I am desperately counting down the days, hours and minutes until the Buckeyes take the field in Bloomington. It has gotten to the point where I wake up in the morning flip the SmarTV over to YouTube to watch a classic game while I have my coffee and get ready for work (this morning it was the 2002 Texas Tech game, I have found myself binge watching season opener). And then at work, well my boss has already informed the team that I am about to enter a dark fog and be useless for the next 4 months because the only thing I will care about is Ohio State football. It is good to know that over the last three years she has truly understood who I am. Hahaha. As the assistant manager I pick up the work load in the summer months so that she can vacation to her beach house while in the fall she covers my butt so I can take trips to places like Columbus, Bloomington and Lincoln. Each time I hop in the truck I pull up 97.1 The Fan on my iPhone so that I don't have to listen to this SEC garbage down here. I am all in ready for this season opener. Which brings me to my topic... I have been recalling the seasons openers that I have witnessed in my lifetime and looking back I was trying to think which seasons opened up the most impressively. Today watching that opener against the Texas Tech team who had some fire power was probably the most impressive in my opinion. Thoughts? I don't recall any openers prior to my birth in 1990 so maybe some of you all can recall those openers from seasons before. Can't wait to get this thing started. Season openers dating back to 1990 are as follows:
1990: #18 Ohio State vs. Texas Tech W 17-10
1991: #22 Ohio State vs. Arizona W 38-14
1992: #17 Ohio State vs. Louisville W 20-19
1993: #18 Ohio State vs. Rice W 34-7
1994: #20 Ohio State vs. Fresno State W 34-10 *Neutral Site: Pigskin Classic in Anaheim, CA at Anaheim Stadium.
1995: #12 Ohio State vs. #22 Boston College W 38-6 *Neutral Site: Kickoff Classic in East Rutherford, NJ at Giants Stadium.
1996: #10 Ohio State vs. Rice W 70-7
1997: #9 Ohio State vs. Wyoming W 24-10 *BCA Classic at Ohio Stadium
1998: #1 Ohio State at #11 West Virginia W 34-17
1999: #9 Ohio State vs. #12 Miami (FL) L 12-23 *Neutral Site: Kickoff Classic in East Rutherford, NJ at Giants Stadium.
2000: #16 Ohio State vs. Fresno State W 43-10
2001: #24 Ohio State vs. Akron W 28-14
2002: #13 Ohio State vs. Texas Tech W 45-21 *Pigskin Classic at Ohio Stadium
2003: #2 Ohio State vs. #17 Washington W 28-9
2004: #9 Ohio State vs. Cincinnati W 27-6
2005: #6 Ohio State vs. Miami (OH) W 34-14
2006: #1 Ohio State vs. Northern Illinois W 35-12
2007: #10 Ohio State vs. Youngstown State W 38-6
2008: #2 Ohio State vs. Youngstown State W 43-0
2009: #6 Ohio State vs. Navy W 31-27
2010: #2 Ohio State vs. Marshall W 45-7
2011: #18 Ohio State vs. Akron W 42-0
2012: #18 Ohio State vs. Miami (OH) W 56-10
2013: #2 Ohio State vs. Buffalo W 40-20
2014: #5 Ohio State vs. Navy W 34-17 *Neutral Site: M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, MD
2015: #1 Ohio State at Virginia Tech W 42-24
2016: #6 Ohio State vs. Bowling Green W 77-10
2017: #2 Ohio State at Indiana......... Predictions?