and yards, that propelled them to their first title in decades.

[Ed. Note: The granddaddy of all first half demolitions is the 56-7 mauling Cooper’s gang put on Iowa in 1995.  If memory serves, Iowa had a top-15 ranking going into that game and ESPN’s Gameday was on site for the matchup.  Oops.]

Greatest Second Half: 2002 vs. Washington State

This was a total team turnaround.  In the first half, the offense was anemic and the defense was confused.  The Cougars, led by Jason Gesser, piled up about 200 yards, while the Buckeyes could not get much going on the ground, with Clarrett gaining only 35 before halftime.

In the second half, Clarrett exploded for 195 yards, and the defense limited Washington State to only 91 yards.  Oh yeah, and there was Darrion Scott’s hit on Gesser.

Greatest Individual Performance: 2004 Troy Smith vs. Michigan

This is one of the most spectacular performances in Ohio State’s history, and it came against their archrival.  Troy threw for 241 yards and two touchdowns, and even more impressively, ran for 145 yards and another touchdown.

When the Wolverines played the pass, Smith used his feet and darted downfield for first downs.  When they played the run, he connected on several long passes.  Even when it looked like they had him wrapped up, he spun away for a 46-yard gain.  For that afternoon (and the Michigan series), he was unstoppable.

Greatest Surprise: 2004 Fiesta Bowl vs. Kansas State

The Buckeyes were coming off a loss to Michigan, and Kansas State had dominated Oklahoma 35-7 in the Big 12 Title Game.  Under the previous regime, Ohio State had not become known from bouncing back from losses to Michigan, so there was a bit of hesitation for Buckeyes' fans.

Yet Ohio State dominated the early action on the way to a 35-28 victory.  While the Wildcats mounted a formidable charge late, it was bolstered by Ohio State’s patented prevent defense and some fortuitous calls.

Greatest Loss: 2005 vs. Texas

Yeah, we know.  There is no such thing as a good loss, but time has allowed us to see how truly great this night was in Ohio Stadium.

Vince Young began his National Title march under the lights in the Horseshoe.  The Ohio State defense was outstanding, limiting Young to 76 yards rushing, including a 32-yard run in the first quarter.  If not for an unbelievable throw with 2:37 left, the Buckeyes would have likely escaped with the win.

Just because we are nice, we will not mention the Ryan Hamby bobble-fest. Oh—never mind.