Ohio State football: High expectations have rarely translated to winning ultimate prize

Ironically, Ohio State has typically fared better when sneaking up on the competition than when the Buckeyes start the year near the top of the polls.

Three of Ohio State’s eight recognized national champions were ranked in the top five of the Associated Press poll to start the season (1961, ‘70 and 2014) but four (1954, ‘75, ‘68 and 2002) were not in the preseason top 10.

(There was no preseason poll when the Buckeyes won it all for the first time in 1942).

Of Ohio State’s eight preseason No. 1 teams, one ended up being able to claim a national championship, but that includes a caveat.

The 1970 Buckeyes went 10-0 at the end of the era when the national champion was still selected in some cases before the bowls, so the National Football Foundation still awarded the Buckeyes its title despite an upset loss to Stanford in the Rose Bowl.

Had Ohio State won that game, the Buckeyes might have been consensus champions, but instead they joined an unfortunate group of teams to come up just short when they lost their final game. That also happened to the 1969, ‘79, 2006, ‘07 and ‘20 teams.

Teams ranked No. 2 in the preseason have not fared any better.

They are 0-10 in terms of winning the AP national title, but that group also has one team with a disputed championship.

The 1961 Buckeyes began the season second in the AP poll, tied their season opener against TCU then won the rest. That included a 50-20 thrashing of Michigan in which Troy High School grad Bob Ferguson scored four touchdowns and Woody Hayes is reputed to have said he went for two at the end because he couldn’t go for three.

Those Buckeyes were selected No. 1 by the Football Writers Association of America while Alabama claimed the poll championships.

The other nine seasons OSU began in the two-hole include several close calls, including the 1973 team tying its regular season finale against Michigan, the 2013 team being knocked off by Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship Game, the 2020 team losing to Alabama in the National Championship Game and the 2022 squad losing by a point to Georgia in a College Football Playoff semifinal.

What about the teams that did win it all?

In 1954, Ohio State was No. 20 in the preseason poll but beat six ranked teams, including No. 12 Michigan in the regular season finale and No. 17 USC in the Rose Bowl and was voted No. 1 by the writers.

Three years later, the Buckeyes opened 17th and dropped out of the rankings after losing their opener at home to TCU. The 1957 team won the next nine, though, including a 17-13 win over No. 5 Iowa and a 31-14 win at No. 19 Michigan to close the regular season before a 10-7 win over No. 1 Oregon in the Rose Bowl. That team finished second in the AP poll but was voted No. 1 by the coaches.

In 1968, Ohio State was No. 11 but Hayes’ famed “Super Sophomores” stormed to 10-0 record, again crushing Michigan 50-14 in the regular season finale before rallying to top USC 27-16 in the Rose Bowl. Those Buckeyes announced their status as national championship contenders by stopping No. 1 Purdue 13-0 in October.

The 2002 team was a similar Cinderella story, starting 13th in the AP poll before going 14-0, including several heart-stopping victories and culminating with a 31-24 double-overtime win over defending national champion Miami (Fla.) in the Fiesta Bowl.

The 2014 team actually began the season with high expectations (ranked No. 5), but coach Urban Meyer’s team had to recover from an early-season loss to Virginia Tech that dropped the Buckeyes to No. 22. Nonetheless, they rallied to make the first College Football Playoff, stunning Wisconsin 59-0 in the Big Ten Championship Game then taking out No. 1 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl before dominating No. 2 Oregon in the National Championship Game.

For his part, Ryan Day would rather start out in a poll position.

“The expectations are the same every year,” Ohio State’s head coach said last month. “Pressure is the same every year. I just like the pressure when you’ve got a really good team behind you.

“That’s what we’ve got right now. We know it’s going to be a long season. We know what we’re working towards, but I will say this about this team: There’s been times in the past we’ve been talented, but I don’t know since I’ve been here if we’ve been this talented and this experienced together with guys that have played a lot of football, fourth- and fifth-year guys. And that does matter.”

The 2024 preseason AP poll will not be released until next month, but Sporting News examined multiple preseason projections and found Ohio State rated no lower than third in any of them.