BuckeyePlanet

1. In 1951, Woody Hayes became the head coach of Ohio State and quickly returned the program to prominence. Hayes won three national championships in his first eleven seasons (1954, 1957, and 1961) and also produced a Heisman Trophy winner (Hopalong Cassady in 1955), an Outland Trophy winner (Jim Parker in 1956), and a Maxwell Award winner (Bob Ferguson in 1961). Perhaps more importantly, Hayes was 7-4 in The Game, including a 50-20 blowout in 1961. After Michigan scored a late touchdown to cut the Ohio State lead to 42-20, Hayes ordered his team to play on. The Buckeyes scored a touchdown of their own with 5 seconds left in the game, and Hayes elected to go for a two-point conversion. The conversion was successful, and the 50 points scored by Ohio State remains a team record in The Game.

2. Neither team was very good from 1962 to 1967, with Ohio State posting an overall record of 35-18-1 and no Big Ten championships, and with Michigan posting an overall record of 28-28-2 and a...

Michigan Sucks!

That would probably suffice for most Buckeye fans, but for the rest of you here is a more complete history of the rivalry:

1. Ohio State and Michigan first met on October 16, 1897. Michigan won that contest by the score of 34-0, but that was just par for the course for the 1897 Buckeyes as the team was outscored 168 to 18 on the season, with seven shutouts, en route to a program-worst 1-7-1 record.

2. The teams next met in 1900, and appropriately tied 0-0.

3. The teams played each year from 1901 to 1912, with Michigan compiling a record of 11-0-1 and outscoring Ohio State by a combined score of 321 to 21 (27 to 2 on a per game basis) with eight shutouts. The lowlight of Michigan's historic run was an 86-0 shellacking in 1902, the most points ever surrendered and the worst defeat ever suffered by the Buckeyes.

4. From 1901 to 1912, Ohio State was a fairly good team, with an overall record of 78-32-11 (.690 winning percentage) and a winning...

The beginning of the season coincided with BuckeyePlanet’s front page refresh, and at that time Clarity put a call out for people who were interested in writing things for the front page. For those of you who have been around for a decade or more might remember that there was a pretty strong team of volunteer bloggers who wrote previews, recruiting updates and special features for the front page. I had always wanted to contribute in that capacity, but I didn’t have the expertise, insider access, or interest in diving deep into statistics that those other folks had and never really had an idea of what I could bring to the table.

In the time that has passed between BuckeyePlanet front page 1.0 and 2.0, the landscape of college football coverage on the internet has changed a lot. Nowadays if you want to write something it doesn’t all have to be news and statistics and interviews. There is room for fun. There is room for irreverence. There is room for somebody who enjoys college...

1. With the 17-14 loss last night, Ohio State's overall record against Michigan State is now 29-15-0 (.659 winning percentage).

2. The loss marks the fifth time that a Michigan State team has ruined a perfect season (at least 7-0-0 start) for Ohio State: 1972; 1974; 1998; 2013; 2015.

3. What we can kiss goodbye after last night's loss:


Silver lining: With the loss, Urban Meyer is now in contention for the Big Ten Coach of the Year Award.

4. This loss had been brewing all year. We all noticed that something just wasn't right with the offense, and we blamed the play calling, the offensive line, the erratic quarterback play. In reality, I believe that the problem went much...

1. Michigan State was the last of the "original" members of the Big Ten to join the conference. The Spartans joined the Big Ten in 1949 but did not play a full conference football schedule until 1953.

2. Now for a brief aside on the history of the Big Ten. The conference was formed in 1896 with seven members: Chicago, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue, and Wisconsin. Indiana and Iowa joined in 1899. Michigan withdrew from the conference in 1908, only to return in 1917. In the meantime, Ohio State joined in 1912. When Chicago permanently withdrew in 1946, Michigan...

1. The Ohio State Buckeyes (10-0; 6-0) remained perfect on the season with a dominating 28-3 win over the Illinois Fighting Illini (5-5; 2-4). The Buckeye offense sputtered at times, but running back Ezekiel Elliott kept his Heisman hopes alive with his 15th straight game of 100+ yards rushing (27 carries, 181 yards, 6.9 ypc, 2 TDs) and wide receiver Michael Thomas hauled in 6 receptions for 76 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback J.T. Barrett, fresh off a one-game suspension, had 224 yards of total offense and 2 total touchdowns, but also committed 2 costly turnovers. But the offense's inconsistency didn't really matter, because the Buckeye defense held the Illini to 261 total yards, 20 yards rushing on 25 carries, 3.6 yards per play, and 5/20 (25.0%) on third and fourth down conversion attempts. Defensive end Joey Bosa led the way with 7 tackles and 3 TFLs, while middle linebacker Raekwon McMillan had 14 tackles, 2 TFLs...

1. It wasn't always pretty, but in the end Ohio State dominated Illinois for a 28-3 victory in Champaign to improve to 10-0-0 on the season.

2. Ohio State has started a season 10-0-0 on eleven previous occasions. Below is a chart showing each previous 10-0-0 season along with the team's final record, final poll ranking, and a look at how the Buckeyes finished that season:

Season	Final Record	Final AP	Final CP	Subsequent Games
1954	10-0-0	1	2	none
1968	10-0-0	1	1	none
1975	11-1-0	4	4	Beat Michigan; lost to Stanford in Rose Bowl
1979	11-1-0	4	4	Beat Michigan; lost to Southern Cal in Rose Bowl
1995	11-2-0	6	8	Beat Indiana; lost to Michigan...

1. Ohio State has played Illinois 101 times since the series began in 1902; the only team that Ohio State has played more often is Michigan (111 games since 1897). Ohio State leads the series 67-30-4, for a .683 winning percentage.

2. Ohio State got off to a very slow start in the series, with a 0-0 tie in 1902; a 46-0 loss in 1904; and a 37-0 loss in 1914. The Buckeyes finally managed a field goal in 1915 to force a 3-3 tie with the Fighting Illini. Ohio State's first win came the following season, when the legendary Chic Harley led the Buckeyes to a 7-6 road victory.

3. With Chic Harley leading the way, the Buckeyes compiled a 7-0-0 record in 1916 and an 8-0-1 in 1917 (including a 13-0 win over Illinois). During that 16-game unbeaten run, the Buckeyes outscored their opponents by a combined 550 to 35 (or 34 to 2 on a per game basis) with 10 shutouts. When Harley left to serve in World War One in 1918, the team fell into a state of mediocrity, posting a 3-3 record which included...

We are now in that time of year where just about everybody seems to pack on a few extra pounds. The weather is a little less pleasant and the football more compelling, so we end up sitting on our asses eating more nachos and drinking more beer. Thanksgiving is right around the corner and only adds to that. Christmas too. There are parties and get-togethers and food and drink are about endless.

Poobert knows all about this. He used to be a skinny-mini. Just look at him in this picture, taken not long after he was adopted:


It didn't take long for him to become fat as hell. Here he is just a couple years later:

1. The Ohio State Buckeyes (9-0; 5-0) kept their perfect season and national title hopes alive with a 28-14 victory over a pesky Minnesota Golden Gophers (4-5; 1-4) squad that has played tough against #3 OSU, #8 TCU, and #17 Michigan so far this season. Quarterback Cardale Jones, subbing for a temporarily suspended J.T. Barrett, had a decent game by the numbers: 12/22 passing for 187 yards, one TD, no INTs; 12 rushes for 65 yards including a game-clinching 38-yard touchdown run with under two minutes left in the game. Running back Ezekiel Elliott had his 14th straight game of 100+ yards (26 carries, 114 yards, TD). Wide receiver Michael Thomas was his steady self with 4 receptions for 39 yards and a TD, while Jalin Marshall and Braxton Miller each caught long balls (44 yards and 45 yards, respectively). Even with all that production, the Buckeye offense still seemed out of sorts for much of the evening (7/16...

1. Last season, Minnesota was down 17 points with 10:08 left in the game; at the 1:19 mark, they were attempting an onside kick for a chance to tie the game. Last night, Minnesota was down 21 points with 14:42 left to play; at the 2:03 mark, they were attempting an onside kick for a chance to tie the game.

2. Last night, Alabama beat LSU 30-16 at home. The Tide held the Tigers to 54 yards rushing on 26 attempts (2.1 ypc). Last night, Ohio State beat Minnesota 28-14 at home. The Buckeyes held the Golden Gophers to 33 yards rushing on 26 attempts (1.3 ypc). So who will get credit for having the great victory? Granted, LSU was undefeated and ranked top-5 in all polls and Minnesota was a 4-4 team. But LSU had struggled in several games this season and proved themselves to be a one-dimensional team, while Minnesota had a highly-rated defense and played #8 TCU and #17 Michigan to within one score. The Minnesota win was a quality win, but the Buckeyes will get zero credit for it from the...

1. Ohio State has a record of 44-7-0 (.863 winning percentage) over Minnesota. Ohio State has won nine games in a row in the series. The Golden Gophers' last win over the Buckeyes came during the 2000 season, by the score of 29-17.

2. Ohio State has outscored Minnesota in the series by 1,568 to 661, or an average score per game of 31 to 13.

3. Minnesota and Ohio State did not play each other between 1950 (Buckeyes won 48-0) and 1965 (Buckeyes won 11-10).

4. It's hard to believe now, but Minnesota used to be one of the giants of college football. From 1900 to 1941, Minnesota compiled an overall record of 248-68-22 for a .766 winning percentage. During that four-decade period Minnesota had the third best record in college football, behind only Notre Dame (.822 winning percentage) and Michigan (.772 winning percentage).

5. From 1942 to 2014, Minnesota hasn't fared quite as well. The Gophers overall record since 1942 is 361-403-16 for a .473 winning...

It's November - one of Poobert's favorite times of year. It's all about quality time. We'll spend entire days together around the Thanksgiving holiday when I get some time off work. The weather cools down, which means the heater kicks on. We'll even hang out by the fireplace some. And of course, college football starts heating up too. The matchups are bigger and matter more than the ones in previous weeks, and the experience of watching and hanging on every moment becomes even more intense.

I've made it sound like he just sleeps through everything, but he's really caught up in the drama of the season. This past Saturday he came up to get me out of bed so I could turn on College Gameday for him. This took place right after the JT Barrett news had broken, and I caught is reaction on camera.


Poobert was sad to hear about JT Barrett. He's...

This week was the Buckeyes' bye week. Including them about half of the current top ten was idle. Most of the games scheduled for yesterday sucked. That doesn't mean we didn't see significant things taking place. How has the playoff picture changed? What is the Buckeyes place? Here are all the things you know to not sound like an idiot talking about college football this week:

What We Learned About the Buckeyes:

JT Barrett was arrested for OVI. He has been suspended for next week's game against Minnesota. You won't find any sanctimony on this situation in this column - either as it refers to the magnitude of the mistake or the magnitude of the punishment. I'd rather focus on what this means for the team. They are still trying to win a championship after all.

As a fan, it's disappointing that right after we all thought that this season's interminable quarterback controversy was finally settled, it's suddenly up in the air again. Cardale Jones has an opportunity...

1. There's usually a reason why a guy spends 20+ years in coaching and never gets the head gig. Staggering levels of ineptitude is quite often that reason. Exhibit A is Minnesota Golden Gophers (4-4; 1-3) interim head coach Tracy Claeys. After Jerry Kill abruptly retired for health reasons last Wednesday, Gopher defensive coordinator Claeys was thrust into the interim position, admittedly a tough task on such short notice. But what isn't such a tough task is clock management, something that even a Pop Warner coach should have a handle on. Trailing the #15 Michigan Wolverines (6-2; 3-1) by the score of 29 to 26 with 19 seconds left on the game clock, Minnesota quarterback Mitch Leidner completed what appeared to be a 23-yard game-winning touchdown pass to Drew Wolitarsky. Replays clearly showed that Wolitarsky made a clean catch but that his knee was down before the ball crossed the goal line, and the Big Ten...

Here are some interesting facts and trivia concerning Ohio State scoring records, mostly dealing with very long (and very short) touchdowns. Enjoy your bye week!

1. The big play is one of the reasons that football is so exciting. The Buckeyes have been a big play team throughout the new millennium, and especially during the Urban Meyer era. Since 2001, Ohio State has had 109 scoring plays of 50+ yards, broken down as follows: 63 receptions, 46 runs, 15 punt returns, 11 interceptions, 4 kick-off returns, 4 fumble recoveries, and 1 blocked field goal.

2. Last week against Rutgers, Michael Thomas caught a 50-yard touchdown pass. It was the fourth 50+ yard TD reception of his Buckeye career, the other three all coming during the 2014 season: 53 yards against Virginia Tech, 63 yards against Kent State, and 79 yards against Michigan State. Thomas is now tied with David Boston and Terry...