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This Week's Question: If You Could Change the Outcome of One Game in Ohio State Football History, Which Would You Choose?

George Eisner's picture
8/23/21 at 9:45a in the OSU Football Forum
117 Comments

Happy Monday, Eleven Warriors! Hope you all enjoyed your weekends more than you enjoyed my doomsday College Football Playoff projection:

Fire George

My first season at 11W has not even started yet, and I already feel like I am at home with you all.

Anyway, for This Week's Question™, I got to talking to my father (Class of '78) about notable moments and stories in Ohio State history that could have witnessed dramatically different outcomes had one game simply had a different result. He noted a particular tandem of games within two days of each other from 45 years ago that would have wildly shifted the careers of Archie Griffin and Bob Knight.

First, on New Year's Day 1976, an undefeated Ohio State team lost in the National Championship to UCLA in what was the final game of Griffin's historic career. Then, two days later on January 3rd, an undermanned Ohio State basketball team nearly ruined Indiana's undefeated season in the 10th game of their run. The Buckeyes missed two late layups after forcing a turnover to fall just shy to the Hoosiers by a score of 66-64.

Reflecting on events such as these reminds us all of how narrow the margins for error are at the top of college sports—particularly as they apply to legacies. So my question to you all this week is, if you could change the outcome of one game in Ohio State Football history, which would you choose?

Personally, I would reverse the loss to Florida in the 2006 National Championship. A win for Ohio State in that scenario not only grants a title on the resumes of Troy Smith, Ted Ginn Jr., James Laurinaitis, and a host of other legendary Buckeyes; it also at least delays the start of the SEC's obnoxious run of success in the championship game to close out the BCS era.

What about you? Which game would you reverse the outcome of? Is there a basketball game or other sporting event you would choose instead?

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