Most Satisfying Buckeye Wins For YOU

[lvbuckeye]

Doh! Yeah, Micheal Wiley!

 

[Bucklion]

So many great wins to pick from, obviously. Many of them have been outlined already. My favorite game of all-time is the 2002 Michigan game, because I was in the stands and experienced it with everyone first-hand. Undefeated season on the line, final pass into the end zone...and the bedlam afterwards. There will never be anything like it again for me. The National Title game that year, watching with family, including with my mom, who had been diagnosed with Stage IV cancer but got to see one more title after 1968.

But I would say that the most "satisfying" is what I would argue is the most important victory in the history of Ohio State football. Others will disagree, possibly vociferously, and that's cool. I can see other POVs. But, in making that distinction, I am considering 1) everything that college athletics has turned into. The billion dollar industry. The recruiting war. The TV deals. The national branding. The BCS and then the playoff. The southern dominance brought about by the rise of the evil Alabama empire, the ascension of Clemson, and ESPN's desire to turn the SEC into their own personal moneymaking playground. Also, 2) the old adage "what would have happened had they lost that game?" So...with that said...

The 2001 Michigan game is the most satisfying and important game in OSU history. Why? Too long for me to post everything. But, in Cliff Notes style, look at where we were. Look at the build-up. Look where we went after winning in. Look where we could have been had we NOT won it. People forget, and young fans don't even know, how bad it was.

We were coming off of 10 losses in 13 years to our biggest rival. Many of those times we were the more talented team. The two wins we got in the Cooper era came during seasons where we had arguably 2 of the 3 most embarrassing losses in program history. We were coming off of back-to-back losses, including at home in 2000, a game I sat through somehow without vomiting. Woodson had won the Heisman 3 years earlier. We were coming off of 2 seasons where we had 1 where we went 6-6, lost 3 in a row at the end of the year, and missed a bowl, and 2000, where we went 8-3 but came off of that home loss to get embarrassed 24-7 to "Mr. Football" who we didn't even recruit, with a team that John Cooper had clearly lost completely. We were known for Reggie Germany and his infamous 0.0, and for Ken Yon-Rambo and his...Rambo shit. We then did a coaching search, and instead of getting a name du jour like Mike Bellotti, we got a guy from I-AA that half of the fanbase didn't even know who he was. And the first thing he did...was basically go Joe Namath and promise a victory in The Game. At Michigan. The Following Year. Michigan was coming off of a 3-loss season where they had beaten Auburn in the Citrus Bowl as a springboard into 2001. They were 10-2 the year before that and had beaten Alabama in the Orange Bowl. We opened Tressel's career with what should be called a mediocre season up until Week 11. Senior talent was thin. Bellisari was the QB. They were 6-4, the horrible come-from-ahead loss at Penn State to give Paterno a landmark victory #, and losses to Wisconsin and Illinois. Michigan came in #11, 6-1 in conference, ready to claim a conference title at home against a team they had throttled for a decade. Ohio State would go on to lose their bowl game to Mr. Football and South Carolina...again. BUT...that Michigan game. 26-20. A day that will live in Ohio State lore. The rebirth of Buckeye football. The ULTIMATE spring board. In confidence. In winning big games. In recruiting. In accepting the "no-name" coach who people asked "who the fuck?" just a year earlier. An undefeated season and a national title the next year. And 17 out of the last 19 against the fuckers from the peninsula.

None of that happens, none of it, if they lose that game. What happens when the "no-name" coach finishes 6-5 and can't back up his "guarantee"? How does 2002 turn out? How is recruiting affected, particularly in Ohio? Would we ever have turned the tide in the rivalry? Would we ever have won another title? Ever gotten Urban Meyer? Ever locked down Ohio in recruiting? Would Tressel have even made it 2 or 3 years? No one knows any of these answers for sure, but...one thing I can say in my humble opinion...nothing that has happened since 2001 would ever have happened had it not been for that win. None of it.

 

[MSURacerDT55]

For me personally?

Any win against UM, Alabama '15, Oklahoma '16, Wisconsin '14, Texas '06, Miami '02, Purdue '21

 

[BUCK3YE5]

I was born in the early 90s, so I was too young for the teams in that decade.

2003 Miami - An all-time great game, historic upset, breaking a 30+ year drought. And I was there. Fortunately I was just old enough at this point to really understand and appreciate it all. This one probably can't be topped.
2015 Alabama - fucking SEC nonsense, whooped their ass. Good lord was that satisfying. Zeke's run is one of the best moments in OSU history.
2016 Michigan - I'm baffled this hasn't been mentioned yet. This game was uniquely satisfying. Michigan completely outplayed us for like 70% of the game. It was ugly and really hard to watch at times. I've never re-watched the full game and probably never will. HOWEVER, we somehow managed to win the game, in epic fashion. Samuel's glide into the endzone is another unforgettable moment. But the most satisfying part of this game, to me, is what it did to Michigan. Harbaugh lost his goddamn mind. Their fanbase still hasn't even come close to getting over it. Things were just starting to look right for Michigan. It was Harbaugh's second year. They were looking at a Big Ten title and CFP birth. They were finally "back" ...and then we fucking broke them again. Michigan was in a similar situation in the 2018 game, and it sure was satisfying slaughtering them, but that team was not nearly as good as the 2016 team. This was their best chance at finally getting over the hump and they haven't gotten back to that level since. We look back at the 2003 Miami game as a program killer. I think there's a chance we will look back at this game in a similar fashion.

There have been plenty of other great and satisfying wins, but those three really standout to me. All crazy, epic, high-stakes games that were instant classics which included several all-time moments.

 

[Jagdaddy]

I don't disagree with any of that. The 2004 UM game is very underrated as a huge win for the program as well

So many great wins to pick from, obviously. Many of them have been outlined already. My favorite game of all-time is the 2002 Michigan game, because I was in the stands and experienced it with everyone first-hand. Undefeated season on the line, final pass into the end zone...and the bedlam afterwards. There will never be anything like it again for me. The National Title game that year, watching with family, including with my mom, who had been diagnosed with Stage IV cancer but got to see one more title after 1968.

But I would say that the most "satisfying" is what I would argue is the most important victory in the history of Ohio State football. Others will disagree, possibly vociferously, and that's cool. I can see other POVs. But, in making that distinction, I am considering 1) everything that college athletics has turned into. The billion dollar industry. The recruiting war. The TV deals. The national branding. The BCS and then the playoff. The southern dominance brought about by the rise of the evil Alabama empire, the ascension of Clemson, and ESPN's desire to turn the SEC into their own personal moneymaking playground. Also, 2) the old adage "what would have happened had they lost that game?" So...with that said...

The 2001 Michigan game is the most satisfying and important game in OSU history. Why? Too long for me to post everything. But, in Cliff Notes style, look at where we were. Look at the build-up. Look where we went after winning in. Look where we could have been had we NOT won it. People forget, and young fans don't even know, how bad it was.

We were coming off of 10 losses in 13 years to our biggest rival. Many of those times we were the more talented team. The two wins we got in the Cooper era came during seasons where we had arguably 2 of the 3 most embarrassing losses in program history. We were coming off of back-to-back losses, including at home in 2000, a game I sat through somehow without vomiting. Woodson had won the Heisman 3 years earlier. We were coming off of 2 seasons where we had 1 where we went 6-6, lost 3 in a row at the end of the year, and missed a bowl, and 2000, where we went 8-3 but came off of that home loss to get embarrassed 24-7 to "Mr. Football" who we didn't even recruit, with a team that John Cooper had clearly lost completely. We were known for Reggie Germany and his infamous 0.0, and for Ken Yon-Rambo and his...Rambo shit. We then did a coaching search, and instead of getting a name du jour like Mike Bellotti, we got a guy from I-AA that half of the fanbase didn't even know who he was. And the first thing he did...was basically go Joe Namath and promise a victory in The Game. At Michigan. The Following Year. Michigan was coming off of a 3-loss season where they had beaten Auburn in the Citrus Bowl as a springboard into 2001. They were 10-2 the year before that and had beaten Alabama in the Orange Bowl. We opened Tressel's career with what should be called a mediocre season up until Week 11. Senior talent was thin. Bellisari was the QB. They were 6-4, the horrible come-from-ahead loss at Penn State to give Paterno a landmark victory #, and losses to Wisconsin and Illinois. Michigan came in #11, 6-1 in conference, ready to claim a conference title at home against a team they had throttled for a decade. Ohio State would go on to lose their bowl game to Mr. Football and South Carolina...again. BUT...that Michigan game. 26-20. A day that will live in Ohio State lore. The rebirth of Buckeye football. The ULTIMATE spring board. In confidence. In winning big games. In recruiting. In accepting the "no-name" coach who people asked "who the fuck?" just a year earlier. An undefeated season and a national title the next year. And 17 out of the last 19 against the fuckers from the peninsula.

None of that happens, none of it, if they lose that game. What happens when the "no-name" coach finishes 6-5 and can't back up his "guarantee"? How does 2002 turn out? How is recruiting affected, particularly in Ohio? Would we ever have turned the tide in the rivalry? Would we ever have won another title? Ever gotten Urban Meyer? Ever locked down Ohio in recruiting? Would Tressel have even made it 2 or 3 years? No one knows any of these answers for sure, but...one thing I can say in my humble opinion...nothing that has happened since 2001 would ever have happened had it not been for that win. None of it.

I don't disagree with that at all, even though I had that game 5th on my list behind the 2 most recent title game victories and the 2 games that immediately preceded them. A hugely important game at a minimum and very plausibly exactly what you say it is. I've posted before that Jonathan Wells' 44 yard TD on 4th and 1 is one of the most overlooked critical plays in the history of the program. The 2004 victory over UM is very underrated for similar reasons as well: After the 2003 loss, a loss in that game (in which UM was favored) makes JT 2 and 2 against them going back to Ann Arbor in 2005 and a return to the 90s looks possible. Instead Troy Smith (the ultimate Wolverine Slayer) runs wild, 2003 becomes nothing more than an aberration, and the beatings continue, possibly UTQTFS.

And just for fun: