History Says Ohio State’s Close Call Isn’t Shocking

As the clock ticked down to zero to signal the end of the third quarter in Saturday’s Ohio State-Ohio game, the scoreboard read Ohio State 12-Ohio 14. Many Buckeye fans sat in Ohio Stadium and around their televisions in stunned silence.

Were the hopes and dreams of the entire Buckeye Nation going to come crashing down inside Ohio Stadium? Were the Buckeyes really losing to Ohio?

Ohio State would rally and score 14 fourth quarter points (and 20 straight) to seal the 800th victory in Ohio State‘s football history, but for many this game was too close for comfort.

Most Buckeye fans aren’t old enough to remember the last time Ohio State lost to another team from Ohio. After all, it has been 88 years since Oberlin defeated the Buckeyes 7-6 and no other Ohio school has beaten the Buckeyes since.

In 1921, Oberlin was no slouch. The Oberlin football program was only 27 years old and had a strong foundation in place from their first head coach, John Heisman, namesake of the Heisman Memorial Trophy.

But this was 2008 and Ohio State was not only considered the Kings of the Big Ten, but they were also among the nation's top three programs. Even thinking that Ohio State could lose to an in-state rival was ridiculous. Or was it?

The Jim Tressel era at Ohio State has been filled with many unbelievable moments.

The promise Jim Tressel gave Ohio State fans on the day he was hired that “you will be proud of your young people in the classroom, in the community, and most especially in 310 days in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on the football field.” He kept his promise when the underdog Buckeyes shocked the ranked Wolverines in Ann Arbor.

The 2002 National Championship victory over a defending National Champion Miami team that had won 34 straight games with a coach who had never lost.

The 2005 Fiesta Bowl blowout, with the backup quarterback, over a retiring Bill Snyder and a Kansas State team that had just beaten Oklahoma in the Big XII Championship Game. Despite the loss, the Sooners still played for the National Championship.

The 2006 Fiesta Bowl victory over Charlie Weiss and Notre Dame in which the Buckeyes racked up 617 total yards of offense. That number, 617, would haunt Charlie Weis the entire off-season much to the delight of Buckeye fans. Before the game, Weis had implied Jim Tressel’s five National Championship victories weren’t all that impressive.

The remarkable turnaround against arch rival Michigan. To date, Tressel is 6-1 against the Wolverines.

But perhaps the most unbelievable fact about the Jim Tressel era at Ohio State is that in every season under Tressel, the Buckeyes have struggled with a team from a non-BCS conference.

Ohio State began the Jim Tressel era with a victory, but it was not a pretty one. 

Jonathan Wells rushed for 119 yards and two touchdowns and Steve Bellisari threw for two more as Ohio State committed three turnovers in a sloppy 28-14 triumph.

Wells propelled the Buckeyes early, scoring on a 14-yard run in the first quarter and a one-yard burst in the second as Ohio State opened a 21-0 cushion with 9:14 left in the half.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?