I couldn’t bear the thought of waiting on a game pitting a 6-6 Notre Dame team against a mediocre Hawaii team that comes equipped with its own, built-in bowl appearance, so….
What I did was imagine a fantasy game between “all-time” Texas and Ohio State teams. The criteria wasn’t much: I tried to pick players from somewhat recent memory (no 1895 fullbacks made the list), while still showing respect for each program’s rich history. When two players of roughly equal merit were up for a roster spot, I took the one who played most recently. Offensive and defensive line and linebacker spots were considered interchangeable. I also tried to look solely at collegiate accomplishments – pro careers were somewhat irrelevant, though a few sneaked in.
Argue with my picks, cat-call, do what you will. Keep in mind that I am not a Longhorns fan, so I took a good, long look at their history over the weekend, and did the best I could.
Offense
| Quarterbck | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Rex Kern, Troy Smith It’s all about the “10s” here, and – Florida disaster aside – Troy was as good as they get. |
 |
Vince Young, Bobby Layne The great Bobby Layne (’44-’47) was a four-time All-SWC selection, and a great pro. |
| Running Back | |||
|
Archie Griffin, Chic Harley, Keith Byars, Eddie George, Pete Johnson How do you choose just five? There are three Heisman Trophies here, and Harley might have had three all by himself, had the award existed. Johnson is here to block and pick up key thirds-and-one. I might see an argument for dropping Byars in favor of Hopalong Cassidy, but I’m partial to anyone who could lay out Pepper Johnson. |
|
Earl Campbell, Ricky Williams, Chris Gilbert, Roosevelt Peaks, Cedric Benson Two Heismans, three Doak Walkers and seven All-American selections in this group. Campbell was a monster. |
| Line | |||
|
Jim Parker, John Hicks, Orlando Pace, Korey Stringer, Jim Lachey Lachey was a prototype for the NFL’s new tackle position; Hicks was the greatest lineman ever to grace Ohio Stadium – just try to beat his 1973 season. |
|
Bob Wuensch, Jerry Sisemore, Justin Blalock, Dick Harris, Scott Appleton Harris was a four-time consensus All-American. |
| Tight End | |||
|
John Frank, Jan White White No Hamby = no dropped passes. Hair-challenged? Dr. Frank can help you. |
|
Pat Fitzgerald No, not this guy. Not a position of historical strength for the ‘Horns, either. |
| Wide Receiver | |||
|
Cris Carter, Terry Glenn, Paul Warfield An embarrassment of riches at wideout, but I could only take three: Carter was clutch, Glenn electric, and Warfield versatile. |
|
Roy Williams, Cotton Speyrer, “Hub” Bechtol Bechtol (’44-’46) started his career a Red Raider, finished it a Longhorn, and lived to tell the tale after racking up three consensus All-American selections. |
Defense
| Line | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Jim Marshall, Bill Willis, Jim Stillwagon, Mike Vrabel, Will Smith Will Smith was under-appreciated at OSU; Jim Marshall was an Ironman defensive lineman in the pros, after excelling on the offensive line at Ohio State. |
|
Tony Brackens, Steve McMichael, Tony Degrate, Kenneth Sims, Casey Hampton Two Lombardi winners are here, as well as Casey Hampton, an All-Pro who plugs the middle for the Steelers’ 3-4 defense. |
| Linebackers | |||
|
Randy Gradishar, Chris Spielman, A.J. Hawk, Andy Katzenmoyer Some might ask for Marcus Marek or Tom Cousineau, but Katzenmoyer taught Big 12 quarterbacks not to run the option, and Gradishar never gets the press he deserves. |
|
Jeff Leiding, Derrick Johnson, Tommy Nobis Not a lot of greats here, until you get to Nobis. Never heard of him? Run – don’t walk – and find out. He was Jack Tatum, only at linebacker, and turned out to be an even better man. |
| Secondary | |||
|
Jack Tatum, Shawn Springs, Antoine Winfield, Chris Gamble, Michael Doss Tatum + Doss = no patterns over the middle, and no draw plays. |
|
Bryant Westbrook, Quentin Jammer, Johnnie Johnson, Michael Huff, Raymond Clayborn Johnson was a unanimous All-American in ’78 and ’79, and went into the College Football Hall of Fame in ’07. |
Special Teams
| Punter | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Vic Janowicz When even your punter has a Heisman, you’ve got a good program. |
|
Russell Erxleben A straight-ahead kicker who could do it all; he hit a record-setting 67-yarder against Rice. |
| Kicker | |||
|
Mike Nugent Noooooooooge!!! |
|
Russell Erxleben See above. |
| Returner | |||
|
Ted Ginn, Jr. I agonized over this one. |
|
Eric Metcalf Never set the world on fire as a Brown, but tricky, speedy, and tough to find on kicks. |
There’s one thing left to do: name the coaches. I don’t think Texas can pass up Darrell Royal, but the Ohio State job is up in the air. I have to tell you: for this particular game, with the talent on the edges, I’m going with Earle Bruce. He’s a Buckeye through-and-through, gives a heck of a pep talk, had a winning record against Michigan, and would probably toss some darned fool triple reverse in there, somewhere. He also wins – and wins big – against teams from Texas when dressed as a gangster. Just what we’d need.
I see a close game, but – all homerism aside – I think Ohio State wins this one in solid fashion – say, by 10 points or so. Anyone want an over/under on the total number of rushing yards?
Comments
at first i feared retaliation on the part of the texas fans due to your score prediction, then i remembered that texas fans are classy. and they arent kansas state fans.
All-Star Ohio State 21
All-Star Texas 19
I like all the matchups. The only change I would make is replace Chris Gamble with Malcolm Jenkins. The reason I say that is because of Gamble's play in the Wisconsin game and when Braylon Edwards basically pimped Gamble during the whole Michigan game.
I have to agree. Gamble's whole body of work while at tOSU is great. But, he was never a shut down corner. I would replace him with Jenkins. I'm not to sure of the history of our tight ends. But, does Rickey Dudley get any love? I havent heard of John Frank or Jan White.
Well after doing some searches I have no complaints about John Frank. He was a beast. Didnt find to much on Jan White. I bring up Rickey Dudley since he was the last tight end I remember tOSU having that was really good.
Great article! I would replace Shawn Springs with Malcolm Jenkins. I still cannot completely forgive him for falling down on that Charles Woodson slant pattern.
wow - thanks for the effort. question - would anyone put dan wilkinson on their D-line?
Only every other down. :)
I'd play Gamble at nickel, and let Winfield and Springs shut things down for me. Gamble would excel as a rover.
Jan White was a terrific tight end for Hayes, and would be a good road-paver to compliment Frank's hands and good overall play. It's a pity no one really remembers John Frank, because he's the best tight end Ohio State's ever had.
...another vote for Malcolm Jenkins over Chris Gamble... Sure Springs slipped v. Streets, but let's not forget Gamble v. Lee Evans.
Any arguments about WR, LB and DB prove, again, that Ohio State is WR, LB and DB U!
Great ideal and a nice article. Not sure why you are apologizing for Ted Ginn Jr.
I'm old enough to remember John Frank. He retired early from the NFL so he could get cracking on his medical doctorate and a promising career in........hair restoration.
I think he was joking.
Joking about Ginn, that is... ;-)
Wouldnt mind hearing from a few Texas fans and their points of view on who would make their team
Yep. And I'd put David Boston in on a few plays as well.
Oh sarcasm!? i get it. I used to love to watch punt returns. The ghost and B*hart? not so much.
Hypothetically, OSU over Texas eleventy billion to 5.
Out of 46 voters, no one wants to see Laurinaitis get 20 tackles? I expect it has to do with last year's LSU performance. Sure he had 20 tackles, but they were all 10 yards down field. I mean, someone had to tackle them eventually.
Fuck LSU, they should have got blown out by Troy.
I'd love to see Beanie get 250. I'd rather we score early and score often, stopping them on every possesion, this however, would not yield a Pryor comeback. Malcom can get 3 picks, and JL can get a bunch of tackles...20 TFL... is that too much to wish for? I don't know if there is much hope for Boone.
Hey, maybe if tell Boone and Rehring that the Texas O-Line took all the gravy they'll get mad and play better. False hopes maybe
No Nick Mangold love???
For my money I'll take the entire '02 team, may not have been the flashiest, may not have crushed everybody by 60.
But I'll be damned if that team would have ever lost a game, they gave truth to the cliche' statement " they found ways to win".
I like how the Buckeyes all-time team matches up, but that Texas backfield featuring Vince Young and Earl Campbell sounds like a nightmare.
Nice point on Will Smith. He was arguably the best d-lineman we have had in many years. If you watch any game film he is all over the field.
that is an absolutely terrifying LB corps, i got to see Beanie, Troy, Teddy Ginn, and a whole lot of other dudes play in person, but no player (besides maybe Nuge) played at such a consistently high level as AJ Hawk did. i never, ever, EVER saw that guy not have an amazing game.
that's basically what i though when i looked at the "Laurinaitis for 20 tackles"... probably not a good thing if it happens
I agree with you about Hawk; he was a no-brainer. I think he and Katzenmoyer were cut from something of the same cloth. What's scary is that this list leaves out a slew of really good linebackers who could have made it: Marcus Marek, Jimmy, Pepper friggin' Johnson, Tom Cousineau, Bobby Carpenter and Matt Wilhelm, who I always thought was vastly underrated.
Nick was a very good center, but any one of these five are better than him. I'd rank them as follows:
1. Hicks
2. Pace
3. Parker
4. Lachey
5. Stringer
Nick would probably make my top ten, though.
Well fellas Merry Christmas and Happy New Years...
Steaks on January 5th?
I got to respect Eric Metcalf getting some love. He use to be my favorite player when I was a kid and he’s often forgotten when Longhorn running backs are discussed. The match-ups here that I would like to see are at the running back and secondary positions. These schools have been putting out All-American running backs one right after another. Hell, Texas just recently became a pass first team. And I have to agree, a backfield featuring VY and Earl would flat-out be sick. Just imagine this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... and this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... in the same backfield. As far as the secondaries, take your pick. I think it would have to be a toss-up. Ohio State always has an All-American in the back, and over the passed decade, Texas has put out some real talent in the secondary. Westbrook, Jammer, and Huff were heavy hitters. Especially Jammer. No problems with your selection. But, I have to ask, what was your reason for leaving Nathan Vasher off of the list? Vasher was an interception-happy, shut-down corner and tied Nobis’ all-time Int record at Texas. Plus, he was a badass kick returner too. Nice choices for D-line also. I would have to argue for Cory Redding and Shaun Rodgers, and even Orakpo. But overall, I like your selections. Why can’t Fantasy Football really be like this?
How about Longhorn on the 2nd?
gotta love the Kaiser
Three picks from Jenkins would hopefully mean a win for Ohio State, unless Texas completely stops the offense. Let's have him take two of them back for TD's just to make sure!
about time someone gives Gradishar his due. Woody said he was the best linebacker he ever coached and, in spite of Hawk, Marek, Spielman, Katzenmoyer, Laurinaitis and Johnson, that's good enough for me to give him an all-time nod.
Oh, I remind myself: no Art Schlichter? We all love Rex Kern for winning a national title, and try to forget Schlichter for ruining his life, but the only thing I can think that Kern did better than Schlicther (football-wise) was ball obfuscation. I think Schlichter was the better runner and, obviouly, better thrower.
On that note, while Schlichter's all-time stats may be biased because he was a 4-year starter, Germaine has comparable stats with basically only 2 years at the helm as QB.
Nevertheless, my all-time Buckeye offense would just line up in the T-formation with either Smith/Schlichter at the helm, Pete Johnson as the upback and Eddie and Archie flanking him just to welcome all-time hypothetical Texas to a world of pain.
Great article. I'm in the Jenkins for Gamble camp as well, though.
And I know he never really put up career numbers, never really had much of a chance, but I think Gholston is arguably the best athlete the program has ever had at that position, and I don't see how you could keep him off of the field. With VY taking the snaps, we would need that speed at end.
I think Will Allen has to get some consideration for his decimation of McGahee's knee.
My RB would have to be Keith Byars. Everyone remembers the Heisman years of Archie and Eddie, but the best all around year a RB had at OSU was Keith in 1984. He ran for 1764 yards and had 42 pass receptions for 472 yards, both leading the team (the only guy in the last 50 years to do that, the last was Hopalong Cassady in 1954).
His all purpose yards that year were 2441 which included another 205 on kick off returns. That's 97 more all purpose yards than Eddie had in his Heisman year even though Keith played 1 less game. On a per game basis Keith averaged 203.8 yards/game vs only 180.3 for Eddie.
Keith threw TD passes on some half back passes.
He ran a Kick off back 99 yards in a Fiesta bowl game.
He was 6'3" and weighed 235+ lbs so he had Beanie's power, Eddie/ Archie's speed and hands like no other back in school history.
He caught 73 passes in just over 3 years of play which still ranks in the top 30 in an OSU career. He had 2 games on his career where he both ran and received for over 100 yards in the same game. He holds the record for the most All purpose yards in a single game at OSU with 354 vs Purdue in 1984, he also had 327 vs Illinois that same year.
He had 4 games in his career with over 230 All purpose yards, no one else has more than 3.
Finally he is the 4th leading scorer in school history behind only Nugent, Pete Johnson and Dan Stultz making him 1 of only 4 guys in school history to score 300 or more points and he missed nearly his entire senior year. He had 5 TDs in 1 game, he has scored the 2nd most TDs in school history, and his '83 and '84 single season amounts equal the 3rd and 4th best single year's ever,,,and again he didn't get play his Sr year due to injury.
He had over 8800 all purpose yards as a pro, and threw 6 TD's on HB passes in his 13 year NFL career.
To my mind he is the best back we ever had.
a few Texas guys to at least consider:
QB - James Street 1966-69 - Led the team to it's undefeated National Championship 1969 season. The father of MLB pitcher Houston Street.
RB - James Saxton - 1959-61 - A first-team All-Southwest Conference back and the Longhorns MVP, he capped his career in spectacular fashion in 1961, eventually finishing third in the Heisman Trophy voting and Saxton led the Southwest Conference in rushing with 846 yards on just 107 carries. He also scored nine touchdowns with runs of 80, 79, 66, 56, 49 and 45 yards.
WR - Johnny Jones - 1976-79 - An All-American in his last two years at Texas, Jones had eight receiving touchdowns in his career that were 45 yards or longer. Not bad for a guy who played in a wishbone offense during his playing days at Texas.
TE - Bo Scaife - 2000-04 - He was named to the All-Big 12 in his final year at Texas, and finished his career by averaging over 13 yards a catch in an offense that spread the ball around.
OL - Bud McFadin - 1948-50 - McFadin was a two-time All-American at guard for Texas in his final two years in college. Most Valuable Player of the Cotton Bowl game following the 1950 season.
DL - Scott Appleton - 1961-63 - Appleton finished in the top five for the Heisman Trophy while also helping the Longhorns to their first national championship in 1963.
DL - Brad Shearer - 1974-77 = Outland trophy winner in 1977.
LB - Scott Henderson - 1967-70 - Henderson was a three-time All American for Texas, and helped the Longhorns to a national title in 1970.
DB - Nathan Vasher - 2000-03 - As the school's all-time interceptions leader, Vasher makes this an easy pick.
DB - Jerry Gray - 1981-84 - Gray was a two-time All-American safety at Texas, and was known for his hard-hitting play in college
K - Phil Dawson - 1994-97 - Dawson was named an All-American on two occasions while also setting a school record for consecutive extra points with 54.
So I guess the Notre Dame hype machine gets a re-charge by beating Hawaii.
Anyway, I think the media is prepared to give Ohio St. NO CREDIT, even if they win against Texas, Texas not being motivated as the reason.
Oh well, so goes the life of a Buckeye!! Merry Christmas Buckeye Nation!!!
So, I guess the way to get some National Respect after losing 6 games is to play a shitty team in the Middle of the Pacific Ocean that has lost 7 games this year. I guess Notre Dame's New standard of excellence is to beat .500 teams in Bowl games and use that as motivation in the off-season.
Weis really showed off his offensive genius by having Clausen throw against inferior defensive backs--wow!!
The real reason that Charlie Weis coached from the booth last night had more to do with the buffet spread and soft drinks available to him than the pain in his knees!
http://www.wingsrestaurant.ca/...
Hell, that's why his knees are bad in the first place.
Paul Warfield was a halfback at OSU, not a wide receiver.
And how about including a true center? LeCharles Bentley, Steve Myers and Tom DeLeone were all AA, with Bentley winning the Rimington.
I'm aware of that. I included him in the wideouts because of his versatility, and because he played wideout in the pros. You'll notice I put Jim Marshall on defensive line rather than offensive line, where he received most of his snaps in college.
As noted in the criteria, offensive/defensive line spots - as well as DBs - were made without specific positions. Bentley was a excellent center, but nowhere near as good an offensive linemen as any one of these top five. (I'd like to have seen him with a full pro career, though.)
Yeah, but what if it was named Hurricane Ditka?
The reason UT fans dont mind you predicting a 10 point loss is simple: If the Bucks won, the BCS would still declare Texas the overall winner based on "style points."
Because if there's one thing the BCS does not consider, it's a 10 point victory on a neutral field.
Yes. I am very bitter.
Haha. As you should be.
Researched a little as well and agree on the two picks. Like Dudley as well... Wondering if Ben Hartsock got the short end of the stick though? Not sure we have our championship in '03 with out his play in '02 (Wisconsin).
Or tell Boone the Texas defense is going to take his beer...
Agreed about Wilhelm... dude played with such high intensity. Wasn't the fastest LB we've had but always seemed to meet Doss as the first ones to the ball. Ken Dorsey and his throwing shoulder are still having nightmares about Wilhelm.