The Long, Strange Trip Back to the National Title
7 years, 3 coaches, 1 vacated season, and 1 bowl ban later, and Ohio State is back in the National Title game.
Part 1: The Rise and Fall of a Program
Our Journey begins way back on January 7th, 2008, as Ohio State had just suffered their second consecutive loss in the BCS National Title game, this time to SEC Champion LSU. The previous year is a game all OSU fans would like to forget about, as the Urban Meyer led Florida Gators beat the Buckeyes by a score of 41-14. This is the game that started the SEC reign of terror, a reign that lasted until, well, we will get to that soon enough. OSU entered the 2007 title game, with a chance at redemption. Despite Chris “Beanie” Wells running for 146 yards on the Tigers defense, the Bucks still suffered a beat down, by a score of 38-24.
The 2008 season was soon approaching and Ohio State was a team loaded with All-Americans, and NFL talent. Chris Wells was a Heisman favorite, Brian Robiske was considered the most NFL-ready wide receiver. Not to mention that the Buckeyes had just signed the most hyped quarterback recruit ever, in Terrelle Pryor. Ohio State was even more loaded on the defensive side of the ball, led by All-Americans, James Laurinatis and Malcom Jenkins. It was a senior laden team looking to finally capture a National Title. OSU entered the season as the preseason #2 team, but disaster struck in their very first game, as Chris Wells suffered a foot injury late in the game. An injury that would cause him to miss the next 3 games.
That included a match up against #1 USC, a game that would be played in Southern California. The Bucks had no answer against the Mark Sanchez led offense, and a USC defense led by Rey Maualuga, Brian Cushing, and Clay Matthews. OSU would lose by a final score of 35-3, as the Todd Boeckman era had officially come to end. Terrelle Pryor took the reins from there and led Ohio State to a 10-2 record, while beating Michigan by a score of 42-7. Ohio State would then go on to the Fiesta Bowl to take on a scorned Texas team, which had hoped it would get in the National Title game. To the surprise of many, OSU held a lead of 21-17 late in the 4th quarter, but Colt McCoy wouldn’t have it, as he hit Quan Cosby over the middle for a touchdown, and a 24-21 lead with 16 seconds left, as Ohio State would lose the game, and finish the year at 10-3.
Despite losing many player to graduation and the NFL, Ohio State came into the 2009 season as the preseason #6 team, based mainly on the fact that Terrelle Pryor was expected to take the next step into superstardom. A September 12th match up in the Horseshoe against USC would determine if OSU was a title contender in 2009. Ohio State held a 4th quarter lead of 15-10, when Matt Barkley, the freshman quarterback for USC, led the Trojans on a touchdown drive, that ended with USC up 18-15 with 1 minute to go. The score would stay that way, and OSU would fall to 1-1 to start the season, but with plenty of time to get back into the thick of it. That is until a fateful October day, when the Buckeyes would travel to Purdue to take on the 1-5 Boilermakers.
Terrelle Pryor had his worst day as an OSU quarterback, throwing 2 interceptions, fumbling twice, and rushing for just 34 yards on 21 carries, all while getting sacked 5 times, as Purdue would pull the upset by a score of 26-18. Up until that point, Ohio State was always the team that couldn’t win the big game, but they always took care of the underdog. That was thrown out the window with the Purdue loss. The Bucks would recover though, as they won their next 5 games, including a 21-10 win over “That Team Up North”, as Ohio State would capture another Big Ten title, and would head to the Rose Bowl for the first time since the 1996 season. Waiting for them were the upstart, Chip Kelly led Oregon Ducks. Jim Tressel finally opened up the play book, which allowed Terrell Pryor to have his best game, as he had 266 passing yards, 72 rushing yards, and 2 touchdowns, as the Bucks would win by a score of 26-17. OSU would finish the season with an 11-2 record and the #5 ranking.
Coming off a Rose Bowl MVP, Terrell Pryor was creating Heisman buzz, and had the Buckeyes at #2 in the preseason rankings. The Bucks ran up, over, and side-to-side on teams over the first 6 games and took over the #1 spot as they went on the road to Madison to take on the 18th ranked, Wisconsin Badgers. From the opening kick, it was all Bucky Badger, as Wisconsin raced out to a 21-0 lead in the second quarter. There was no quit in Ohio State, as they would cut the deficit to 3 points early in the 4th quarter. But the night belonged to Wisconsin, who would add 10 more points on the boards to win by a score of 31-18. An Ohio State team still mad from the loss to Wisconsin, would have a chance at revenge against Purdue the next week, and it was sweet, as the Bucks rolled over the Boilermakers 49-0. OSU would again finish as Big Ten champs, with a win over Michiagn, and it was off to the Sugar Bowl, to hopefully exercise their SEC demons, with a match up against #8 Arkansas.
Scandal broke out at OSU on December 22, as five Ohio State players are found to have sold off memorabilia and for receiving improper benefits, such as free tattoos. The five players in question, Terrelle Pryor, Dan Herron, Devier Posey, Mike Adams, and Solomon Thomas, were all suspended for the first 5 games of the 2011 season, but were allowed to play in the Sugar Bowl. A game in which OSU would win by a score of 31-26, as they finished the year at 12-1 and #5 in the final polls. More controversy would follow as it was soon found out that OSU head coach, Jim Tressel knew about the selling of memorabilia and the free tattoos and cars, and he tried to cover it up. Facing immense pressure, Jim Tressel resigned from his job on May 30th, 2011. Luke Fickell was named interim head coach for the upcoming 2011 season. Then on June 7th, quarterback Terrelle Pryor announced his decision for forgo his final season, skip out on his suspension, and head to the NFL. One day later, Ohio State announced that it would vacate the entire 2010 season, including the Sugar Bowl victory over Arkansas, but OSU did not self-impose a bowl ban on itself.
