Like most Americans, I know embarrassingly little about our Canadian neighbors. That's unfortunate, because they're like, right there, and doubly so because as an Ohioan my state technically shares a border with the country through Lake Erie.
But it turns out that it's pretty nice! Granted, I'm basing this off of one week here, encompassing such places as "Toronto" and "east of Toronto" and "a Burger King outside of Ottawa" and "Montreal, for a hot minute" but overall this is a lovely country with a surprisingly deep football culture that Ohio State is able to claim a little piece of.
And not just through the antics of a Duron Carter, or the careers of various Buckeye NFL cast-offs, but as a result of bona fide contributions from Hall of Fame level players that our friends (not enemies) up north have recognized over the years.
Which is all well and good, but it's probably helpful to have a little context here. I'm going to assume that, like mine, your general Canadian knowledge starts and ends with Timbits so before we get into how the Ohio State University has impacted Canadian football, let's briefly go over some of the peculiarities of their clearly superior version of the game.
- Twelve players per side is something that you might already be aware of, but one important distinction is that many players can be in motion at once, leading to greater importance on positions like the slotback, which are typically pass-catchers that play off the line of scrimmage.
- You might also know that the offensive team only gets three downs to advance ten yards, but this is somewhat mitigated by the fact that both sides of the ball start off a full yard away from each other on the line of scrimmage before the snap, encouraging teams to go for it on short distances.
- In general, the game is optimized for risk and scoring. The endzone is much deeper, the field is wider, receivers only need to have one foot down for a catch and cannot be blocked for more than a yard. Basically anything that you can think of to try and make the game more exciting, Canadian football will do it.
- There are quotas on American players to ensure that the Canadian game stays mostly stocked with flanneled, bearded, maple syrup-blooded lumberjacks. This also probably accounts for why there are only nine teams in the entire league, albeit a league that dates back to the 1950s.
- A PAT attempt is officially called a "convert," which is weird and dumb.
- This (with the least Canadian and worst possible musical accompaniment):
A more detailed explanation is here and here, or you could just read the Wikipedia article here.
Alright, so you've got the primer, let's talk about how Ohio State impacted the Great White North. Two, specifically, who have found their way into the Canadian Football League's Hall of Fame and into the annals of history (and I want to stress that these were the two that I was able to find after going through the CFLs kind of hilariously sparse Hall of Fame website). Kind of.
Don "Suds" Sutherin
I have no independent verification for this, but I assume that if you get the nickname Suds then either alcohol flows from your pores or you are a teetotaler of the highest caliber. If it's the latter, then I deeply apologize to the 80 year old from Empire, Ohio. If it's the former, and if you're reading this Don, let's get lit!
Sutherin was a defensive back and kicker at Ohio State, actually kicking the winning field goal in the 1958 Rose Bowl that won the Buckeyes the national championship. You can read about some of his Buckeye exploits here.
After a brief stint in the NFL with the Giants and Steelers, Sutherin joined the CFL, eventually amassing four Grey Cups (the CFL championship) and the Canadian equivalent of All-Pro recognition three times, playing 12 seasons for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Ottawa Rough Riders, and the Toronto Argonauts, all real teams that exist in this world. He'd later go on to be a middling coach of the Tiger-Cats, and in 1992 was elected into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
Frank "The Professor" Clair
There are two Ohio State football players/coaches with statues to their name. One is Woody Hayes. The second is Frank Clair.
The CFL Hall of Fame divides their inductees into "players," "builders," and "reporters." Clair was a "builder," winning the Grey Cup five times as a coach with the Ottawa Rough Riders and the Toronto Argonauts in the 1950s and 60s and then another two times as a GM. At Ohio State, Clair had been a receiver in the late 30s and early 40s, having a cup of coffee in the NFL before coaching at the University of Buffalo and moving on to be the 3rd most successful coach in the history of the CFL and being inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1981.
Ottawa eventually named their stadium after him, and as recompense for changing the name to TD Place Stadium (which is a little on the nose), they honored Clair with the aforementioned statue.
Duron Carter has enormous talent, but he made Ohio State look pretty bad in Canada recently. Hopefully they don't forget the past contributions Buckeyes have made to their version of the sport, and hopefully we don't either.
