A recent post on the O-zone forums made me think back to Buckeye football in the 90s and how times have changed. I had season tickets from 1991 through 2004 and 2 of my 3 Buckeye road trips were to the 1993/95 Michigan games so I know from first hand experience how much things have changed in the last 10 years. It seemed like going into every Michigan or bowl game during that era that we were always thinking about how are we going to lose it this year and praying we didn't embarrass ourselves. Ultimately the blame has to be put at the feet of John Cooper whether it is fair or not.
10 Least favorite Buckeye games of the 1990s
#10 - 1995 Tennessee (14-20) - The use of illegal extra long spikes in this mud soaked game changed the Volunteer's nickname for some Buckeye fans to "Tennecleats". The Buckeyes offense never going going in the mud and it lead to a sad end for the promising 1995 campaign. This ended our run of 3 Citrus Bowls in 4 years with the SEC winning each time. We haven't been back to the Citrus Bowl since.
#9 - 1999 Wisconsin (17-42) - After the Buckeyes went up 17-0 to start the game, the next possession Wisconsin drove to the middle of the field and I remember on 3rd down saying to my buddy, "We've gotten lucky stopping them so far. We need a stop here to demoralize them or this could get ugly." Ron Dayne ran for the 1st and pounded the Buckeyes the rest of the day for 42 unanswered points. I have always looked at this game as the beginning of the end of the Cooper era so in hindsight it wasn't all bad.
#8 - 1991 Michigan (3-31) - The 8-2 Buckeyes were beginning the road back to national prominence when they hit this roadblock. This is the only Michigan game I haven't seen in it's entirety because I was asked to be best man at a wedding that day. I watched the game on a 3 inch portable TV until Desmond Howard's "Heisman pose" put Michigan up 28-0 in the first half. I then shut off my TV and got my "friend" married. (Note to Mike and Sue - It's been 18 years and it still bothers me you'd ask me to choose between the Buckeyes and you. Yeah yeah I know it was the only weekend the church was open. Wanna know why it was open? Because no one else in their right mind schedules a wedding in Ohio on the 3rd Saturday in November!)
#7 - 1992 Illinois (16-18) - Also known as "The game that benched Eddie George for 2 years" as he had 3 fumbles in the game (2 near the goal line). I actually heard cheering for Illinois from the OSU fans at the end of the game as many thought the Cooper era was almost at an end. My brother and I may have joined in the Cooper bashing a bit.
#6 - 1994 Penn State (14-63) - This whole game is a blur in my mind and I only remember three things. 1) Up and coming WBNS sideline reporter Kirk Herbstreit lost look as he tried to explain what was happening to an interviewer from the national TV network, 2) Westerville's Ki-jana Carter was really good, and 3) JoePa is all class because they could have put 100 on us that day. The Penn State smackdown was all the more amazing as this Buckeye team had as much NFL talent as any team in the last decade. I would have loved to see the undefeated Nittany Lions play national champion Nebraska that year. It was a special team.
#5 - 1997 Michigan (14-20) - After Michigan had ended our undefeated seasons 3 of the last 4 years, we were anxious to return the favor to the 10-0 Wolverines. I had moved back to Ohio at this point and didn't dare attend again upon threat of death from my brother as I was obviously bad luck in Michigan Stadium. Even without me there Stanley Jackson had 2 unforced turnovers that gave away a game we should have won.
#4 - 1995 Michigan (23-31) - The undefeated 1995 Buckeyes had more talent than most NFL teams with stars such as Bobby Hoying, Eddie George, Orlando Pace, Terry Glenn, Shawn Springs, Mike Vrabel, Rob Kelly, Antoine Winfield and Ty Howard. The offense never seemed to get untracked and the defense made Tim Biakabutuka a millionaire in a game that we should have never lost. The only bright spot in the game was that my job had moved me to Plymouth, Michigan so although I saw the Buckeyes lose in Ann Arbor again, my drive home was only about 20 minutes.
#3 - 1993 Michigan (0-28) - Young, naive, and fearlessly rooting on my undefeated Buckeyes, I drove the 4 hours to Ann Arbor to watch the Buckeyes play the Wolverines. I learned 2 things that day - Michigan Stadium is a hole and the trip back seems a lot longer when you lose. This one hurt a lot. Little did I know this was just the beginning.
#2 - 1998 Michigan State (24-28) The Buckeyes were undefeated and looking ahead to a different Michigan team visiting in 3 weeks. The Buckeyes were up 17-9 at halftime but I remember discussing the game at halftime with my buddy of being nervous because we were lucky to have held them to field goals in the first half. The second half started out well with a Damon Moore interception return for a TD to extend the lead to 24-9 but then the Nick Saban led Spartans drove relentlessly down the field the next few possessions gave them the lead early in the 4th quarter. The Buckeyes drove inside the 20 with time running out but when Joe Germaine's 4th down attempt fell incomplete it felt like 96 Michigan all over again.
#1 - 1996 Michigan (9-13) - To many this is known simply as "Springs Slips" game. The undefeated Bucks moved the ball easily in the first half but had to settled for 3 short field goals and went into the locker room up 9-0. Early in the 3rd quarter, Shawn Springs slips on a Tai Street post pattern and the score is suddenly 9-7. The Buckeyes never got untracked after this play as the Wolverines methodically moved the ball and kicked two field goals. As the clock went to 0:00, the stadium got eerily quiet and from my C decks seats I saw Wolverine (and Columbus Eastmoor graduate) Marcus Ray jumping up and down on the 50 yard line and could distinctly hear him saying over and over, "We own this team". With this being the 3rd painful loss to Wolverines in 4 years the Buckeye faithful had no answer as we walked like zombies to the exits. I've heard people say that aftermath of the 1998 Michigan State game was the quietest they've ever heard Ohio Stadium but I was at both and nothing compared to this. My buddy and I looked at each other a few times on the way out and shook our heads but didn't dare say a word. It was only until we got a good quarter mile from the stadium that we spoke in whispers as we didn't want to break the eerie quiet that had taken hold of the Buckeye faithful. The 1996 Buckeyes were a national championship caliber team. Our victory in the next game over Arizona State in the Rose Bowl proved that but somewhere in the celebration a thought crossed all our minds. "What if Springs hadn't slipped?" That would have been truly amazing.
Extra Point - 1991 Southern Cal (26-35) - A heavy rain storm hit Columbus with under 2 minutes remaining and John Cooper agreed to call off the game after the onside kick failed. Sometimes I imagine that the university decided that any coach that gives up before the clock ran out wasn't a coach we want and then hired an up and coming coach from Youngstown State that had just won his first I-AA national championship. I'm guessing the decade would have been much different with Jim Tressel at the helm.
This post has been exhausting by making me relive all this in one sitting. Despite these tough losses the John Cooper era actually had many great victories and I will relive that in my next post. Right now though I need a drink.
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