When was the last Buckeye football game that generated excitement?

An interesting question was asked by someone on the football board yesterday which makes the title of this post.  He was shouted down by the Buckeye faithful as a troll and even worse, a fan of that school up north. 

I don’t think people were giving the question proper merit.  Here’s the schedule so far this season:

Miami (OH)
Central Florida
California
UAB

Only California is a BCS school and even then they’ve never been a relevant football power except for the short time that Aaron Rodgers was behind center.  None of those games are exciting and the malaise is readily apparent in the stadium.  I can personally attest this as I went to see the Buckeyes vs my alma mater and it felt like someone had slipped valium in the stadium’s beverages.

Then again why should the fans get excited.  They expected going in that these games were going to be a blowout and only Buckeye defensive woes kept any of them close.  The only thing the Buckeyes have to play for is the B1G Leaders championship and none of these games affected that.  In my opinion, that makes the original question very fair as I realized I didn’t really care about a single game.

Then I thought back to last season.  It was a season full of angst about NCAA sanctions, the loss of Jim Tressel as coach, and a poor product on the field.  Last seasons schedule wasn’t much better.

Akron 42 – 0
Toledo 27 – 22
@ Miami (Fl) 6 – 24
Colorado 37 - 17
Michigan State 7 – 10
@ Nebraska 27 – 34
@ Illinois 17 - 7
Wisconsin 33 - 29
Indiana 34 – 20
@ Purdue 23 - 26  (OT)
Penn State 14 – 20
@ Michigan 34 - 40
Florida 17-24

The non-conference schedule was somewhat boring though better than this season due to the addition of Miami (Fl).  Buckeye fans were excited about the away game until the Hurricanes lost to a bad Maryland team in the opening week.  When we lost to them we I think deep down we all finally realized that despite our hope the distractions of Tatgate and the loss of Jim Tressel was going to make it a long season.

I remember being excited for the Michigan State and Nebraska games but it was nothing like Texas in 2005 or Notre Dame in 1995.  In part it was because the week before the NCAA gave Ohio State players additional sanctions due to the BobbyD violations.  This reopened the possibility that we were going to have bigger penalties such as a bowl ban. When we lost both games the season lost any luster.  Though a surprising three game win streak gave us hope, it was lost in overtime against Purdue.  The last three games were against all-time powers, each lost by a touchdown but it didn’t feel the same.  There was a feeling of ‘next year’ to the team which was proved when Urban Meyer was hired.  For me that was the best feeling I had all season in 2011.  Not the game winner vs. Wisconsin, it was a press conference.

When you go to the previous season You have to go to the previous season to find a game I was really excited about. 

Marshall 45 - 7
Miami 36 - 24
Ohio 43 - 7
Eastern Michigan 73 - 20
@ Illinois 24 - 13
Indiana 38 - 10
@ Wisconsin 18 - 31
Purdue 49 - 0
@ Minnesota 52 - 10
Penn State 38 - 14
@ Iowa 20 - 17
Michigan 37 - 7
Arkansas 31 - 26

Looking at this list you’d think the bowl game would have been exciting as we beat an SEC team but Tatgate stole the pregame enjoyment for me.  It is always fun to beat Michigan and Penn State but JoePa and RichRod had taken those programs to the point where there wasn’t much build up.  There are two games that stand out in 2010.  The Miami game where the hope of the future seemed bright and the Wisconsin game.  Both were memorable and the leadup felt epic.  When we lost the Wisconsin game I remember being devastated.  Little did I know things were about to get much worse.

So when someone asks the question – what game were you last really excited about my answer is October 16, 2010 vs Wisconsin. 

A follow up question should be: when is the next game that will be truly exciting.

As we can’t goto a bowl game this year and Michigan has already lost to Notre Dame and Alabama I expect it will be at least 2013.  The 2013 preseason schedule is just as bad as this year and next year’s team should be really good so those games should be yawnfests.  It won’t get much better when we get to the Big Ten as both Nebraska and Michigan State are off our schedule.  That leaves Wisconsin that seems to be getting worse, Penn State that is headed to a decade of mediocrity, and Michigan.  Michigan has had a series of good recruiting classes and despite what some want to think, have a good coach.  I expect in 2013 both Ohio State and Michigan will be highly ranked all season.  It’s too bad it will be in Ann Arbor but I’m excited just thinking about it.