Tressels, Fickells, Urbans, Days, Johnsons and Days,
Whether you believe in the power of Holy Buckeye or Touchdown Jesus, at least you are a disciple of College Football. This is a week of College Football celebration, and we worship the same deity.
The Ohio State - Notre Dame clash pre-dates most of us. When I was a young boy absorbing everything about sports, I asked my Uncle Garth who his favorite team was. He answered, "Ohio State and whoever is playing Notre Dame." His college football beliefs were seeded by my parents’ and grandparents’ generations. Historically, the Fighting Irish has been the pinnacle of college football...people love to love 'em or love to hate 'em. It's a little difficult for younger generations to truly grasp because recently Notre Dame seems like a team legendary for something that happened long ago -- 1988 was the last consensus national championship. You must zoom out and look at the bigger picture to comprehend ND's importance and rabid national fan base.
The 1935 Ohio State vs. Notre Dame game played in Ohio Stadium has been called "The Game of the Century"...which today is an overused term but back then was special. The pictures from the 1935 game are incredible. Grainy black, white, and gray shots. Over 80,000 people in the stadium - most of the men wearing those dark hats associated with that period. No helmet facemasks, so you can see the grizzled look on the players faces...who all look much older than they really are. This was the height of the Great Depression and yet 10,000 people came by train from South Bend to see this game. In 1935, Ohio State lost on a touchdown pass (which was revolutionary at that time) in the final minute. The Buckeyes would lose again in South Bend in 1936.
Do you remember where you were in 1995 when the Buckeyes finally had a chance for redemption against the Fighting Irish? One of the best college football images ever captured...Eddie George pulling away from nearly the entire Notre Dame team with 9 gold helmets chasing him from behind. Ohio State won again in South Bend in 1996.
The fifth time the Buckeyes and Irish met was nearly 18 years ago in the Fiesta Bowl. I remember my eldest son was only 6 weeks old and our celebratory roars did not wake him up. I also remember after the game, Troy Smith said during practice he worked on not overthrowing the long ball to Teddy Ginn...they knew it would be open.
The sixth time these two teams met was the 2015 Fiesta Bowl. One of the best Ohio State teams to not win the championship rolled Notre Dame behind Zeke’s four touchdowns in his final game as a Buckeye. Also, precursors of modern-day college football started creeping in during that January 1st, 2016 game. Joey Bosa was ejected on a targeting penalty which would have been the cleanest hit Jack Tatum ever laid on an opponent. Notre Dame’s sure-fire first round pick, Jaylon Smith, suffered a knee injury during the game which created a cascade of top NFL prospects opting out of non-championship bowl games ever since.
The seventh time the Buckeyes and Fighting Irish met was the season opener last year. I was at that game, I also went to the 2002 National Championship game. The 2022 OSU-ND game atmosphere was over the top - bigger than the national championship game. Primetime, under the lights; the sideline was a who's who of celebrities. The pre-game flyover planes dropped a military parachute squadron to the 50-yard line turf, aerialists rapidly falling out of the night sky. The halftime marching band performance featured a choreographed drone show high above the south stadium that was spectacular. The crowd was deafening from start to finish. The game was pretty great, too...a gritty Ohio State victory. Little-known defensive tackle, Mike Hall, was electric and constantly disrupted the Notre Dame offense. CJ Stroud efficiently led the offense in his final season with the Buckeyes before becoming the second pick in the NFL draft.
The Ohio State / Notre Dame game this Saturday is already historic and there hasn't even been a snap. Who knows how many times in the 21st century these teams will meet if ND can avoid joining the Big Ten, so a win carries long-term spoils. It is also the type of game that can entrench the winner atop the CFP discussion...which is important, but just a small blip on the football timeline for these schools if it doesn’t amount to a championship season.
As always, expectations are extremely high for the 2023 Buckeye team and this will be their first real test. We’ll see right away if the issues that haunted Ohio State last season have been fixed – too many big plays on defense and conservative offensive game-planning that positions the Buckeyes to face the thorn-in-their-side -- 3rd and short. Coach Day dialed up the offense against Georgia in the CFP Peach Bowl and 3 of OSU's touchdowns were 4 plays or less, and a 4th TD "drive" was just 6 plays. OSU avoided their 3rd down problem on those 4 series by not getting into 3rd down...keep doing that. Jim Knowles seems to have the defense really clicking this season. The players know their assignments, and Coach Knowles is judicious with aggressive play calling to not overextend the defensive scheme making it susceptible to big plays.
They don’t get much bigger than this…top 10 tilt under the lights in Notre Dame Stadium with the Fighting Irish. This would be a fitting late September chapter for an Ohio State season that we remember for a long time.
Touchdowns: Marvin Harrison Jr., Emeka Egbuka, TreVeyon, Chip Traynum, Denzel Burke
OSU 35 ND 28
Go Bucks! Beat ND! Harry Miller for Heisman!
Large Father
