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What Is the Best Single Play in THE GAME During the Tressel Era?

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What Is the Greatest Single Play in THE GAME During the Tressel Era?

  • 2001: Jonathan Wells' 46-yard TD run on fourth-and-inches

    Votes: 8 4.0%

  • 2002: Maurice Hall's game winning TD run (Krenzel runs the option in the red zone)

    Votes: 7 3.5%

  • 2002: Will Smith's sack, strip, and fumble recovery against John Navarre with less than two minutes

    Votes: 3 1.5%

  • 2002: Will Allen's game-saving interception at the goal line as time expires

    Votes: 28 13.9%

  • 2004: Smith to Gonzalez for a 68-yard touchdown (beating Ernest Shazor)

    Votes: 4 2.0%

  • 2004: Teddy Ginn's 82-yard punt return for a touchdown

    Votes: 12 6.0%

  • 2004: Santonio Holmes schools Marlin Jackson on a 12-yard TD reception

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 2005: Smith to Gonzalez for 27 yards to set up the game-winning TD as time runs down (The Catch)

    Votes: 78 38.8%

  • 2005: Antonio Pittman's game-winning TD run (Burgess and Crable get trucked at the goal line)

    Votes: 5 2.5%

  • 2006: Beanie Wells' 52-yard TD run (beats Shawn Crable with a spin move in the backfield)

    Votes: 13 6.5%

  • 2006: Play-action pass from Smith to Ginn for a 38-yard TD on second-and-inches

    Votes: 23 11.4%

  • 2006: Smith to Robiskie for the game-winning 13-yard TD pass (burning Morgan "Slappy" Trent)

    Votes: 2 1.0%

  • 2007: Beanie Wells ices the game with a 62-yard TD run, part of his 222 yards on the afternoon

    Votes: 7 3.5%

  • 2008: Beanie Wells smokes the Wolverines for the third year in a row, this time for a 59-yard TD run

    Votes: 1 0.5%

  • Some other play (and there are many, many others....)

    Votes: 10 5.0%
  • Total voters
    201
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BB73;1597693; said:
It's interesting to me that the 2006 game, which was the most important game in the rivalry's history
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See, I'd have to say the 1969 game was the most important. It kept the Buckeyes from 3 peating. But that's a whole nother debate.

Anyway, it's very hard to choose. To me it's down to the Ginn punt return, the Will Allen INT, or The Catch. I didn't see the Will Allen INT live, only on the news later, so it didn't have the impact that the other two had on me cause I watched them live.

Therefore I'd have to go with The Catch. It was on the happiest moments for me watching OSU and basically won the game for OSU. The punt return, while also great, didn't have all those things going for it.
 
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1926Buckeyes;1598626; said:
See, I'd have to say the 1969 game was the most important. It kept the Buckeyes from 3 peating. But that's a whole nother debate.
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The '69 game may be more important historically, because of what happened afterwards. And you're correct about the 3-peat, I believe a tOSU team still on a winning streak would have finished ahead of Texas in the final 1970 UPI (Coaches) poll, which was taken before the bowls.

But going into The Game, none of the others meant what the '06 version did. Unfortunately, the win lost some of its luster after the dream season wasn't finished off in Glendale. The BP intro to The Game preview that year explained how it was probably one of the top-5 most anticipated regular season games in college football history.

BP.2006.TSUN.Preview
 
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jlb1705;1597333; said:
Jonathan Wells' run. It hit the reset button on this entire program and the rivalry. It was the kind of play and statement that Ohio State had failed to make in The Game for over a decade. Without that play, I'm not sure the rest of them on the list happen (or at least mean as much.) It changed everything.
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2001: Jonathan Wells' 46-yard TD run on fourth-and-inches

This combined with the collective "Oh Shit..." by scUM fans in the big house was so cathartic - it lifted the 13 year cooper monkey off our backs, and made us realize that Tressel was the guy. You are absolutely right -it changed EVERYTHING.
 
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I had to go with the unbelievable catch that Gonzo made setting up the winning TD.

That was a defining moment for Troy, Gonzo, and this program, and set the stage for the continued dominance against scUM. This play made the difference between Tress having a winning record against scUM and DOMINATING them. At that point, you could see it in the scUM faces that they knew they were done getting all the breaks like they had throughout the Cooper years, and that Tressel owned them...

Then, Now and Always,

Don't just beat em,

Own em, Dominate em, Destroy their will to step on the field with us

Annihilate scUM.

Go Bucks!
 
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LordJeffBuck;1597684; said:
Interesting take. Consider Jonathan Wells' story for a minute ... the kid comes up to Columbus from Louisiana in 1998 ... plays with Buckeye greats like Andy Katzenmoyer, David Boston, Antoine Winfield, Joe Germaine, Michael Wiley ... goes 11-1 with a Big Ten title, a win over Michigan, a win in the Sugar Bowl, and a #2 finish in the polls ... it's all looking good for Ohio State, right? Then, over Wells' next 34 games, Ohio State goes 20-14 ... with the Bellisari experiment ... academic scandals ... the Outback Bowl fiasco ... the Cooper firing ... the hiring of a no-name Division I-AA coach ... then, in the days leading up to the 2001 Game, the Buckeyes' starting quarterback (Steve Bellisari) gets suspended for DUI and the Buckeyes get pounded by Illinois in the final home game of the season. So at this point, what does a senior from out of state, who has lived through some of the worst of Buckeye football after such a promising start, have to play for as a huge underdog against #11 Michigan on the road in The Game? Well, probably nothing ... but instead of mailing it in, Wells comes out and plays the game of his life, rushing 25 times for 129 yards and 3 touchdowns, with the 46-yarder on 4th-and-one being the highlight (by the way, the rest of the team combined for 25 rushes for 8 yards ... and if you add in 118 yards of passing, then Wells still outgained the rest of the team 129 yards to 126 yards ... both of which made Wells' achievements even more outstanding). Would any other coach have gotten that kind of performance out of Wells or the rest of the team that day? Doubtful....
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Moreover, Wells had shown flashes in 99 and 00, breaking big runs but allowing himself to get caught before he made it to the endzone. I think that was frustrating to a lot of fans over that period. Another reason why I think this play was the greatest.
 
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The Catch followed up closely with Will Allen's INT.

I think I've told this story before, but I'll tell it again. Fall '05, all season, my friend is telling me we're going up to Ann Armpit for The Game. I'm like I'll see it to believe it. Sure enough, that Friday, he picks me up, hands me the ticket and we go. I look at the ticket and it says "Student" on it. I look at my friend and I say, "Are you F#$%ing crazy? Where did you get these? A. Are we even going to be able to get in and B. Are you F#$%ing crazy? These are Michigan student section seats!!!"

He says we'll be fine, they don't check. So we get there and we find our seats and 3 other OSU fans are sitting near us and they're like, "Guys, you gotta sit by us, we need you here, there's only three of us, you gotta stay!!!" So we stay, and our seats were only a row or two away anyway so it worked out. With those 9 minutes to go, the five of us never lost faith and especially on that last drive where it seemed like Troy and Teddy were embarrassing kids on every play. We clutched our fists and believed.

On the catch, the way Troy moved, spun and found Gonzo along that right sideline was a thing of beauty. When he made the catch, the five of us went absolutely nuts, crazy, bonkers, natural high as a kite. Five dudes in Michigan's student section jumping up and down, screaming like little girls, hugging...amazing. The entire crowd around us didn't say a word. They just sat there not believing what they just witnessed. It was incredible. Not one student talked trash either. They knew deep down it was inevitable that Tress and Co. were going to pull it out. I'll never forget that moment for the rest of my life.

I'll be there Saturday tailgating someplace, probably the golf course, and then tailgating for the Browns game Sunday. I can't wait.

Go Bucks!!!
 
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BUCKYLE;1598309; said:
While I completely understand the vote for J. Wells' run, I just think that Will Allen's int is what actually exorcised the demons. Even Coop had two wins against those fucks, so JT winning his first was great...but I still didn't totally believe it would happen with everything on the line the next year. That game...that play, made a full believer out of me.
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I like your reasoning, but still stick with J. Wells because for me, I was fully on board with "team of destiny" after "Holy Buckeye" in 2002 and knew that the pass Allen picked off wouldn't be completed. I truly wasn't that worried about it.

Having said that, had my confidence been unjustified and that pass been completed, it would surely have been the most devastating play in OSU history for me.
 
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I voted for the Beanie run in '06. That was my first experience with "The Game" and it was a blast. That was an epic game: Bo dying the night before, being undefeated, #1 vs #2, the band putting on a brilliant halftime show, the air getting (what felt like) 20 degrees colder almost instantly at halftime. I didn't follow the Buckeyes as closely as I do now but I knew that Beanie was supposed to be good. When he spun and put Crable(?) on his ass then ran home I fell in love with Buckeye football. I haven't been the same since.
 
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Woody1968;1598690; said:
Moreover, Wells had shown flashes in 99 and 00, breaking big runs but allowing himself to get caught before he made it to the endzone. I think that was frustrating to a lot of fans over that period. Another reason why I think this play was the greatest.
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J Wells 76 yarder in 1999 is still the longest run for either side in the history of The Game.....and we didn't fucking score.:smash:
 
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