Cleveland.com's Doug Lesmerises put together a ranking of "Ohio State football's 10 toughest non-conference games of the past 40 years..." and where exactly Oregon this season compares to some of the other huge regular season out of conference match ups.
Excerpt from the article
Since 1979, Earle Bruce’s first season, the Buckeyes have played 33 regular-season non-conference games against teams ranked in the top 25 at the time. Oregon would be No. 34. Ohio State is 20-12-1 in those games, and 6-5-1 when those opponents are ranked in the top 10.
One of the most painful OOC games in Ohio State history comes in at #2
No. 2, Texas, 2005: Texas won 25-22
Texas was No. 2 at the time and won the national title by finishing off a 13-0 season by beating USC: The Buckeyes, in the midst of a quarterback flip-flop between Troy Smith and Justin Zwick, still fought for 60 minutes against a super team led by a super talent in quarterback Vince Young. He threw for 270 yards and ran for 76, and he hit Limas Sweed for a 24-yard go-ahead touchdown with fewer than three minutes to play. The Longhorns would prove to be the best team in the country this season, but the No. 4 Buckeyes hung right with them. With Young gone, the Buckeyes got Texas back the next year in Austin, winning 24-7 in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown.
And one of the most embarrassing losses in Ohio State football history is #1...
No. 1, at USC, 2008: USC won 35-3
USC was ranked No. 1 and finished 12-1 and ranked No. 3: The Buckeyes were coming off consecutive losses in the national title game and brought back a load of seniors who turned down chances to leave for the NFL. This was a talented team, but it was in transition. By Week 3, after an uninspiring win over Ohio and with star running back Beanie Wells hobbled, it felt like the Buckeyes didn’t have a path to beating the Trojans. They didn’t. Mark Sanchez threw four touchdown passes, Rey Maualuga returned a Todd Boeckman interception for a touchdown, the OSU offensive line was overrun and the talent gap was obvious. Ohio State finished the year a solid 10-3, while the fat and happy Trojans were upset by Oregon State 12 days later for their only loss of the season. But this was a blowout, and USC squeaked out an 18-15 win in Columbus the next season as well.
What are some of your thoughts on Doug's Top 10? Are there any big time OOC games over the last 40 years that he missed? Some of your personal favorite OOC games during that span?
Go Bucks!
