100 Fun Facts About Ohio State Football

Which Delaware, Ohio school hosted Ohio State's first football game?

Ohio Wesleyan hosted the game on May 3, 1890, and Ohio State won 20-14; that fall the Buckeyes lost their first home game 64-0 to Wooster.

Ohio Stadium, which opened in 1922, is best known by what nickname?

The Horseshoe opened to doubts that 66,000 seats could ever be filled, yet more than 70,000 packed in for the 1922 dedication game, which Michigan won 19-0.

The rotunda at the north end of Ohio Stadium was designed to resemble the dome of which ancient building?

The Pantheon was among the Roman buildings architect Howard Dwight Smith had visited and sketched as a young man; his stadium design won an American Institute of Architects gold medal.

Which future pro football team founder coached Ohio State to its first national championship in 1942?

Paul Brown was a high-school coach two years earlier: Ohio State hired him from Massillon Washington, where his teams had won six straight state championships.

Which phrase became shorthand for Woody Hayes's attack at Ohio State?

'Three yards and a cloud of dust' fit a coach who ran his fullbacks into the line; Hayes was often quoted as saying three things can happen when you pass, and two of them are bad.

Woody Hayes was fired the day after he struck an opposing player during which 1978 bowl game?

The Gator Bowl ended his 28 seasons at Ohio State: Clemson nose guard Charlie Bauman intercepted a late pass, Hayes punched him on the sideline, and he was fired the next morning.

Before Ohio State, Woody Hayes coached Denison and which school nicknamed the 'Cradle of Coaches'?

The Miami RedHawks, then called the Redskins, gave Hayes a tackle named Bo Schembechler, who later became his fiercest rival as Michigan's head coach.

Who is the only player to win the Heisman Trophy twice?

Archie Griffin fumbled on his only carry in his first game as a freshman, then ran for a school-record 239 yards in his second.

Which NFL team drafted the two-time Heisman winner in the first round in 1976?

The Cincinnati Bengals drafted his Ohio State fullback Pete Johnson in 1977 and his brother Ray in 1978, reuniting all three.

Who was the first Buckeye to win the Heisman Trophy, in 1944?

Les Horvath had already moved on to dental school when Ohio State coaxed him back for an extra wartime season; he later practised dentistry in Los Angeles.

Which running back won the Heisman for Ohio State in 1995?

Eddie George lost two goal-line fumbles against Illinois as a freshman; as a senior he ran for a then school-record 314 yards against the same team.

Which quarterback won the Heisman Trophy for Ohio State in 2006?

Troy Smith first got on the field for Ohio State as a running back and kick returner, and did not take over at quarterback until midway through 2004.

Ohio State's 2002 title came with a double-overtime Fiesta Bowl win over which team?

Miami arrived on a 34-game winning streak, and its sideline was already celebrating in the first overtime when a late pass-interference flag gave Ohio State new life.

Which Ohio State quarterback was named offensive MVP of the January 2003 Fiesta Bowl?

Craig Krenzel kept the title game alive in the first overtime by completing a pass on fourth-and-14, and he ran in the tying touchdown soon after.

Which Ohio State coach, famous for his sweater vest, won the 2002 national title?

Jim Tressel, introduced at a basketball game in January 2001, promised fans they would be proud of his team in 310 days at Michigan; Ohio State won that game 26-20.

Ohio State's sweater-vested coach resigned in 2011 after players were found to have traded memorabilia for what?

Tattoos, and cash, came from a Columbus parlour owner in return for rings and jerseys; the coach had been tipped off by email months earlier and told no one.

Urban Meyer had won two national championships at which school before taking the Ohio State job in 2011?

Florida won the first of them at Ohio State's expense, beating the top-ranked Buckeyes 41-14 for the 2006 season's title.

Ohio State won the first College Football Playoff title in January 2015 by beating which team 42-20?

Oregon met a fourth and final seed that many felt did not belong, and that had already upset top seed Alabama in the Sugar Bowl semifinal.

Which third-string QB led the 2014 playoff run after Braxton Miller and J.T. Barrett were hurt?

Cardale Jones made his first college start in the Big Ten title game, a 59-0 rout of Wisconsin, and the championship game was only his third.

Ohio State won the 2024 national title, the first under the 12-team format, by beating whom 34-23?

Notre Dame trailed 31-7, then scored 16 straight points; a long third-down pass from Will Howard to Jeremiah Smith set up the field goal that sealed it.

Which SEC team did Ohio State rout at home to open the 2024 playoff?

Tennessee fans turned large parts of Ohio Stadium orange, yet the Volunteers trailed 21-0 after one quarter and lost 42-17.

Which head coach led Ohio State to the 2024 national championship?

Ryan Day lost to Michigan for the fourth straight year that November, at home and as a heavy favourite, then won four playoff games in a row.

Where was the first Ohio State–Michigan football game played in 1897?

Ann Arbor saw Michigan score every point before halftime, then spend the second half kicking the ball away and leaving Ohio State to try to move it.

Since 1934, what does every Ohio State player receive after a win over the Wolverines?

A gold pants pendant recalls new coach Francis Schmidt's 1934 quip that Michigan's players put their pants on one leg at a time like everyone else; his teams then shut Michigan out four years running.

The stretch of the rivalry when Woody Hayes faced Bo Schembechler is known as what?

The Ten Year War began when Schembechler, once an assistant to Hayes, upset the top-ranked Buckeyes 24-12 in 1969 and ended their 22-game winning streak.

The 1950 Ohio State–Michigan game, played in a Columbus blizzard, is remembered by what name?

The Snow Bowl saw the two teams punt 45 times, often before fourth down, and Michigan won 9-3 without making a single first down.

Who traditionally dots the 'i' in Script Ohio?

A senior sousaphone player has taken the dot since 1937; the year before, the first one went to a cornet player, and the band made nothing special of it.

Ohio State's marching band goes by which nickname?

The Best Damn Band in the Land is said to owe its name to Woody Hayes, who supposedly blurted it out after a pep rally; the band's director admits there is no actual evidence.

Which comedian dotted the 'i' in Script Ohio as an honorary guest in 1978?

Bob Hope, born in London but raised in Cleveland, took the dot in 1978; the band offers it to an outsider only on very rare occasions, for service to Ohio State.

What was the first Brutus Buckeye costume, built by Ohio State students in 1965, made of?

Papier-mâché made a heavy nut that looked like a bowling ball with legs; a fiberglass shell soon replaced it, and a prune-faced 1975 redesign was booed off the field.

A buckeye, the nut that gives the team its name, comes from Ohio's official state what?

Brutus is an anthropomorphic version of the nut.

'Hang On Sloopy', played by the Ohio State band since 1965, became Ohio's official what in 1985?

Rock song status came in 1985 after a Columbus newspaper columnist, seeing Washington state's push to honour 'Louie Louie', campaigned half in jest for Ohio to do the same.

Which band took 'Hang On Sloopy' to No. 1 days before Ohio State's band first played it?

The McCoys topped the chart a week before arranger John Tatgenhorst, who had to talk round a reluctant director, debuted it on a rainy day against Illinois.

The Illibuck, the Ohio State–Illinois trophy, began in 1925 as which live animal, picked for its long life?

A turtle was chosen as a symbol of a rivalry meant to last; it died within two years, and carved wooden copies have carried the scores ever since.

Which two songs are Ohio State's official fight songs?

'Carmen Ohio' is the alma mater, sung after games with the team facing the band.

Ohio State's team colours are scarlet and what?

Gray and scarlet were the students' second try in 1878: they first settled on orange and black, then learned Princeton already had them.

Which Columbus East High product's drawing power in the 1910s made Ohio Stadium necessary?

Chic Harley's crowds outgrew Ohio Field, so a public campaign launched in 1920 raised the money for a new stadium, nicknamed 'The House That Harley Built'.

Who succeeded the fired Hayes as Ohio State head coach in 1979?

Earle Bruce, steered into coaching by Hayes after an injury ended his playing days, went unbeaten in his first regular season and lost the Rose Bowl, and a title, by one point.

Ohio State's 1968 national championship season ended with a Rose Bowl win over which team?

USC led 10-0 after Heisman winner O.J. Simpson broke an 80-yard touchdown run, but five Trojan turnovers followed and Ohio State scored the next 27 points.

Who voted to turn down Ohio State's Rose Bowl invitation after the unbeaten 1961 season?

The faculty council voted 28-25 to decline, worried that football was overshadowing academics; thousands of students marched on the Statehouse, and Minnesota went instead.

Ohio State shared the 1970 National Football Foundation title with which Southwest Conference team?

Texas and Ohio State were named co-champions before the bowls, then both were upset on New Year's Day, which handed Nebraska the AP title.

What was the Big Ten commonly called when Ohio State joined in 1912?

The Western Conference had nine members after Ohio State arrived; Michigan's return in 1917 made ten, the press began saying Big Ten, and the name became official only in 1987.

The unbeaten 1944 Buckeyes finished second in the final AP poll behind which wartime powerhouse?

Army took the title, so the 9-0 Buckeyes were hailed as national civilian champions; stand-in Carroll Widdoes ran the team while its head coach served in the Navy.

Which coach resigned weeks after losing to Michigan in a 1950 blizzard, clearing the way for Woody Hayes?

Wes Fesler, a three-time All-American at Ohio State, quit citing excessive pressure to win football games, then took the Minnesota job the next year.

Which SEC Tigers team shared the 1957 national title with Ohio State?

Auburn took the AP title while on probation for paying recruits; the coaches' poll preferred Ohio State, which had lost its opener at home to TCU.

Which Ohio State coach went 2-10-1 against Michigan across 13 seasons?

John Cooper took unbeaten teams into the Michigan game in 1995 and 1996 and lost both; he was fired after another defeat to the Wolverines in 2000.

The coach Ohio State hired in 2001 had won four I-AA national titles at which school?

Youngstown State won those titles in 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1997, and its coach went back in 2014 as the university's president.

Which school did the Big Ten designate as the Buckeyes' second annual rival when it joined in 1993?

Penn State first visited Columbus in 1912 and led 37-0 when Ohio State's coach pulled his team off the field over rough play; the schools did not meet again for 44 years.

Ohio State's No. 0 jersey, awarded each season since 2020, honours which player who helped break pro football's colour barrier?

Bill Willis never wore it: his number was 99, since retired, and college players were not allowed a zero until 2020. He signed as a pro in 1946, months before Jackie Robinson's debut.

What do the reward stickers on Ohio State's football helmets show?

A buckeye leaf goes on the helmet for big plays and wins, a reward that trainer Ernie Biggs is credited with suggesting and Woody Hayes adopted in 1968.

In folklore, the buckeye nut behind Ohio State's nickname resembles the eye of which animal?

A deer, or more exactly a buck: carrying the shiny brown nut is said to bring good luck. 'Buckeyes' became the school's official nickname only in 1950.

Buckeye candies, an Ohio favourite named for the nut, are balls of which filling dipped in chocolate?

Peanut butter fudge is left showing through a circle in the chocolate, so each sweet looks like the glossy brown nut, which is itself poisonous.

After a dispute with designer Marc Jacobs, Ohio State won a 2022 trademark for which single word?

The word 'The', which the university stresses in its full name, ended up with both sides: the school and the fashion house agreed to share the branding.

Which ESPN analyst made his first mascot-headgear pick by wearing Brutus Buckeye's head in 1996?

Lee Corso closed the ritual where it began: his 431st and final headgear pick, made in Columbus in 2025, was Ohio State again.

Which future Heisman winner spent three seasons at Ohio State before transferring to LSU in 2018?

Joe Burrow spent two years as a backup in Columbus after a redshirt season, then won the 2019 Heisman and a national championship with the Tigers.

Which Ohio-born astronaut is among the few non-band members invited to dot the 'i' in Script Ohio?

John Glenn shared the honour with his wife Annie, and in 2012 the couple came back to dot the 'i' in the word America during a NASA-themed halftime show.

During Michigan week, Ohio State students traditionally jumped into which campus body of water?

Mirror Lake drew about 12,000 people for the 2009 jump, but the university shut the tradition down after a student died in 2015.

Which ESPN College GameDay analyst was Ohio State's starting quarterback and co-captain in 1992?

Kirk Herbstreit followed his father Jim, a co-captain of the 1960 team, making them only the second father and son both to captain the Buckeyes.

Which future seven-time national champion head coach was an Ohio State assistant in 1980 and 1981?

Nick Saban came back to Ohio Stadium in 1998 as Michigan State's head coach, and his Spartans upset the No. 1 Buckeyes 28–24.

Whose 85-yard touchdown run sealed Ohio State's Sugar Bowl upset of Alabama in January 2015?

Ezekiel Elliott ran for 230 yards that night, and the 42–35 win put the fourth-seeded Buckeyes into the first College Football Playoff final.

Which Columbus-raised heavyweight champion, a conqueror of Mike Tyson, has dotted the 'i' in Script Ohio?

Buster Douglas was a 42-to-1 underdog when he knocked Tyson out in 1990, and the marching band later made him one of its rare honorary i-dotters.

Woody Hayes refused to say the word Michigan, coining which phrase for the Wolverines instead?

That team up north, or 'that state up north', spared him the name; legend says he once refused to buy fuel on Michigan soil even with an empty tank.

Ohio State's 1955 Heisman winner Howard Cassady went by which nickname, borrowed from a fictional cowboy?

Hopalong stuck from his first game as a freshman, when Columbus sportswriters said he hopped all over the field like the performing cowboy Hopalong Cassidy.

Ohio State's Vic Janowicz was the first Heisman Trophy winner to also play which sport professionally?

Baseball came first for him: he spent two seasons as a catcher and third baseman with the Pittsburgh Pirates, a double Auburn's Bo Jackson repeated in the 1980s.

James Laurinaitis, Ohio State's 2007 Butkus Award winner, is the son of a star in which line of work?

Pro wrestling ran in the family: his father Joe performed as Road Warrior Animal, half of the Road Warriors tag team, and two of his uncles wrestled too.

Which freshman star of Ohio State's 2002 title team later fought the NFL's draft eligibility rule in court?

Maurice Clarett won at first, but an appeals court opinion by Sonia Sotomayor, later a Supreme Court justice, overturned the ruling and kept him out of the 2004 draft.

Which Ohio State speedster returned the opening kickoff of the 2007 BCS title game for a touchdown?

Ted Ginn Jr. went 93 yards, then sprained his foot when a teammate slid into him during the celebration; the injury lingered into his pre-draft workouts.

Which favoured opponent did Ohio State crush 59–0 in the 2014 Big Ten Championship Game?

Wisconsin was a 4.5-point favourite, yet suffered the first shutout in the title game's history against a quarterback making his first career start.

Which future Hall of Fame head coach was an assistant on Ohio State's 1968 national championship staff?

Lou Holtz spent just that one season in Columbus; in 1979 he was widely seen as the leading candidate to replace Woody Hayes but did not pursue the job.

Which alma mater, set to the tune of a Spanish hymn, do Buckeyes players sing after every home game?

Carmen Ohio dates to 1902 or 1903; by some accounts a freshman athlete wrote it on the train home from an 86–0 loss to Michigan.

Maudine Ormsby, elected Ohio State's homecoming queen in a 1926 student prank, was actually which animal?

A cow she was: students playing a practical joke put Maudine forward, and she proved so popular on campus that she won the vote.

From which SEC school did quarterback Justin Fields transfer to Ohio State after one season as a backup?

Georgia had him backing up Jake Fromm in 2018; in Columbus he twice won Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year and reached a national title game.

Which Ohio State tackle of the mid-1990s was so dominant that he popularised the term 'pancake block'?

Orlando Pace flattened defenders so often that his play made the phrase famous; he twice won the Lombardi Award and went first overall in the 1997 NFL Draft.

Which Ohio State receiver, later a Hall of Famer, lost his senior season for signing with an agent?

Cris Carter had been the school's first All-American wide receiver, and despite the lost year he left holding the Buckeyes' career receptions record.

What do members of Alpha Phi Omega do in Ohio Stadium's southeast tower after every Ohio State win?

Ring the Victory Bell: the 2,420-pound gift of the classes of 1943 to 1945 first sounded after a 1954 win over California and is said to carry five miles.

Ohio State's marching band packs St. John Arena before each home game for which traditional event?

The Skull Session began as a closed run-through on game mornings; so many people came to listen that in 1957 the director moved it into the arena.

Whose strip-sack and fumble-return touchdown sealed Ohio State's January 2025 Cotton Bowl semifinal win?

Jack Sawyer took the ball from Quinn Ewers, a former Buckeye teammate, and ran it back himself to send his side to the national championship game.

College football's top placekicker award honours which former Ohio State freshman, nicknamed 'the Toe'?

Lou Groza played only on the freshman team in 1942 before leaving for wartime service, yet the trophy for the nation's top kicker has carried his name since 1992.

Which Ohio State linebacker was the first high school athlete to be pictured on a box of Wheaties?

Chris Spielman earned the cereal box at Massillon's Washington High, then became a two-time All-American in Columbus and won the Lombardi Award.

Which freshman's long third-down catch in the final minutes sealed Ohio State's 2024 national title?

Jeremiah Smith's grab on 3rd-and-11 set up the clinching field goal, in a game where he also set FBS true-freshman season records for receiving yards and touchdowns.

Ohio State's 2002 fourth-down touchdown pass known as 'Holy Buckeye' beat which Big Ten opponent?

Purdue led 6–3 with under two minutes left when a 37-yard pass on fourth-and-one won it; announcer Brent Musburger's shout gave the play its name.

Which ACC team upset Ohio State 35–21 in Columbus early in the Buckeyes' 2014 championship season?

Virginia Tech won the schools' first ever meeting in the Buckeyes' home opener, and it proved the only defeat of a 14–1 title season.

Which former Ohio State nose guard served as the Buckeyes' interim head coach for the entire 2011 season?

Luke Fickell had made a school-record 50 consecutive starts as a player, but his lone season in charge was the Buckeyes' first losing year since 1988.

Which Ohio State quarterback, MVP of the January 2010 Rose Bowl, later became an NFL wide receiver?

Terrelle Pryor made the switch full-time with the Cleveland Browns in 2015 and topped 1,000 receiving yards for them the following season.

Which Ohio State halfback of the early 1960s became a Hall of Fame wide receiver and won two Super Bowls?

Paul Warfield was so feared that before Super Bowl VI President Nixon phoned the Dolphins' coach to suggest a pass play to him.

Which Ohio State running back lost a shoe mid-run on a 67-yard touchdown against Illinois in 1984?

Keith Byars never broke stride, and his five touchdowns that day erased a 24–0 deficit; he finished second to Doug Flutie in the Heisman voting.

Against which opponent did C.J. Stroud throw for 573 yards in Ohio State's January 2022 Rose Bowl win?

Utah led by 14 before the Buckeyes came back to win 48–45, with Stroud also setting a Rose Bowl record of six touchdown passes.

In the 1971 Michigan game, a furious Woody Hayes stormed the field and tore up which pieces of equipment?

The sideline markers went first; angry over a pass interference call he felt was missed, he then hurled the first-down marker to the ground as well and drew a penalty.

Which Ohio State All-American safety, later an Oakland Raider, was popularly nicknamed 'the Assassin'?

Jack Tatum earned the name for his playing style, and with the Raiders he made three straight Pro Bowls and won a Super Bowl.

Which two-way player on Ohio State's 1957 title team is credited with inventing the NFL's zone blitz?

Dick LeBeau played halfback and cornerback for Woody Hayes and scored two touchdowns in the 1957 comeback win over Michigan.

Whose 15-yard touchdown run won Ohio State's 2016 double-overtime game against Michigan?

Curtis Samuel scored one play after a disputed fourth-and-one spot went the Buckeyes' way, in the first overtime game the rivalry had ever seen.

Which Ohio State offensive tackle was runner-up for the 1973 Heisman Trophy, a rare feat for a lineman?

John Hicks swept the Lombardi Award and the Outland Trophy that year and trailed only running back John Cappelletti in the Heisman vote.

Which unbeaten Pac-10 champion did the Buckeyes beat 20–17 on a last-minute drive in the 1997 Rose Bowl?

Arizona State would have ended as the nation's only unbeaten team; quarterback Joe Germaine's late touchdown drive cost the Sun Devils a possible share of the title.

Which Ohio State quarterback threw the interception that set off Woody Hayes's career-ending punch in 1978?

Art Schlichter was the last starting quarterback Hayes ever had: the coach hit the opposing linebacker who caught the pass and was fired the next day.

Which Ohio State lineman won the 1956 Outland Trophy, then became an All-Pro with the Baltimore Colts?

Jim Parker had to relearn his trade as a pro: the Colts protected Johnny Unitas with a passing offense very unlike the Buckeyes' running game.

Which Ohio State end of the 1930s became the Hall of Fame coach called the father of modern-day passing?

Sid Gillman returned as a Buckeyes assistant from 1938 to 1940, then with the Chargers built the deep downfield attack that reshaped the professional game.

In Ohio State's Tunnel of Pride, who forms the human tunnel the team runs through when Michigan visits?

Former Buckeye players have formed the tunnel since the mid-1990s, an idea of athletic director Andy Geiger and a past Ohio State quarterback, and it returns whenever the Wolverines come to Columbus.

Which golf great, an Ohio State alumnus, is among the honorary 'i' dotters in the band's Script Ohio?

Jack Nicklaus had Buckeye football in the family: his father Charlie played for Ohio State before turning semi-professional under an assumed name.

Which student organisation, founded by a cheerleader in 1938, is Ohio State's official cheering section?

Block O was started by cheerleader Clancy Isaac, who had seen a cheering section at a West Coast university and decided his own school needed one.

Which Ohio State defensive lineman was the first ever winner of the Lombardi Award, in 1970?

Jim Stillwagon also took the Outland Trophy that season, the end of three years as a starter that began with a national championship.