Which was the best modern Ohio State team that did not win a national championship? How would you rank some of the better ones?
I’ve listed the ones in the modern era and feel free to mention any that are not listed if you’d like.
1969 9-1 The Super Sophs were now juniors and defending national champions. You know what happened, heading for another national championship, this team would have been ranked amongst the best of all-time in college football history if not for a shocking 24-12 loss to former Ohio State assistant coach Bo Schembechler from Barberton, Ohio, and TTUN. In a run-oriented, low scoring era, this team outscored their first eight opponents by an average of 37.8 points per game and didn’t score less than 34 points on offense. All-Americans: Rex Kern, Jim Otis, Ted Provost, Jim Stillwagon, and Jack Tatum.
1970 9-1 Not as impressive statistically as the previous two seasons, all the 1970 team did was win every game in the regular season and earned a trip to the Rose Bowl only to be upset by Heisman Trophy winner Jim Plunkett and Stanford 27-17. All-Americans: Tim Anderson, John Brockington, Mike Sensibaugh, Jim Stillwagon, Jack Tatum and Jan White.
1973 10-0-1 Just one half of a football game is all that separated this group from a perfect season. Up 10-0 at halftime against TTUN, the Wolverines at home clawed back to tie the game at 10-all in a titanic struggle between Big 10 powers. Two of Ohio State’s all-time greats were on offense in Archie Griffin and John Hicks and fellow All-Americans Van DeCree and Randy Gradishar on defense. How good was this team’s defense? In the first eight games, four opponents were shutout and only two opponents reached the end zone and they outscored their first nine opponents by an average of 36.4 points per game in a run-oriented era.
1975 11-1 This team was ranked number one in early October on its way to an undefeated regular season, another Big 10 title and then suffered a shocking upset Rose Bowl loss to 11th-ranked UCLA 23-10. This team was led by Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin and fellow All-Americans: Tim Fox, Tom Skladany and Ted Smith.
1979 11-1 In Earle Bruce’s first season as head coach, the 1979 team went through the regular season undefeated and this group’s only blemish was a loss by the smallest of margins to number three-ranked USC in the Rose Bowl 17-16. All-Americans: Ken Fritz and Art Schlichter.
1996 11-1 The first of John Cooper’s teams to make this list and the Buckeyes scored at least 38 points against seven of their first nine opponents. This team’s only loss was at home 13-9 to TTUN that was ranked number 21 at the time. All-Americans: All-time College Football great Orlando Pace and Shawn Springs.
1998 11-1 This team was ranked number one at the start of the season and loaded with talent and beat every team on their schedule until a 28-point underdog Spartan team came to Columbus and upset Ohio State 28-24 in early November. The Spartans were coached by some guy named Nick Saban. All-Americans: David Boston, Damon Moore, Rob Murphy and Antoine Winfield.
2006 12-1 This team stopped being the best in the country right after Ted Ginn, Jr. took the opening kickoff of the national championship game against Florida. Up until that point, this Buckeye team was ranked number one all season long and played like it. This team was led by Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Troy Smith and All-Americans James Laurinitis and Quinn Pitcock. The Gators were coached by Ohio native Urban Meyer.
2010 12-1 The 2010 team’s only loss came in game seven in a game at Madison, Wisconsin, losing to the Badgers 31-18. After that loss, this Buckeye team ran off six straight wins ending with a Sugar Bowl win over Arkansas 31-26. All-Americans: Justin Boren, Mike Brewster, and Chimdi Chekwa.
2015 12-1 This team was looking to repeat as national champions and was loaded with future NFL talent but never seemed to play to its true potential as evidenced by mere seven-point victories over Northern Illinois and Indiana, and it caught up with them in a home loss to Sparty 17-14 on a rainy November Saturday in Columbus. The following from that team made one All-American team or another: Vonn Bell, Joey Bosa, Taylor Decker, Pat Elfein, Ezekiel Elliott, Marshon Lattimore, Darron Lee, Raekwon McMillan, and Adolphus Washington.
