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Post by thatoneguyD22 on Aug 31, 2015 9:43:55 GMT -5
The '96 Buckeyes are notable for several reasons, one of which was David Boston's punt return TD with only 7 blockers against Pitt. I'm fairly well convinced that game is the reason Mark May hates Ohio State.
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Post by badgersballers on Aug 31, 2015 17:27:49 GMT -5
5. 2010 Wisconsin Badgers-Coming off a 10-3 season in 09, expectations were that Wisconsin could compete with and potentially beat Ohio State for the Conference Crown, still despite these expectations the Badgers got off to somewhat a slow start. After beating UNLV to open the year, the Badgers played poorly in a 13 point win over SJSU and this was followed up by a 1 point over an ASU team that would finish the year the 6-6 before destroying Austin Peay. In their first Big Ten game, the struggles continued as Wisconsin was upset by #24 MSU. The following week Wisconsin beat Minnesota again, but most of the talk was surrounding a late 2 point conversion attempt by BB. Honestly, with how big of a bitch Tim Brewster was as coach of Minnesota from his claiming that Wisconsin was "in-state" recruiting for the Gophers, and some other crap questioning BB's sexuality he deserved it and more, honestly he should've gone for 2 every time they scored when the game was out of reach. Thus, Brewster became the first coach that BB helped fire that season. The following week the Badgers played #1 OSU, and despite letting a 21-0 lead shrink down to 21-18, the Badgers were able to score the last 10 points and win 31-18. The following week, Wisconsin had another crucial game vs #13 Iowa and with the Badgers trailing by 6 late deep in their own territory, BB made a fake punt called that worked with the Badgers eventually scoring a TD on that possession to win the game 31-30. The last 4 games of the season were all blowouts, and the closest game was a 20 point win over Michigan at the Big House. Ending the regular season ranked 4th, the Badgers played 3rd ranked TCU in the Rose Bowl. Despite, a huge advantage up front, Paul Chryst hesitated to run the ball between the tackles as a late 2 point conversion to tie the game was broken up allowing TCU to win 21-19.
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Post by thatoneguyD22 on Sept 1, 2015 0:50:42 GMT -5
4. 1998 In my humble opinion, this is the most talented team in Buckeye history. Joe Germaine, Michael Wiley, Joe Montgomery, David Boston, Antoine Winfield, Andy Katzenmoyer, Ahmed Plummer, Nate Clements, Na'il Diggs, the list goes on. Ohio State played ONE close game all year, and it was the lone loss. Preaseason #1, the season started with 3 ranked teams in the first four games, #11 WVU, #21 Mizzou, #7 PSU. The Buckeyes won all three by three scores or more, then won four straight blowouts over Big Ten competition. In game 9 however, Ohio State would drop a 15 point lead in the second half to an unranked Michigan State team led by Nick Saban, a team that had beaten Notre Dame earlier that season, but would finish 6-6 and wouldn't even make a bowl dropping OSU to #7. After beating Iowa, they would face #11 Michigan and would win, and then go on to beat #8 Texas A&M in the Sugar Bowl, marking the first and only time Cooper would beat Michigan and win the bowl game in the same season. Still, this will always be the "what if?" season for Ohio State. They don't blow the 15 point lead they would make the National Championship game, and I think would have beaten Tennessee (or FSU with a healthy Chris Weinke for that matter). Oh well. 1998 Final Record: 11-1 (7-1) Beat Michigan Won Sugar Bowl Big Ten Co-Champions Awards- Antoine Winfield- Jim Thorpe Award. Joe Germaine- Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year. All-Americans: David Boston (WR), Damon Moore (SS), Rob Murphy (OG), Antoine Winfield (CB)
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2015 1:38:40 GMT -5
First Buckeye game I ever saw was a 35-14 rout of Missouri in 1998. Michael Wiley ran all over the place. It was great. I got his autograph a couple years back and we chatted briefly about that game, and how he was bummed Cooper made him come out once he crested the 200 yard mark. Good guy, really.
I still say that's the best team they've ever fielded (though this season might change that). They would have pummeled Tennessee.
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Post by bigdawgs on Sept 1, 2015 10:08:43 GMT -5
3 Georgia 2012 12-2 (7-2) Five yards. Five yards from an SEC title and a likely elusive National Championship. Chris Conley grabbed a deflected Aaron Murray pass 5 yards from the endzone and Georgia again came up short. In what was perhaps one of the greatest SEC title games ever, Georgia completed their third best season under Mark Richt. The Dawgs completed the year with a Cap One Bowl game win over Nebraska as Aaron Murray had another great game against the Huskers. During the year the Dawgs welcomed Mizzou to the conference by beating the Tigers in Columbia. Jarvis Jones was a one way wrecking crew in the game. The Red Clay Hounds also completed a rarity in beating Tennessee, Florida, Auburn and Tech in the same season. A bumbling, stumbling butt kicking in the other Columbia was the only mar on the regular season. And an underdog team went into Jacksonville and beat the #2 Gators 17-9 with Jarvis Jones tormenting the team he loved to torment most. Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall lived up to their billings as the Dawgs developed a potent ground game. Gurley was amazing in the Bama game as time and time again he gained yards when there were none to be had. Todd Grantham’s defense played well at times, but lacked depth (self inflicted) and could not even slow the Alabama ground game. A wonderful football season, but again, tempered with the disappointment of being close.
All SEC OLB Jarvis Jones, TB Todd Gurley, FS Bacarri Rambo, ILB Alex Ogletree, NG John Jenkins, OG Chris Burnette
All American OLB Jarvis Jones
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Post by thatoneguyD22 on Sept 1, 2015 10:50:28 GMT -5
First Buckeye game I ever saw was a 35-14 rout of Missouri in 1998. Michael Wiley ran all over the place. It was great. I got his autograph a couple years back and we chatted briefly about that game, and how he was bummed Cooper made him come out once he crested the 200 yard mark. Good guy, really. I still say that's the best team they've ever fielded (though this season might change that). They would have pummeled Tennessee. They had John Cooper on the radio yesterday, and they asked him "If the College Football Playoff was around when you were coaching, what years do you think you could have won a championship?" He said, "96 and 98 we were the best team in the country" And I had to agree.
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Post by badgersballers on Sept 1, 2015 12:32:54 GMT -5
4. 2006 Wisconsin Badgers-Coming into the Bret Bielema's first season as coach, expectations were fairly low with the Badgers starting the season unranked, and pick to finish in the middle of the Big Ten. They started the season slowly with the offense being out of sink, while the defense was playing at an elite level with the Badgers winning their first 3 games. In their third game of the season they played at #6 Michigan, and despite the game being tied, Michigan pulled away late to win 27-17. Despite the loss, Wisconsin was able to continue to play well as they won their next 3 games 52-17 over IU, 41-9 over NW, and 48-12 over Minnesota. In their 4th game, they shut down the #1 passing offense and beat Purdue 24-3. In their next game they played Illinois, and despite being heavy favorites they fell behind 24-7 vs Juice Williams led Illinois in the first half before recovering and scoring 23-0 unanswered to win 30-24. Wisconsin's defense dominated PSU's offense, and even went as far to break JoePa's leg with the Badgers winning 13-3. In their final Big Ten game of the season they played rival Iowa on the road without starting QB John Stocco. Despite this, Wisconsin took an early lead before holding on to win 24-21. In their final regular season game of the season they played Buffalo at home and 10th ranked Wisconsin dominated winning 35-3. In their bowl game, #5 Wisconsin played #13 Arkansas led by Heisman runner up Darren McFadden. The Badgers took an early lead, and never trailed after the 4th quarter winning a close game 17-14. That game was pretty much the story of the season, the defense dominated the game, and the offense was usually efficient enough to win the game. Pretty ironic how though how the season ended for Bret.
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Post by bigdawgs on Sept 1, 2015 18:14:08 GMT -5
First Buckeye game I ever saw was a 35-14 rout of Missouri in 1998. Michael Wiley ran all over the place. It was great. I got his autograph a couple years back and we chatted briefly about that game, and how he was bummed Cooper made him come out once he crested the 200 yard mark. Good guy, really. I still say that's the best team they've ever fielded (though this season might change that). They would have pummeled Tennessee. They had John Cooper on the radio yesterday, and they asked him "If the College Football Playoff was around when you were coaching, what years do you think you could have won a championship?" He said, "96 and 98 we were the best team in the country" And I had to agree. Maybe. But not sure where anyone gets the idea that Ohio State would have pummeled Tennessee. The Vols played more game ranked teams and more year ranked teams, their opponents had a better record with more winning FBS level teams and they didn't lose a game. They certainly were good and could have won...but pummeling an unbeaten team that was pretty good, I think not.
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Post by thatoneguyD22 on Sept 1, 2015 19:08:14 GMT -5
It's a little bit of "17 years after the fact" bravado but it's also because that team was stacked to the brim with future NFL talent, and won every game that year so easily aside from the loss to Sparty.
I certainly think they should have been chosen #2 ahead of Florida St with an injured starting QB.
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Post by thatoneguyD22 on Sept 1, 2015 23:21:20 GMT -5
3. 2006 Despite the fact that the Buckeyes were preseason #1, I don't recall there being terribly high hopes for this season. Returning only 3 starters from the last year's stellar defense, combined with losses on the offensive line and Holmes at WR, there was a bit of pessimism for this team. After the victory against #2 Texas however, those fears were extinguished. They managed to win their first 9 games, all by at least 3 scores, while Troy Smith broke the Big Ten record for passing efficiency. Meanwhile, Sophomore James Laurinaitis became a standout MLB, earning his first of 3 All-American honors. In game 10, they struggled a bit with Illinois, Being held to their lowest point total all season but still winning 17-10, before blowing out Northwestern to set them up for the Game of the Century against #2 Michigan. I don't think I can quite describe the hype that this game had in Columbus. It was bigger than the 02 National Championship game. Bigger than any game OSU had ever played as far as I can tell. The Stadium was at fever pitch, and the Buckeyes had a huge 2nd quarter to take a 28-14 lead into halftime. The Wolverines would cut it to 28-24 before trading TDs two TDs each to make the game 42-39 with 3 minutes left to go. Ted Ginn would recover the onside kick and then the Buckeye offense ran the clock out. The Buckeyes had climbed to the top of the CFB mountain, Senior and Captain Troy Smith won the Heisman Trophy, and they all lived happily ever after... Just kidding, Troy Smith gained 10 lbs going to award dinners, Doug Datish lost the ability to stand up, and Ted Ginn's ankle turned to glass for the championship game. Despite the Buckeyes only gaining 82 yards the whole game on offense, the game didn't really become a blowout until right before the half, when Troy Smith fumbled on the OSU 5 yard line, giving Florida an easy score to make it 34-14 at the half. I still contend that if this game was played a week after the final game of the regular season that the result would have been very different. Standout Memory: This image of Ohio Stadium under the lights after the victory over Michigan. The Sea of Scarlet with just those police triangles around the goalposts. Still great. 2006 Final Record: 12-1 (8-0) Beat Michigan Lost National Championship Game Big Ten Champions Awards- Troy Smith- Heisman Trophy, AP Player of the Year, Walter Camp Award, Davey O'Brien Award, Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year. James Laurinaitis- Nagurski Award. All-Americans: Troy Smith (QB), James Laurinaitis (LB), Quinn Pitcock (DT)
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2015 2:22:12 GMT -5
I was in B deck behind the end zone for Troy Smith's miracle rollout against Penn State. The only time I was ever happy to be in B deck, since the weather was awful and at least we weren't being rained on. The Lions were tough that year, too, and refused to go away all game. Smith was flushed from the pocket, and he did a helluva job to evade the defense. The ball went up--and disappeared, above the top of the deck above me. I saw Robiskie was open... and then the ball came down right in his arms. The stadium went crazy. It was a beautiful moment.
I blame the loss in the title game entirely on Ted Ginn's injury. It changed the entire flow of their offense, which centered around Ginn being double covered, leaving Anthony Gonzalez and Brian Robiskie a chance to get open. Without Ginn, the whole thing fell to shit.
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Post by bigdawgs on Sept 2, 2015 7:10:50 GMT -5
2. 2007 Georgia 11-2 (6-2) At season's end, arguably the best team in America. Two early season losses kept Georgia from winning the SEC East. Matthew Stafford's second season at the helm along with Knowshon Moreno and a defense that developed late became a team that no one wanted to play at season's end. Georgia opened with a resounding win over Oklahoma State but lost a nailbiter the next week to Carolina. Then the Dawgs won a stunning overtime game in Tuscaloosa against then unbeaten Alabama. A visit to Knoxville resulted in a 35-14 drubbing. A week later Georgia escaped Vandy on a last play field goal. Mark Richt ripped into his team following a classless celebration on the Commodore logo. This team was headed toward disappointment. Then the light went on and Georgia stunned defending national champion Florida 42-30 in the famous St. Johns River Dance game. They pounded Auburn and beat Tech to close out the year. In a year when almost everyone had 2 losses, they were ranked 2d going into the league championship games, but got passed before the bowl selection. Richt's team was selected to represent the SEC in New Orleans for their 3d Sugar Bowl in 5 years. The opponent, Hawaii was a fashionable pick by many under the assumption that Cole Brennan's quick passing attack would rip the Dags secondary. Couldn't have been more wrong. Georgia, in their black jersies overwhelmed Hawaii on both sides of the line of scrimmage and won in a rout. Georgia finished the season ranked #2 to fellow SEC member LSU.
All SEC DT Geno Atkins, MLB Dannell Ellerbe, TB Knowshon Moreno, C Fernando Velasco All American TB Knowshon Moreno
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Post by thatoneguyD22 on Sept 2, 2015 10:26:11 GMT -5
I was in B deck behind the end zone for Troy Smith's miracle rollout against Penn State. The only time I was ever happy to be in B deck, since the weather was awful and at least we weren't being rained on. The Lions were tough that year, too, and refused to go away all game. Smith was flushed from the pocket, and he did a helluva job to evade the defense. The ball went up--and disappeared, above the top of the deck above me. I saw Robiskie was open... and then the ball came down right in his arms. The stadium went crazy. It was a beautiful moment. I blame the loss in the title game entirely on Ted Ginn's injury. It changed the entire flow of their offense, which centered around Ginn being double covered, leaving Anthony Gonzalez and Brian Robiskie a chance to get open. Without Ginn, the whole thing fell to shit. I don't think you can blame it entirely on the injury. Troy Smith's weight gain made him slow and his ability to scramble was part of what made him so dangerous. And the O-line's performance in that game was just awful. That 4th down attempt in the 2nd quarter was some boneheaded coaching too. You're on your own 30 and only down by 10 and you go for it? It was just awful. That game was a disaster.
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Post by badgersballers on Sept 2, 2015 13:28:01 GMT -5
3. 2011 Wisconsin Badgers-Going into the season, despite being preseason ranked #11 there were legit hopes for competing for a National Title with the transfer of Russell Wilson to the program. The non-conference did nothing to change that as the offense dominated winning 51-14 over UNLV, 35-0 over Oregon State, 49-7 over Northern Illinois, and 59-10 over South Dakota. In their first Big Ten game they played #8 Nebraska, and despite trailing 14-7 early in the 2nd quarter the Badgers would take a 27-14 lead at halftime and end up winning the game 48-17. At that point Russell Wilson was firmly entrenched as a Heisman contender, and Montee Ball was having a great start to the season. Also the Nebraska game was where Melvin Gordon was lost for the season, would've been interesting to see how his health would've effected the season. In their next game, Wisconsin won 59-7 over Indiana setting up a huge match up with #13 Michigan State in East Lansing. Despite taking a 14-0 point lead with the ball and driving in the 1st quarter, MSU was able to rally over a multitude of Wisconsin mistakes to take a 23-14 lead into halftime. Trailing 31-17 in the 4th quarter, Russell Wilson led two touchdown drives to tie the game. On the last possession, obviously Cousins was able to throw a hail mary to win the game, Bielema made a critical mistake not having more guys deep. The next week Wisconsin played against Ohio State a similar story played out, Wisconsin looked to take control early, and lead at halftime, but OSU controlled the 2nd half, and the game seemed over when the Buckeyes took a 10 point lead with 4 a half minutes left. Russell Wilson though responded leading two touchdown drives in the final 2 minutes to take a 3 point lead with a minute left. After a long kick return, Wisconsin again lost on a long pass play with under 30 seconds left losing 33-29. The Badgers though responded winning every single game during the rest of the regular season by double digits including a 38 point win over #19 Penn State clinching a Big Ten Championship appearance. In a rematch vs MSU, the Badgers were able to comeback from a 4th quarter deficit and win 42-39. Playing in the Rose Bowl for the 2nd straight season they played the #5 Oregon Ducks in a game that went back and forth with the Ducks scoring the final 10 points of the game to win 45-38. Despite the great season, honestly this year was a disappointment just from the way they lost both Big Ten games. Individually, Montee Ball and Russell Wilson both had record setting seasons with Ball tying the Touchdown record, and Wilson setting the passing efficiency record.
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Post by thatoneguyD22 on Sept 2, 2015 22:05:53 GMT -5
^IMO, that's the best Wisconsin team I ever saw. It was literally two plays away from a National Championship Appearance. I did not think OSU was going to win, and I was at that game.
I think the Badgers would have given LSU a run for their money that year.
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Post by thatoneguyD22 on Sept 2, 2015 23:36:13 GMT -5
This one's recent. 2. 2014 Never thought this team had a shot in hell. With Braxton Miller, I thought this was an 11-1 team that could maybe make a run if they managed to beat Sparty on the road, which seemed unlikely. After Braxton got hurt, I figured we were a 9-3 team, after the Va Tech loss...maybe as low as 7-5 or 8-4. I'll admit I was on the J.T. Barrett hype train though, I was excited when he was recruited and figured he'd be a great player with a year of seasoning under his belt. Against Cincinnati in week 4, the secondary gave up 3 TDs in a row, turning a 30-7 lead to a 30-28 one, and I was sure the season was a wash. But then, the Buckeyes turned it around as the defense continued to improve, winning a couple easy games in a row as well as an OT victory over Penn State before traveling to East Lansing to face the #7 Spartans. It was a back and forth game, but the Buckeyes were able to grab a lead in the 2nd half and hold it, winning 49-37. After beating Minnesota and Michigan, OSU was once again the Big Ten title game, this time against Wisconsin, but now they were led by sophomore backup QB Cardale Jones, a 6-5 250lb physical freak more known for his tweets than his football. But in his first start, he would play incredibly well, going 12/17 for 257 yards and 3 TDs leading the Buckeyes to a 59-0 win over Bucky, just enough to get OSU into the playoff, with a semifinal matchup against #1 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Jones would struggle early, turning the ball over 3 times while Bama took a 21-6 lead. Then about halfway through the 2nd quarter, the Buckeyes would get it going, scoring two TDs to make it 21-20 at half. Cardale Jones would find Devin Smith deep and then the Silver Bullet's would return an INT for a TD to make the score 34-21. Bama would make it a one score game going into the 4th, as the final quarter became a defensive battle. With less than 4 minutes to go, Ezekiel Elliot would break a huge 85 yard run to make it 42-28. The Tide would score another TD but fail to recover the onside, and OSU would win. The Championship game was not quite so dramatic, The Buckeyes would take a 21-10 lead into halftime, the defense doing well against the explosive Oregon attack. Jones would turn the ball over three times in the 3rd, but the Ducks only managed to get 10 points on those TOs, and wouldn't score again as Elliot would get 3 more TDs to make the final 42-20 for Ohio State's 8th National Championship. Standout Memory: Getting my ass dumped by my girlfriend of two years out of nowhere right in the middle of the season. Really hurt my enjoyment of most of the games. The whole time I was like "oh yeah, of course we'd win the championship THIS year." Oh well. 2014 Final Record: 14-1 (8-0) Beat Michigan Won Sugar Bowl Won National Championship Big Ten East Champs, Big Ten Champions Awards- Tom Herman- Frank Broyles Award. Joey Bosa- Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year. J.T. Barrett- Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Big Ten QB of the Year. All-Americans: Joey Bosa (DE)
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Post by Deleted on Sept 3, 2015 1:24:50 GMT -5
That team was just surreal. To beat two of the three best teams in the country, one of them badly, with your third string quarterback, in back to back games? As Kirk Herbstreit pointed out, how many of us even know the name of our team's third-stringer?
They were a lot of fun to watch.
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Post by bigdawgs on Sept 3, 2015 8:16:45 GMT -5
1 2002 Georgia 13-1 (8-1) Twenty years. It had been 20 long years since Georgia had won an SEC title. They had not even won the east in the 10 years of division play. There had been plenty of good teams but never one to make it to the promised land. Mark Richt's second team did it and did it in style. Opening with Clemson and South Carolina, Georgia opened with two close and tough victories. David Pollack's famous steal ensured the win in Columbia. They won their first game ever in Tuscaloosa on a late Billy Bennett Field goal and they held off Tennessee in Athens. A painful to watch dropped pass by Terrence Edwards ended dreams of an unbeaten season. A dramatic comeback on the Plain with Greene to Johnson, assured Georgia a place in Atlanta and a butchering of the Hogs followed. A win over ACC Champ in the Sugar Bowl left Georgia ranked 3d in Mark Richt's second season. In most years, a 13-1 SEC Champ would play for a National Title. This year there would be two unbeatens and the Sugar Bowl would have to do. This was the best Georgia team of the past 20 years.
ALL SEC QB David Greene, OT Jon Stinchcomb, SE Terrence Edwards, DE David Pollack, LB Boss Bailey, PK Billy Bennett, TB Musa Smith, DT Jonathan Sullivan, LB Tony Gilbert, Rov Kentrell Curry, OG Kevin Breedlove
All American LB Boss Bailey, DE David Pollack, OT Jon Stinchcomb
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Post by athens on Sept 3, 2015 8:37:37 GMT -5
D22, This was an AWESOME idea. Thanks for putting this together. And thanks to all who have participated. Great reading.
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Post by thatoneguyD22 on Sept 3, 2015 10:09:48 GMT -5
Well...I guess I could skip ahead one day and do #1 now. What with the first games being today and everything. 1. 2002 There's something about this season. Something about the way it came together. How it seemingly came out of nowhere. How it was a slow crawl up the polls, the injuries to key players, how every game was a nailbiter, all of it made it magical. The offense was nothing special, a decent QB, a very good freshman RB, a great O-Line, some great receivers, but not the juggernaut that the 95 or 98 or even 06 teams were, and while the defense was good, it wasn't full of future NFL stars like the 98 or 05 teams were. The team didn't blow out its opponents like the 96 or 06 or 2010 team, but unlike those teams, it won every game. Texas Tech was first. The story of Maurice Clarett began when he was the first ever true freshman RB to ever start for the Buckeyes, scoring 3 TDs to win 45-21. Next, Kent State, a 51-17 blowout. Next up, Washington State, currently #10, this team would climb as high as #3 later in the season and would play in the Rose Bowl. Buckeyes held them to a single TD, winning 25-7. The story almost ended in Cincinnati the next week. Ohio St trailed 19-16 late in the 4th, until Chris Gamble intercepted a pass and Craig Krenzel had the best scramble in Buckeye history to score the winning TD. Fairly easy victories over Northwestern (27-16) and San Jose St (50-7) would follow, before going to Madison to face the Badgers. The Buckeyes would avoid another close call, scoring a TD in the 4th and intercepting a pass late in the game. Against #17 Penn St, Ohio St would fail to score an offensive TD, but the defense stepped up, as Gamble would take back an INT for a TD, combined with Mke Nugent's 2 FGs to win 13-7. #19 Minnesota wouldn't put up nearly as much of a fight, OSU would win 34-3. In the next game, it seemed like the Buckeyes would once again have a great season stopped short by a mediocre Big Ten team, as Purdue took a 6-3 lead in the 4th. With 2 minutes left to go, Jim Tressel decided against kicking the FG, instead calling a deep pass that Michael Jenkins would catch for a TD. That same day, #1 Oklahoma would lose to TAMU, and the Buckeyes would move up to #2. Just a week later, the Illini would take OSU to overtime on a last second FG, but the Buckeye defense would step up and make things easy. In the last game, Michigan took a 9-7 lead into the 4th quarter. Krenzel would throw a TD pass to Clarett with 5 minutes left to go to take the lead, and Will Allen would intercept a pass as time expired to seal the victory. They would face defending National Champions Miami in the Fiesta Bowl, a team with 2 Heisman trophy finalists and a bevy of future NFL starters. The Hurricanes were 11.5 point favorites, and most expected them to win with relative ease, and an early 7-0 lead looked to confirm that. However, the Buckeys would dominate the second quarter and take a 14-7 lead into halftime, which became a 17-7 lead after halftime. Miami would score a TD to make it 17-14 going into the 4th. Towards the end of regulation, Gamble would catch a pass on 3rd down while rolling out of bounds which was falsely called incomplete. This forced the Buckeyes to punt, giving Miami the chance to tie the game and send it to overtime. Miami would easily score a TD, and then the Buckeyes would convert a 4th and 14 to keep the game alive. On 4th and goal, a pass into the endzone had a PI penalty called against Miami after the play was over and after the official had made the sign for defensive holding, giving the Buckeyes a fresh set of downs. While it remains controversial, it has been upheld by NASO and was even called one of the top 18 calls of all time Referee Magazine. After a QB sneak by Krenzel, tying the game, Clarett would rush for another TD to give OSU a 31-24 lead. On the subsequent Hurricanes possession, the Buckeyes would be called for a pass interference in the endzone, giving Miami 4 tries from the goalline to score the tying TD. The Buckeye defense came up big, stopping them all four times, making the Buckeyes 14-0 and National Champions. The 2002 team will never be considered the most talented team in OSU history, but this season might just be the best in Ohio State history. Standout Memory: So many. Going to the Texas Tech game and hearing the crowd chant "Maur-ice, Maur-ice" just as they had for Eddie George stands out. Tressel winning back to back games against Michigan, something OSU hadn't done since 1981 and 1982, was also pretty special. But still, nothing will ever be better than that feeling of the first National Championship of my lifetime. It was glorious. 2002 Final Record: 14-0 (8-0) Beat Michigan Won Fiesta Bowl Won National Championship Big Ten Co-Champions Awards- Mike Doss- Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. Maurice Clarett- Big Ten Freshman of the Year. All-Americans: Mike Doss (SS), Andy Groom (P), Mike Nugent (K), Matt Wilhelm (LB)
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Post by badgersballers on Sept 3, 2015 10:26:12 GMT -5
2. 1998 Wisconsin Badgers-Coming into the 1998 season, most picked the Badgers to finish 4th in the Big Ten behind Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State. Starting the season 20th, Wisconsin won their 3 non-conference games in easy fashion over @san Diego State, Ohio, and UNLV. #14 Wisconsin opened the Big Ten season by blowing out NW 52-7, and followed that up with close victories at Indiana and Antwaan Randle-El 24-20, and a 31-24 win over Purdue and Drew Brees. The Badgers won their next 3 games in blowout fashion with winning at Illinois 37-3, at Iowa 31-0, and vs Minnesota 26-7. Now 8-0, #8 Wisconsin traveled for their toughest game of the season at #15 Michigan. Despite leading after 1 quarter 7-0, the Badgers were dominated by Michigan losing 27-10. Still despite this when the Badgers played #13 Penn State they knew a victory would assure a Rose Bowl berth because of Ohio State beating Michigan earlier in the day. The Badgers played one of their better games of the year blowing out Penn State 24-3 to ensure a bid in the Rose Bowl. Despite, being labeled as the "Worst team to ever play in the Rose Bowl" by Craig James, and being a heavy underdog to #6 UCLA, #9 Wisconsin never trailed in the 2nd half, and won 38-31 with both teams helping set a new record for most total yards in a Rose Bowl.
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Post by badgersballers on Sept 3, 2015 10:41:40 GMT -5
1. 1999 Wisconsin Badgers-Coming into the 1999 season there were expectations to once again go to the Rose Bowl, and win the Big Ten and it looked good after two blowout victories over Murray State, and Ball State. The 8th ranked Badgers ended their non-conference schedule at Cincinnati and despite being 20+ point favorites they lost 17-12 in game marred by controversy as Wisconsin had two touchdowns overturned because of penalties. In their 4th game #17 Wisconsin played #4 Michigan at home, and in a game marred by more stupid Wisconsin mistakes they lost 21-16. The biggest thing to come out of that game was redshirt Freshman Brooks Bollinger being named starting QB. Truthfully, Alvarez should've started him from the start as he added a lot more to the passing game. In his first start on road vs #12 Ohio State, the Badgers fell behind 17-0 in the first half, but they were able to recover and score 42 unanswered to blow the Buckeyes out. The following week without Coach Alvarez who was in the hospital, the Badgers were able to beat rival #25 Minnesota on the road 20-17 in overtime. The Badgers were able to follow that up with a victory over Indiana setting up a huge game vs #11 Michigan State who had the #1 rushing defense in the country. Ron Dayne was able to rush for over 200 yards as the #16 Badgers blew out Michigan State and Nick Saban 40-10. They followed this up beating Northwestern 35-19 on the road setting up another huge matchup on the road between #10 Wisconsin and #17 Purdue. Both team boasted Heisman candidates, and in a game that went back and forth the Badgers were able to win 28-21. In their final regular season game of the year the #9 Badgers hosted rival Iowa. Early in the game Ron Dayne was able to set the all time rushing record on his way to the Heisman trophy, and the Badgers were able to clinch an outright Big Ten Title winning 41-3. Going into the Rose Bowl the #4 Badgers played #22 Stanford, and despite being heavy favorites they fell behind early 9-0, and trailed 9-7 going into halftime. The Badgers defense was able to control the 2nd half, and Ron Dayne came a yard short of tying his Rose Bowl rushing record from the previous season on their way to a hard fought 17-9 win.
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Post by NCBulldawg on Sept 3, 2015 11:27:13 GMT -5
I have to agree that this has been one of the best threads of All-time as far as football, talking football, watching football and staying on topic. Thank you all for your effort, time and insight. Cheers!
Oh! And, welcome to College Football 2015! Go Dawgs!
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Post by thatoneguyD22 on Sept 3, 2015 11:39:12 GMT -5
Thanks again to everyone that took part, especially bigdawgs and BB. You guys are great.
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Post by thatoneguyD22 on Jan 5, 2016 19:26:33 GMT -5
So, i was thinking about this again.
To those who contributed, how would this season fit into your list?
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Post by thatoneguyD22 on Jan 5, 2016 19:30:26 GMT -5
I think I would put the 2015 Ohio State Buckeye season at #5. Just behind the 1998 season and just above the 96 season.
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Post by bigdawgs on Jan 5, 2016 19:40:59 GMT -5
I would rank this 2015 Georgia team as #15, despite the 10 wins. The wins were uninspiring...except perhaps the bowl game win over Penn State with the coaching chaos. Any time Georgia beats Auburn and Tech it should be considered a good win, regardless of how good they were. But the loss to Alabama was a body slam. We blew a huge lead against Tennessee and of course lost our best player on the first play. Can't explain the Florida game at all...then again, there are a bunch of Florida games I can't explain. A few high points...the defense continued to improve and Jake Ganus was a real positive story for the Dawgs. The firing of Mark Richt was surreal and the soap opera that has followed it has been really weird. Don't have a lot of experience firing coaches who had 40 wins in past 4 years and who was hired within 48 hours of being fired. Still, the season was a big disappointment...but I bet there are lots of teams who would gladly take a 10-3 record.
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Post by cobrakai on Jan 6, 2016 14:33:07 GMT -5
I would rank this 2015 Georgia team as #15, despite the 10 wins. The wins were uninspiring...except perhaps the bowl game win over Penn State with the coaching chaos. Any time Georgia beats Auburn and Tech it should be considered a good win, regardless of how good they were. But the loss to Alabama was a body slam. We blew a huge lead against Tennessee and of course lost our best player on the first play. Can't explain the Florida game at all...then again, there are a bunch of Florida games I can't explain. A few high points...the defense continued to improve and Jake Ganus was a real positive story for the Dawgs. The firing of Mark Richt was surreal and the soap opera that has followed it has been really weird. Don't have a lot of experience firing coaches who had 40 wins in past 4 years and who was hired within 48 hours of being fired. Still, the season was a big disappointment...but I bet there are lots of teams who would gladly take a 10-3 record. I was expecting a 10-3 or 9-4 campaign before the season. FSU ended up 10-3 but loses to a bad GT team and Houston made it seem worse. Looking forward to next year. Playoffs or bust.
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Post by thatoneguyD22 on Dec 31, 2016 23:35:19 GMT -5
I'd probably put this year at about 11th.
How was your season compared to recent ones?
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Post by BTB07 on Dec 31, 2016 23:45:45 GMT -5
I'd probably put this year at about 11th. How was your season compared to recent ones? The loss tonight was so disappointing I think it is hard to rank now. I mean one of my buddies was complaining the whole game and after the game he blew up and said everything sucks. I told him the team went 11-2 beat Michigan and beat Oklahoma on the road don't let the last loss cloud the judgment. Tells you how high the expectations are and how great the recent run has been that this type of season is not just disappointing but not even in the top ten seasons of the last two decades.
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