BirmBuckeye
Rookie
This summer, Ohio State football fans spanning three popular websites will vote on who they believe are the greatest football players in Ohio State history. This week’s position, tailback; is certainly a position that has opened up lively debate about statistical comparison, historical relevance and what truly denotes “greatness” at the game’s most "Hand's on" position.
The fans have voted – and the winner at the tailback position is Archie Griffin, with 66% of the fans vote, Eddie George, the 1995 Heisman Trophy winner was second, with 13%Now, BirmBuckeye will touch briefly on the career of this Ohio State legend, from his recruitment to his final snaps as a Buckeye.
ARCHIE GRIFFIN, TAILBACK - 1972 - 1976
"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog." - Mark Twain
Sometimes in sports, a player will “Play bigger” than he is – and there is no greater example of this in Ohio State football history than tailback Archie Griffin. The 5’9” Griffin, despite his lack of “prototype” size, would go on to set the standard for the halfback position, not only at Ohio State, but throughout college football.
The path to greatness is different for each and every person who achieves it, and Griffin’s story is one that could have ended a different way a handful of times. Small and overweight as a child, Griffin started his high school career on the offensive line as a freshman at Eastmoor High School in Columbus, Ohio, only getting his chance at being a ball carrier in emergency back-up duty when his team’s starting fullback missed a game. Griffin made the most of this opportunity and never went back to the trenches.
Griffin’s high school career would be a successful one, and the dedication that he showed to improving himself on the field was also evident in his studies, Griffin was an excellent student who wanted to continue his education at Northwestern University. 1972, Griffin’s freshman season was to be the first season that the NCAA allowed freshman football players to participate in the varsity games, and Woody Hayes, the legendary coach at the hometown Ohio State University had different plans for Griffin, and was able to convince the talented high school senior that being a Buckeye was the best choice for him. Hayes did not take long to give the diminutive running back a chance to prove he belonged at a football factory like Ohio State. In the second game of the 1972 season, Ohio State hosted North Carolina and Griffin erupted for a (then) school record 239 rushing yards and a score; the freshman once again never looked back. Griffin finished his freshman year with over 1,400 yards on the ground as the Buckeyes, leading Ohio State to a 9-2 record. The 1973 Buckeyes were primed and ready for a national championship run, and Griffin was the main cog in the Ohio State machine, running wild over each and every opponent, starting a string of thirty-one consecutive 100 yard games, a record that still stands to this day. Griffin broke his single game record, set the season before; with a 246 yard outburst in late season game against the Iowa Hawkeyes. The Buckeyes were 9-0 heading into their annual late November showdown with the rival University of Michigan Wolverines, who were also 9-0. At stake was the Big Ten championship, and perhaps, a national title as well. The game, played in front of record crowd of over 105,000 people, was played mostly on the ground as a steady rain poured for the majority of the contest. Griffin was the key, for both the Ohio State offense and the UM defense – Griffin did his part, topping the century mark again; but the rest of the Buckeyes did not hold up their end of the bargain, and the game ended in a 10-10 tie. It would be the only time in his four year career that Ohio State did not beat the Wolverines. Ohio State received a controversial Rose Bowl bid, and went on to defeat the USC Trojans 42-21, atoning for a similar (42-17) beating at the hands of the Trojans in the prior year’s Rose Bowl. The Buckeyes finished 2nd in the polls following the 1973 season. Griffin, the Buckeye’s sophomore sensation finished the season 5th in the Heisman voting that year, as Penn State’s sentimental favorite John Cappelletti took home the hardware. Griffin in fact, finished 2nd on his team in the Heisman vote, as offensive lineman John Hicks finished second in the vote that year.
The 1974 Buckeyes were once again led by the sensational tailback, and behind Griffin’s 1695 yards, the Buckeyes once again found themselves playing in Pasadena, California in the Rose Bowl; and once again taking on the “Men of Troy” – the USC Trojans. The 10-1 Buckeyes had run roughshod over their opponents as they headed into the Rose Bowl to face a hot USC team. The Trojans rallied to beat the Buckeyes 18-17 on a late two point conversion.
For Griffin, the work that he did in his first two seasons finally paid off in the way of individual accolades, winning his first Heisman Trophy in a lopsided vote where he received more than 4 times the first places votes of the nearest competitor, USC’s Anthony Davis.
Winning the Heisman Trophy today as a junior generally means an automatic ticket to the NFL, but that was not the case for Griffin. In his first three years at Ohio State, he had gone 2-0-1 against “that team up north”, and he had been the starting tailback in three Rose Bowls. Griffin had not, however, led the Buckeyes to a national championship, despite coming close on a couple of occasions.
1975 would once again give Griffin another chance to secure that elusive national title. The Buckeyes had steamrolled their way to an 11-0 regular season, including a 21-14 victory in Ann Arbor, Griffin had been sensational all year long, and the Heisman voters saw no reason not to give the award back to Griffin. His 1450 yards left him as the NCAA All-Time rushing leader, and he was rewarded for his accomplishments with his second bronze trophy, besting Cal’s Chuck Muncie. As for the Rose Bowl, the Buckeyes entered the game as solid favorites against the UCLA Bruins, a team that they had handled easily just 4 months earlier, trouncing the Bruins 41-20. The Bruins, 8-2-1, found a way to bounce back from that early season defeat however, and set back the Buckeyes 23-10, the 3rd Rose Bowl loss of Archie Griffin’s career.
Sadly, most players, great or otherwise end their career in any sport with a loss, and Griffin was no exception to this rule. He left his mark on the NCAA, graduating as the all – time leading rusher, and his NCAA record 31 straight games over the century mark still stands, a record as unlikely to be broken as any in sports. He is still the only two – time Heisman winner, although Florida’s Tim Tebow seems a viable threat to join him in that exclusive club, winning the award as a sophomore. Ironically, Griffin’s sophomore season may have been better than his Heisman winning senior year. In 1999, his #45 jersey was officially retired, after he had allowed Andy Katzenmoyer to wear the number from 1996-1998.
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