1968 Buckeyes

[BuckeyeRich]

This might be the best tribute I've seen.

http://www.championsagain.com/1968-O...-20050017.html

[tedginn05]

A t-shirt?

[nickofthewoods]

Not enough credit had gone to the difference between winning a championship
by winning ten games versus winning a championship by winning fourteen
games. This current edition is 10-0, the same record that the 1968 team had.
It should make us recognize just how tough that 2002 season was. 14-0. Still feels nice to think about it.

[The KSB]

Yes it was so much easier to win out back in 1968. Only 10 games, a real creampuff schedule. Just because they didn't have the benefit of modern safety equipment and medical technology is no reason to think it was hard.

[nickofthewoods]

KSB, your response sounds oddly adversarial. My point was
not to diminish the 1968 team but rather to note the extra
difficulty that comes with every added game. Had the 1975
and 1979 teams stopped playing at 11-0, we'd have had two
more championships.

[Ttown]

I would like to just say that the 1968 Buckeyes were on of the toughest, best teams you could ever hope to see. On a comparative basis they were just as tough as any newer team.

[Taosman]

What a shame we couldn't see more of the games, back then!
And you have to see Rex Kern doing ball fakes to truly appreciate that aspect of QB play. He was amazing!
And watching Tatum take out a running back was thrilling!
That was the team that started my love affair with the Buckeyes!

[ScriptOhio]

1968: (10-0) The 1968 Ohio State football team lives forever as a legend with the Ohio State community. Eleven players from this team earned All-American honors and six went on to become first round draft picks in the NFL. Jim Otis and Rex Kern powered the offense which averaged 440 yards per game while Jack Tatum and Jim Stillwagon anchored a strong defense. The team?s breakout game came against the No. 1 ranked Purdue Boilermakers. The defense proved invincible in this game, scoring the first touchdown and shutting out the Boilermakers. The team tallied only victories throughout the rest of the season and found themselves in the Rose Bowl ranked No. 1, facing No. 2 Southern California. Coming from 10 points behind, the Buckeyes won the game 27-16 and secured their fifth national title.


http://library.osu.edu/sites/archive...sunational.htm

[ScriptOhio]

FROM THE ARCHIVES: 1969 ROSE BOWL

When a Rose Bowl game?watched by millions on television?is over, what's to write?
Overall, there was the sage of the sophomores-that young Buckeye team that Coach Woody Hayes described as "too inexperienced" to get butterflies about the game. They let the fabulous O.J. Simpson slip through their fingers?once.
How do you write about the gutsy performance of Rex Kern, the battered, bruised, even broken, youngster from Lancaster whose adept ball handling and agile footwork fooled Southern Cal players, fans and TV cameramen time after time? The Trojans finally solved the problem, but only partially, by tackling Kern on every play, hopeful that he might be the one holding the ball. And then, when the game was over, Hayes revealed that Kern had suffered a shoulder dislocation, had it snapped back into place during the game, and went on to throw tow touchdown passes. The performance won Rex the Most Valuable Player of the game trophy.
To read more of this story:
Click here

Ohio State Alumni: FROM THE ARCHIVES: 1969 ROSE BOWL

[calibuck]

AND Imperious Rex ended up marrying the Rose Bowl Queen! Does anyone have the pic of Kern rolling out, pointing his arm/finger downfield toward a WR, with his right hand holding the ball on his right hip? That to me summed up the guy, plus waving off the punter Woody sent in, and then making the 15+ yards needed for a first down. Plenty of good play that year, was at the Purdue/OSU game, as well as the USC/OSU Rose Bowl. Wow. Clearly the memories are both pleasant and lasting.