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Will OSU ever lose to an Ohio team?
Written by Matt Sussman | | [email protected]
Toledo?s 38-0 loss to Ohio State in Cleveland was, among being hilarious for BGSU fans, a most unlikely shutout. The Rockets hit the 50-point mark against a Big XII team the previous week. The Buckeyes? defense had trouble against Navy. Certainly, it was at least going to be a close game?
Not so. When the trendy upset prediction was looming, the Buckeyes tightened their grip on the gullet of Ohio football, choking any chance of a rebellion in the Buckeye State. It?s a story you?ve read so many times before; it?s almost second nature.
Ohio State has always had a stranglehold on this fair land. The last time they lost an in-state game was 1921 against the mighty Oberlin College Yeomen (That?s a fantastic team nickname, by the way). There may not be a more populous state in which one team reigned longer and stronger. Ohio has more bowl subdivision teams (eight) than any state except Texas (10). You?d think that, at some point in the past 88 years, one of them would have had a better day than the Buckeyes.
Maybe it?s simply hard luck. Since OSU schedules nonconference opponents well ahead of time (they already have a game with Tennessee in 2019), it?s also entirely possible they have some arcane knowledge of when in-state teams will be at their worst. Or it could be the snowball effect of desperation like the Chicago Cubs. Or perhaps the thrill of the chase clouds the ability to succeed like the Trix Rabbit.
But the ?Family Feud? most popular reason is probably that the game is almost always played in Columbus. Other than the Sept. 19 game against UT in Cleveland and against Cincinnati (at the Bengals? Paul Brown Stadium) in 2002, Ohio State has never traveled anywhere else in Ohio to play football since 1934 (Not like that matters. The entire state is their backyard.)
In the next five years, the Buckeyes will face at least six Ohio schools. Do any of them have a chance at breaking the streak?
Will OSU ever lose to an Ohio team? | Toledo Newspaper