The Buckeyes' Most Agonizing Loss

[DaddyBigBucks]

Same here. That Illinois game ended up being completely irrelevant. But what happened in that game will always blow my mind.


I was too young in 98. This years Clemson game was definitely the worst, for me. There’s a few that losses that still bother me (05 Texas, 13 MSU, 15 MSU) but the Clemson game is easily the worst.

This highlights how different context is for every one of us, even though we’re fans of the same team.

98 is painful for some because we hadn’t had a NC in 3 decades. Some had never seen one. I hadn’t seen one since I was 5.

someone alive but too young in 98 has seen 2 NCs in their < 3 decades on the planet. It makes perfect sense that < NC is terribly disappointing (especially when it happens that way).

those of us who lived through the 70s-90s have a very different perspective. my last post last December was, “great season Buckeyes, see you next year”. I went about my football-season-delayed projects the next day and didn’t give it a second thought. We’d beaten TSUN. 2019 was a success. 13-1 and gold pants is always success

 

[gmen6981]

For anyone too young to remember the details of that game Illinois ran out the last 8:09.

Even worse at one point during that drive they were on the field ready to punt. Tressel called time out, Illinois decided to go for it and kept the drive alive.

Waterboarding is an apt description.

How many fricking times were they in 3rd and long, and Juice Williams would rip off a ten yard run for 1st down. Goddammit....I'm about to throw something at my TV just on G.P.!!

 

[NFBuck]

The Iowa game, I was mad but it passed quickly. The Purdue game was so bad I wasn't even upset....kinda saw it coming. But that 07 Illinois game STILL infuriates me. Before the season started, I pointed to that game on the schedule and told my wife "That's the one that worries me". That game was so frustating. From the Illini touchdown that wasn't to the Bucks inability to get the defense off the field in the 4th quarter, that was 3 hours of pure hell.

That was the worst game of the JT era for me. In the end, the consequences were nil because we still won the B1G and reached the NC game in spite of it, but it was infuriating. That 4th quarter can fuck itself with a blue whale's dick.

 

[Jaxbuck]

That was the worst game of the JT era for me.

USC 2008 for me.

My faith in JT died in the dust of the coliseum that day.

 

[NFBuck]

USC 2008 for me.

My faith in JT died in the dust of the coliseum that day.

That was brutal, but I did not expect to win that game. It was over by the time the 1st quarter was done. I was in Iraq when that happened so I was following it on a game tracker, which I turned off early in the 3rd quarter. Illinois was 3.5 hours of icy hot injected into my pee hole.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

USC 2008 for me.

My faith in JT died in the dust of the coliseum that day.

I was there for that game. I remember watching the players warm for both sides and trying to do a visual comparison...both teams "passed the look test" and appeared evenly matched, and I thought we'd have a good chance. We drove down near the goal on our first drive, then had a penalty (holding?) which moved us back and forced a FG...up 3-0. Next drive (after USC scored a TD) we drove down again inside the red zone only to turn it over...that hurt big time. In the second quarter USC has scored a TD to go up 14-3, but we had the ball late in the quarter near midfield only to have Boeckman throw a pick six. Game was done at that point, and the team just looked like they gave up.

 

[bukIpower]

Same here. That Illinois game ended up being completely irrelevant. But what happened in that game will always blow my mind.


I was too young in 98. This years Clemson game was definitely the worst, for me. There’s a few that losses that still bother me (05 Texas, 13 MSU, 15 MSU) but the Clemson game is easily the worst.

Yes clemson was the worst for me too...

That should've been an ass kicking. A 42 to 17 type of ass kicking.

I was numb for literally a week. I still watch the highlight here and up until that Wade hit and it blows my mind.

I've never been watching a game and gone "oh wow the opponent doesn't know what to do with how physical and fast we are". Yet I did that game and when Wade smashed Lawrence I was so fired up I screamed in honestly frustration because of how tired I was of Clemson and it was obvious to me they didn't know what to do with us.

Then it all changed.

Gone over this game a lot so I apologize lol but this game was missed calls and mistakes (mainly mistakes) that cost us. JK drops two touchdowns, Fuller had Etienne for a loss but allowed him to score a touchdown, we give up 3 big plays with a few leading to touchdowns, and obviously Olave inexplicably running the wrong route. What a missed opportunity of a game.

 

[Jaxbuck]

Yes clemson was the worst for me too...

That should've been an ass kicking. A 42 to 17 type of ass kicking.

I was numb for literally a week. I still watch the highlight here and up until that Wade hit and it blows my mind.

I've never been watching a game and gone "oh wow the opponent doesn't know what to do with how physical and fast we are". Yet I did that game and when Wade smashed Lawrence I was so fired up I screamed in honestly frustration because of how tired I was of Clemson and it was obvious to me they didn't know what to do with us.

Then it all changed.

Gone over this game a lot so I apologize lol but this game was missed calls and mistakes (mainly mistakes) that cost us. JK drops two touchdowns, Fuller had Etienne for a loss but allowed him to score a touchdown, we give up 3 big plays with a few leading to touchdowns, and obviously Olave inexplicably running the wrong route. What a missed opportunity of a game.

Pardoxically enough, that’s why that game doesn’t really haunt me.

I know OSU was the better team. Sometimes weird shit happens and the better team loses.

I guess it’s the baseball guy in me but tournaments are a total crapshoot and that game is a great example of why.

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

... tournaments are a total crapshoot and that game is a great example of why.

Exactly

we’ve seen so much shit happen that when shit happens we just say “shit happens”

2002 scratched a 34 year itch

2014 scratched any residual irritation, as well as exorcising a fair few demons w.r.t. our history with Wisconsin

1998: a near miss after 30 years (a decade of near misses, a decade and a half of mediocrity, and a few years of not-quite)... that was hard

after that agony, followed by the relief provided by 2002 and 2014, a near miss after 5 years that includes dominance in The Game... sounds like a good year by comparison

 

[NFBuck]

I've never been one of those "NC or bust" fans. Give me a B1G title and a win over ttun and 90% of the time I'm happy. I don't take losing to a good team very hard. As long as the effort is there, I can shrug it off. As talented as this team is yearly and as consistent as we've been the last two decades, eventually we will get another one.

 

[bukIpower]

I've never been one of those "NC or bust" fans. Give me a B1G title and a win over ttun and 90% of the time I'm happy. I don't take losing to a good team very hard. As long as the effort is there, I can shrug it off. As talented as this team is yearly and as consistent as we've been the last two decades, eventually we will get another one.

Same... typically I feel good if we end up winning the last 3 games.

Scum, big ten, and a new year's 6.

Like I felt good after beating Washington and USC for example.

 

[MGMT]

I’m assuming the discussion of 2015 is forbidden if we are reliving some of our worst personal mishaps. I was in a hotel and threw the little chair at the desk when the field goal was made. Got a knock on the door to ensure domestic violence wasn’t happening. Gf tends to just let me pour the rage out when those games happen. Love her for that.

 

[gmen6981]

Exactly

we’ve seen so much shit happen that when shit happens we just say “shit happens”

2002 scratched a 34 year itch

2014 scratched any residual irritation, as well as exorcising a fair few demons w.r.t. our history with Wisconsin

1998: a near miss after 30 years (a decade of near misses, a decade and a half of mediocrity, and a few years of not-quite)... that was hard

after that agony, followed by the relief provided by 2002 and 2014, a near miss after 5 years that includes dominance in The Game... sounds like a good year by comparison

I agree with all of that, but the Clemson game last year still gnaws at me a little. First, because the Bucks just haven't been able to beat them, and two of three losses were in last minute heartbreaking fashion, and second, The 2014 team just had a certain chemistry to it. Those guys really showed how they felt about each other, and that they would go to war with each other.15, 16,17 . and 18 were all great seasons by any measure, but something just seemed to be "missing" to me. Those teams all seemed slightly "off". I don't know how to describe it. Last year, That same chemistry seemed to be back, and I felt really bad for the team to end the year the way they did.

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

Moved the scab-picking to this thread where it belongs

 

[bukIpower]

Moved the scab-picking to this thread where it belongs

I didn't even realize the thread lol