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Was this the best decade in Ohio State history?

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Which is the best decade for OSU football?

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JXC

JXC

17-4 since 2001
The Game marked the last game for Ohio State this decade. So the question is...was this the best decade in Ohio State history? The decade started with us watching bowl games on New Years Day, but the Buckeyes were absent from any bowls for that whole bowl season. Things quickly turned around. One year with Cooper, and nine with Tressel. An 8-2 record against Michigan, 6 Big Ten Championships, and a National Championship later...here we stand, ending the decade. We know the next decade is going to start off with a Rose Bowl. No better way to start it off.


2000s
Overall Record: 101-25 (.802)
Big Ten Record: 64-16 (.800)
Big Ten Championships: 6
Perfect Seasons: 1
National Championships: 1
Heisman Trophy Winners: 1
Record Against Michigan: 8-2
Record In Bowl Games: 4-5
Rose Bowls: 0
BCS Bowls: 6 (3-3)

1990s
Overall Record: 91-30-3 (.746)
Big Ten Record: 57-20-3 (.731)
Big Ten Championships: 3
Perfect Seasons: 0
National Championships: 0
Heisman Trophy Winners: 1
Record Against Michigan: 2-7-1
Record In Bowl Games: 3-7
Rose Bowls: 1 (1-0)
BCS Bowls: 1 (1-0) BCS started in 1998

1980s
Overall Record: 82-35-2 (.697)
Big Ten Record: 57-24-1 (.701)
Big Ten Championships: 3
Perfect Seasons: 0
National Championships: 0
Heisman Trophy Winners: 0
Record Against Michigan: 4-6
Record In Bowl Games: 5-3
Rose Bowls: 2 (0-2)

1970s
Overall Record: 91-19-3 (.819)
Big Ten Record: 69-12-2 (.843)
Big Ten Championships: 8
Perfect Seasons: 0
National Championships: 1
Heisman Trophy Winners: 2
Record Against Michigan: 5-4-1
Record In Bowl Games: 2-6
Rose Bowls: 5 (1-4)

1960s
Overall Record: 68-21-2 (.758)
Big Ten Record: 50-14-1 (.777)
Big Ten Championships: 3
Perfect Seasons: 1
National Championships: 2
Heisman Trophy Winners: 0
Record Against Michigan: 7-3
Record In Bowl Games: 1-0
Rose Bowls: 1 (1-0)

1950s
Overall Record: 64-24-5 (.715)
Big Ten Record: 46-16-5 (.724)
Big Ten Championships: 3
Perfect Seasons: 1
National Championships: 2
Heisman Trophy Winners: 2
Record Against Michigan: 5-5
Record In Bowl Games: 3-0
Rose Bowls: 3 (3-0)

1940s
Overall Record: 57-26-6 (.674)
Big Ten Record: 33-22-4 (.593)
Big Ten Championships: 3
Perfect Seasons: 1
National Championships: 1
Heisman Trophy Winners: 1
Record Against Michigan: 2-6-2
Bowl Games: 0

1930s
Overall Record: 57-19-5 (.735)
Big Ten Record: 39-12-4 (.745)
Big Ten Championships: 2
Perfect Seasons: 0
National Championships: 0
Heisman Trophy Winners: 0
Record Against Michigan: 5-5
Bowl Games: 0

1920s
Overall Record: 44-27-7 (.609)
Big Ten Record: 23-23-4 (.500)
Big Ten Championships: 1
Perfect Seasons: 0
National Championships: 0
Record Against Michigan: 4-6
Record in Bowl Games: 0-1
Rose Bowls: 1 (0-1)

1910s
Overall Record: 55-16-8 (.747)
Big Ten Record: 16-9-1 (.635)
Big Ten Championships: 2
OAC Championships: 1
Perfect Seasons: 1
National Championships: 0
Record Against Michigan: 1-3-1
Bowl Games: 0

1900s
Overall Record: 69-26-7 (.711)
OAC Championships: 1
Perfect Seasons: 0
National Championships: 0
Record Against Michigan: 0-9-1

1890s
Overall Record: 42-37-1 (.531)
Perfect Seasons: 0
National Championships: 0
Record Against Michigan: 0-1



I say that this WAS the best decade for many reasons. It has the best record against Michigan in OSU history. The first time OSU had over 100 wins in a decade. 2nd most Big Ten Championships and 2nd best Big Ten Record. Also a Heisman Trophy winner. The decade did have a losing record in bowls, and no Rose Bowls, but if the old system were in place, we would have played in 3 Rose Bowls, so it's hard for me to count that against this decade. We did have 3 Fiesta Bowl Wins.

The 90s and 80s don't come close.

The 70s are very close. A slightly better overall and Big Ten record and 8 Big Ten Championships. But what makes me choose the 2000s over the 1970s is that the 70s didn't have a perfect season. The only National Title was in 1970, one which is tainted because of the loss to Stanford in the Rose Bowl. The 2000s had a more fulfilling national title. The 70s did have a winning record against Michigan, but did terrible in bowl games. Even though there was an OSU record 5 Rose Bowls in a decade, OSU only won 1. 5 Rose Bowls to 0 is almost enough to choose this decade for me, but the 2000s had their share of big bowl games, and more big bowl wins. Plus we finished the decade clinching a Rose Bowl birth to start the next decade.

The 1960s are very similar to the 2000s. The only real difference that goes for the 1960s is that there is an extra National Championship, the extra one having a tie. But the 2000s had double the Big Ten Championships. So to me that is almost a wash. To me the tiebreaker was the record against Michigan, and the fact that we did have one losing season in the 60s, which the 2000s never had. If we had lost this weekend, then I would have probably gone with the 1960s, but going 8-2 against Michigan puts it over the top for me.

The decade that I actually did almost pick over the 2000s was the 1950s. A perfect 3-0 in Rose Bowls looks really nice. It did have 2 NCs, and one perfect season. But only a 5-5 record against Michigan. And it ended the decade with a losing season. So I gave the edge to this decade.

1940s had a NC and perfect season, but those weren't the same years. And the record against Michigan is terrible. Also no bowl games. 2000s have a strong edge here.

1930s and before can't really compare to this decade.

So in my opinion we all just experienced the best decade in OSU history. Hopefully the next one is even better!
 
I went with the 1940's. Was it the "best" decade by your standards? Probably not ... but that was the decade that Ohio State became a national power, with their first national championship (1942), their first Heisman winner (1944), and their first Rose Bowl victory (after the 1949 season), so I say that it was the most important decade in Ohio State football.

If you want to consider any 10-year period as a "decade", then I'll take 1968-1977 as the "best" ... 1968 national championship, nine Big Ten championships (every year but 1971), two Heisman Trophies (1974, 1975), two Lombardi Awards (1970, 1973), two Outland Trophies (1970, 1973), two Rose Bowl victories (1968, 1973) and one Orange Bowl victory (1976). Of course, that decade was also the most frustrating, with national championship failures in 1969, 1970, 1972, 1974, and 1975, and an undefeated 1973 team that didn't win a national title.

The 2000's were pretty good, but let's not forget the rocky start to the decade, the NC game meltdowns in 2006 and 2007, plus the off-the-field issues (Reggie Germany's 0.0 GPA, the Cooper firing, the MoC affair, Troy Smith's suspension) that kind of took the edge off of the high points.

In ten more years, I hope that the point will be moot, with the Buckeyes making the 2010's their best decade ever.
 
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LordJeffBuck;1603605; said:
I went with the 1940's... that was the decade that Ohio State became a national power, with their first national championship (1942), their first Heisman winner (1944), and their first Rose Bowl victory (after the 1949 season), so I say that it was the most important decade in Ohio State football.
Click to expand...

I went with the 50's, the era of Woody, two NCs, 2 Heisman trophy winners and all those Big 10 championships when the Big 10 was top dog in all of college football.
 
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I say the '70s. When you win Big Ten 8 of 10 years including 6 in a row, that's something. Although our record against Michigan was only 5-4-1 vice 8-2 against them in the 2000s, the Michigan program was far stronger then.

LJB brought up the 10-year period of 1968-1977...if we don't have big games stumbles against Michigan in 1969, Stanford ('71 Rose Bowl), USC ('75 Rose Bowl), and UCLA ('76 Rose Bowl), there's four more national titles...the 10-10 tie at Michigan in 1973 likely cost us another one. From '68 thru '75 we went 73-11-1, and that was with a 6-4 bed-crapper in 1971 (lost last three games of the season). We win at Michigan in '69 and win those three above-listed Rose Bowls, we're 77-7-1 with five national titles in nine years, most likely the best such run of any team in major college football history.
 
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MililaniBuckeye;1603794; said:
I say the '70s. When you win Big Ten 8 of 10 years including 6 in a row, that's something. Although our record against Michigan was only 5-4-1 vice 8-2 against them in the 2000s, the Michigan program was far stronger then.

LJB brought up the 10-year period of 1968-1977...if we don't have big games stumbles against Michigan in 1969, Stanford ('71 Rose Bowl), USC ('75 Rose Bowl), and UCLA ('76 Rose Bowl), there's four more national titles...the 10-10 tie at Michigan in 1973 likely cost us another one. From '68 thru '75 we went 73-11-1, and that was with a 6-4 bed-crapper in 1971 (lost last three games of the season). We win at Michigan in '69 and win those three above-listed Rose Bowls, we're 77-7-1 with five national titles in nine years, most likely the best such run of any team in major college football history.
Click to expand...


I'm with you on the 69-75 near misses. That was a legit chance at two different threepeats. Overall the 1970's saw us miss out on a NC in 70, 73, 74, 75 and 79. Finish the deal on just a couple of those and its a no brainer.

On the same note, if Troy and the boys finish the deal in 2006 (big if the way they got smoked but if) then you'd almost have to give it to the '00's.

As it stands its wide open for debate. I'm with LJB, lets hope they put it to bed from 2010-2019.
 
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I went with the '70s. It's easy to make that call by shifting it to the 10-year period starting in '68, but it's a close call when following actual decades.
 
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Re: Record Against Michigan: 8-2

There was something good in every decade; and individually, the two National Championship years (1968 & 2002) were fantastic; however, I went with the 2000s. You know, when you beat Michigan life is good for the next 365 days. :biggrin:
 
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It's hard to argue against the Tressel era with an 81% winning percentage. It's also hard to argue against an era with a coach that feels tOSU scUM game is bigger than any bowl, and walks away with the record he has against scUM.
 
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LordJeffBuck;1603605; said:
I went with the 1940's. Was it the "best" decade by your standards? Probably not ... ...
Click to expand...


Everyone's standard is different, so there is no right or wrong answer here. But my standard includes how a decade is finished.

From '45 through '49 Ohio State went winless against TSUN and was outscored 106-19.

While the '07-'09 editions of TSUN's football team have been pretty crappy, '04-'06 varied from good to very good bordering on great. A 3-year streak against decent TSUN teams is unprecedented, as is a 6-year winning streak against any sort of skunkbear program.

The '70s have the biggest place in my heart because that was the decade during which my grandfather took me to the 'Shoe. Taking personal history out of the question, I might have to go with the 2000s, but it might yet be too soon to make the call.
 
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2 Heismans
The Ten Year War
4 Rose Bowls in a Row
Woody vs. Bo
No cable--i.e. no diffusion of national attention. It was all about Ohio State-Michigan

It's gotta be....
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Only thing that makes it remotely an argument was the blown NC opportunities in 70, 73, 75 and ,79.
 
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