I have often heard passionate debates about which team was “The Best Buckeye Team Ever“. Over the years Ohio State has produced many good teams (Winning 7 National Championships), but in my mind three teams stand head and shoulders over the rest of them – the 1954 Buckeyes, the 1968 Buckeyes, and the 2002 Buckeyes. All three teams were undefeated and all three teams were crowned National Champions.

1954 Buckeyes:  10-0

Defense, defense, defense, was the name of the game for the 1954 Buckeyes. The Buckeye defense forced 35 turnovers during the season and allowed only two teams to score more than one touchdown (both of those opponents scored 14 points) . Led by their powerful defense, the Bucks beat the #2 Wisconsin Badgers (Who had Heisman Winner Alan Ameche) on an 88 yard interception return by Howard Cassady (yep, the great half back was a two way player). The Bucks ended the regular season beating Michigan 21-7. The AP Poll had the Bucks at # 1, while the UPI Poll had the Bruins at # 1, however, because of the “no repeat rule” the Bruins were locked out of the Rose Bowl and the Buckeyes had to play the conference’s 2nd place team Southern California in the Rose Bowl. Once again the defense stepped up and the Buckeyes defeated the Trojans 20-7 allowing the Trojans to only gain six first-downs. The Trojans only score coming on an 86 yard punt return. The Buckeyes finished 10-0 for the first time in school history.

All Americans:  Dean Dugger – E, Howard Cassady- HB (and Team MVP), Jim Reichenbach -G

Coach: Woody Hayes - “There’s nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you.”

1968 BUCKEYES 10-0

The “Super Sophomores” of 1968 (nicknamed this because they started 11 sophomores) were simply awesome. The offense averaged 32 points and 440 yards per game while the defense only allowed 15 points and 292 yards per game. In the third game of the season the Ohio State Buckeyes upset then number one Purdue Boilermakers (Led by All-American Leroy Keyes, one of the last true two-way players). The Buckeyes crushed Michigan 50 – 14 in the final game of the regular season. This is the game when Woody uttered one of his most famous quips. When asked why he went for a two point conversion on the last touchdown, he replied “because I couldn’t go for 3 “. The Ohio State Buckeyes then went on to beat the USC Trojans led by O.J. Simpson 27 – 16 to capture their fifth National Championship.

All Americans: Rex Kern, Jack Tatum, John Brockington, Jan White, Jim Stillwagon, Jim Otis, Tim Anderson, Ted Provost, Rufus Mayes, Mike Sensibaugh, and Dave Foley

Coach: Woody Hayes – “indomitable in victory, insufferable in defeat.”

2002 Buckeyes 14-0

Ohio State used a strong defense, ball-control play-calling, and field position to defeat their opponents in 2002. They were a run oriented team. They ran over every opponent, with 2,678 yards rushing and 31 touchdowns on the ground…and a lot of those yards coming from Maurice Clarett. “The Cardiac Kids” had 6 regular season games decided by 7 points or less. They won one of those games on the final play of the game…a 4^th down play by the way…and won another game in overtime. They weren’t pretty and they didn’t dominate, but they won. They ended their regular season by defeating, once again, that “Team up North”. Ohio State then faced the number one ranked and heavily favored (11.5 points) Miami Hurricanes in the National Championship game. Miami was attempting to win their second consecutive championship and a lot of folks didn’t believe the Buckeyes had any chance at all to win the game, but the “Cardiac Kids” once again lived up to their nickname and pulled out a thrilling double over-time miracle to win their 7^th National Championship.

All Americans:  Matt Wilhelm, Mike Doss

Coach: Jim Tressel – “I can assure you 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,”

So which team is “The Best Buckeye Team Ever”? That will have to be up to you to decide.

Tags: Buckeyes, College Football, National Championship, Ohio State

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 10:26 am and is filed under Authors Blogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.