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A different role: Tom Cousineau was an All-American linebacker at Ohio State in the late 1970s. Saturday he played a different role during St. Vincent-St. Mary's 55-52 loss to Columbus Watterson in the Division II state finals. He stood adjacent to the end-zone bleachers and the SVSM student section. Cousineau's youngest daughter, Kacey, is a sophomore soccer player at SVSM.
Cousineau attended Ohio State University, where he played for legendary coach Woody Hayes' Ohio State Buckeyes football team from 1975 to 1978. During that span, Ohio State had an overall record of 36-10-2 and 28-4 in the Big Ten, were three-time Big Ten champs. The Buckeyes played four bowl games after each of the seasons he played: in the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Gator Bowl. They were a Top 5 team for 36 weeks over these four years and the No. 1 team in the nation for eight weeks in 1975, and ultimately finished fourth, sixth and 12th in the final Associated Press polls in 1975, 1976 and 1977, respectively.
Cousineau majored in marketing.He was a consensus first-team All-American, breaking the school record with 211 tackles in a single season in 1978,[10] an average of 17.5 a game. He also broke the school record for most tackles in a game with 29 against Penn State in 1978, and was the MVP of the 1977 Orange Bowl.
Cousineau still holds many of Ohio State's tackling records. As of 2016, he holds six of the top 10 single-game tackling records, 29 single-game tackles (since tied by fellow College Football Hall of Famer Chris Spielman), most solo tackles in a single game, (16 against SMU in 1978). He also ranks second on both the all-time OSU tackle list with 569 (three behind Marcus Marek) and on the career solo tackles list with 259.
He was named an All-American in 1977 and 1978. The Chicago Tribune named him the MVP of the Big Ten in 1978. He graduated from OSU in 1979. In 2016, he became the 25th Ohio State player, along with seven Buckeye coaches, to be named to the College Football Hall of Fame.