Looking Back at Ohio State's Regular Season Primetime Results Since 2001

By D.J. Byrnes on May 3, 2016 at 3:00 pm
Ohio Stadium under the lights look back.
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ESPN announced Ohio State will be featured in four primetime games to be broadcast on its family of networks during the 2016 season. Add in a Week 3 fracas with the Oklahoma Sooners, and the Buckeyes could be staring down the barrel of five regular season games under the lights in 2016.

This, of course, is all part of Urban Meyer's plan. Night games have become commonplace under the three-time champion—they create quite the atmosphere for recruits—but there was a time when Ohio State played two games maximum in primetime, and it wasn't that long ago.

Since 2001, Ohio State didn't play in three night games in a regular season until 2007. It was a feat unrepeated until Urban Meyer's first season at the helm of Ohio State in 2012.

Jim Tressel earned a reputation for big games, but the Vest went 11-8 under the lights during his 10 seasons in Columbus; 10-8 if you're a stooge that acknowledges the NCAA's vacation of Ohio State's 52-10 win over Minnesota in 2010.

Here's how Ohio State performed under the lights during the Tressel and Fickell regimes:

YEAR TIME (ET) OPPONENT LOCATION RESULT SCORE
2001 7:45 No. 14 NORTHWESTERN OHIO STADIUM WIN 38-20
2001 7:45 MINNESOTA HUBERT HUMPHREY METRODOME WIN 31-28
2002 6:00 NORTHWESTERN RYAN FIELD WIN 27-16
2003 9:00 No. 22 WISCONSIN CAMP RANDALL STADIUM LOSS 10-17
2004 9:00 NORTHWESTERN RYAN FIELD LOSS 27-33 (OT)
2005 8:00 No. 2 TEXAS OHIO STADIUM LOSS 22-25
2005 8:00 PENN STATE BEAVER STADIUM LOSS 10-17
2006 8:00 No. 2 TEXAS DARRELL K. ROYAL–TEXAS MEMORIAL STADIUM WIN 24-17
2006 8:00 No. 13 IOWA KINNICK STADIUM WIN 38-17
2007 8:00 MINNESOTA HUBERT HUMPHREY METRODOME WIN 30-7
2007 8:00 No. 20 PURDUE ROSS–ADE STADIUM WIN 23-7
2007 8:00 No. 25 PENN STATE BEAVER STADIUM WIN 37-17
2008 8:00 No. 1 USC LOS ANGELES MEMORIAL COLLISEUM LOSS 3-35
2008 8:00 No. 18 WISCONSIN CAMP RANDALL STADIUM WIN 20-17
2008 8:00 No. 3 PENN STATE OHIO STADIUM LOSS 6-13
2009 8:00 No. 3 USC OHIO STADIUM LOSS 15-18
2009 7:00 INDIANA MEMORIAL STADIUM WIN 33-14
2010 7:00 No. 18 WISCONSIN CAMP RANDALL STADIUM LOSS 18-31
2010 8:00 MINNESOTA TCF BANK STADIUM WIN 52-10
2011 7:30 MIAMI (FL) SUN LIFE STADIUM LOSS 6-24
2011 8:30 No. 14 NEBRASKA MEMORIAL STADIUM LOSS 27-34
2011 8:00 No. 12 WISCONSIN OHIO STADIUM WIN 33-29

Tressel's primetime results weren't bad, but there are some glaring losses—both losses to USC were awful in their own ways, and the fact he went 3-4 in his last four years isn't a selling point either.

By contrast, Urban Meyer is entering his fifth season as Ohio State head coach and already compiled 14 wins. Sure, he had more chances than Tressel, but that also means higher chances of losing too. 

Meyer's regular season primetime record, 14-1, remains impeccable even though it includes a dismal 2014 loss to an unranked Virginia Tech at home. 

YEAR TIME (ET) OPPONENT LOCATION RESULT SCORE
2012 8:00 No. 21 NEBRASKA OHIO STADIUM WIN 63-38
2012 8:00 INDIANA MEMORIAL STADIUM WIN 52-49
2012 5:30 PENN STATE BEAVER STADIUM WIN 35-23
2013 8:00 No. 23 WISCONSIN OHIO STADIUM WIN 31-24
2013 8:00 No. 16 NORTHWESTERN RYAN FIELD WIN 40-30
2013 8:00 PENN STATE OHIO STADIUM WIN 63-14
2014 8:00 VIRGINIA TECH OHIO STADIUM LOSS 35-21
2014 6:00 CINCINNATI OHIO STADIUM WIN 50-28
2014 8:00 PENN STATE BEAVER STADIUM WIN 31-24 (2 OT)
2014 8:00 ILLINOIS OHIO STADIUM WIN 55-14
2014 8:00 No. 7 MICHIGAN STATE SPARTAN STADIUM WIN 49-37
2015 8:00 VIRGINIA TECH LANE STADIUM WIN 42-24
2015 8:00 PENN STATE OHIO STADIUM WIN 38-10
2015 8:00 RUTGERS HIGH POINT SOLUTIONS STADIUM WIN 49-7
2015 8:00 MINNESOTA OHIO STADIUM WIN 28-14

Penn State is Ohio State's most common primetime opponent since 2001. The Buckeyes are 5-2 against the Nittany Lions in those games, including a 4-0 mark against them under Urban Meyer. (OSU outscored PSU 167 to 61 in those games.)

So, credit where it's due: Urban Meyer demanded the spotlight for his team, and his team has proven to be worthy of it 93 percent of the time. Given that rate, it's no wonder networks and advertisers continue to bet big on the Buckeyes.

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