The first 25 years of the 21st century have been full of iconic games for Ohio State football.
With one quarter of the century now complete entering the 2025 season, we’re taking a look back at Ohio State’s 25 best games of the last 25 years. Each day this week, we’ll reveal five more games on our list as we count down the most iconic Buckeye wins of 2000-24 from No. 25 to No. 1.
While the list is entirely subjective and open to debate, the factors we considered when assembling the rankings included how memorable each game was, how exciting it was to watch, the stakes of each game in terms of opponent and championship implications and their lasting legacies. Only games that Ohio State won and that have been played since the start of the 21st century were considered for inclusion.
The countdown started Monday with Part 1 of our list, where we looked back on the following five games:
25. Oct. 20, 2012: Ohio State 29, Purdue 22 (OT)
24. Nov. 14, 2009: Ohio State 27, Iowa 24 (OT)
23. Nov. 30, 2019: Ohio State 56, Michigan 27
22. Sept. 23, 2023: Ohio State 17, Notre Dame 14
21. Nov. 20, 2004: Ohio State 37, Michigan 21
Our countdown continues now with games No. 20 through No. 16, which include a pair of BCS bowl wins, two one-point road wins over Big Ten rivals and the first-ever College Football Playoff game at Ohio Stadium.
20. Jan. 1, 2010 (Rose Bowl): Ohio State 26, Oregon 17
Entering the Rose Bowl to end the 2009 season, Ohio State had developed a reputation for losing big non-conference games despite being the best team in the Big Ten. Each of the Buckeyes’ previous three seasons had ended with bowl losses, including a pair of BCS national championship game defeats to Florida and LSU, while the Buckeyes had also lost September non-conference games to USC in back-to-back years.
As such, the pressure was on Jim Tressel’s squad entering its first game of the century’s second decade to prove it could beat a marquee non-conference opponent on a big stage. Terrelle Pryor and the Silver Bullet defense delivered as Ohio State won its first of three bowl games against Oregon this century.
Ohio State scored the only 10 points of the first quarter. Oregon scored the next 10 points to knot the score, but a pair of field goals by Devin Barclay and Aaron Pettrey put Ohio State ahead by six at halftime. Oregon scored a touchdown on the opening drive of the second half to take a one-point lead, but that would be the Ducks’ final score of the game.
Barclay put Ohio State back in front with a 38-yard field goal on the Buckeyes’ first series of the third quarter. Neither team would score for nearly a full quarter after that as the Buckeye defense forced a LeGarrette Blount fumble and two punts. With the game on the line in the fourth quarter, Pryor took over, leading Ohio State on a 13-play, 81-yard drive capped by a 17-yard touchdown pass to DeVier Posey to give the Buckeyes a 9-point advantage that would hold for the final score.
In arguably the best performance of his Ohio State career, Pryor completed 23 of 37 passes for 266 yards and two touchdowns while also running for 72 yards. The Ohio State defense held Chip Kelly’s Oregon offense to only 260 yards as Jeremiah Masoli completed just nine of 20 passing attempts for 81 yards with an interception.
19. Jan. 2, 2006 (Fiesta Bowl): Ohio State 34, Notre Dame 20
Ohio State’s previous bowl win before the 2010 Rose Bowl was also one to remember.
While the 2006 Fiesta Bowl is perhaps most remembered for the split jersey A.J. Hawk’s future wife wore to support Hawk and her brother, Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn, it was also a contest full of fireworks on the field as the Buckeyes put up 617 yards of offense – an Ohio State bowl record at the time – en route to their first-ever bowl win over the Fighting Irish.
Ted Ginn Jr. put his dynamic playmaking ability on full display early as he hauled in a 56-yard touchdown pass and ran for a 68-yard touchdown in Ohio State’s first three drives. An 85-yard touchdown pass from Troy Smith to Santonio Holmes – still the longest touchdown pass in Fiesta Bowl history – gave the Buckeyes a 21-7 lead before halftime.
Notre Dame cut Ohio State’s lead to one score twice in the second half, but the Buckeyes never allowed the Fighting Irish to come all the way back. Antonio Pittman put the game away late in the fourth quarter when he broke free for a 60-yard touchdown run that sent Ohio State over the 600-yard threshold in a bowl game for the first time.
Smith finished the game with 342 passing yards and two passing touchdowns plus 66 rushing yards, setting the stage for his Heisman Trophy campaign the following season. The Buckeyes finished the year ranked fourth in the AP poll and secured a 10-win season with the victory over Notre Dame.
18. Sept. 19, 2018: Ohio State 27, Penn State 26
Ohio State’s 2018 win over Penn State doesn’t get talked about quite as much in retrospect as the Buckeyes’ 2017 win over Penn State, but the fourth-quarter comeback was just as spectacular.
Penn State raced out to a 13-0 lead with a dominant first half that included a 93-yard catch-and-run by KJ Hamler, tying the longest play ever allowed by Ohio State’s defense. A pair of touchdowns by J.K. Dobbins put the Buckeyes ahead by one, and Ohio State took that lead into the fourth quarter. But Penn State scored on each of its first two drives of the fourth quarter to pull out to a 12-point lead with just eight minutes left to play in Happy Valley.
With Ohio State needing a big play to stay in the game, Binjimen Victor caught a pass over the middle from Dwayne Haskins and weaved through nearly the entire Penn State defense on his way to the end zone for a 47-yard touchdown. Then, after a Penn State punt, Haskins led a 96-yard game-winning touchdown drive that started with Dobbins gaining 35 yards on a screen pass and ended with K.J. Hill following a block by Terry McLaurin – who bowled over three Nittany Lions defenders at once – to turn another screen pass into a go-ahead 24-yard touchdown.
A fourth-down tackle for loss by Chase Young sealed the win for the Buckeyes, sending a Beaver Stadium record, “White Out” crowd of 110,889 home in stunned silence as Ohio State stole a victory from the Nittany Lion jaws of defeat for the second year in a row.
17. Dec. 21, 2024 (College Football Playoff First Round): Ohio State 42, Tennessee 17
You probably don’t need a reminder of what made this game great considering it was less than seven months ago, but we’ll have fun reliving it anyway.
Ohio State entered its first-ever home CFP game looking to salvage a season that was teetering on the brink of being one of the program’s most disappointing years ever following a stunning 13-10 loss to Michigan. A braggadocious Tennessee fanbase raised the stakes even higher as tens of thousands of Volunteer supporters made the trip to Columbus and threatened to turn the Shoe into “Neyland North.”
But the Buckeyes and their fans made sure that didn’t come close to happening. Instead, Ohio State fans created one of the greatest environments in the Shoe's storied history, roaring loudly throughout the cold December night as the Buckeyes gave them plenty to cheer about.
It quickly became clear that the Buckeyes were playing with a whole different level of confidence than they had just three weeks earlier as they stormed out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter. The Buckeyes never looked back from there, reestablishing themselves as college football’s team to beat with a 25-point shellacking in which Jeremiah Smith, TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins each scored two touchdowns while the Silver Bullets made Nico Iamaleava’s life miserable, limiting the then-Tennessee quarterback to just 104 passing yards on 31 attempts.
While it was just the first of four games in what’s now known as The Greatest Run in College Football History, the historic backdrop of Ohio Stadium and the dominant nature of the victory ensured this game will be remembered for many years to come.
16. Nov. 30, 2013: Ohio State 42, Michigan 41
Ohio State’s 2013 win over Michigan in Ann Arbor was an offensive shootout that culminated with one of the most memorable endings in the history of The Game.
Neither defense did much to stop the other for most of the game as the Buckeyes and Wolverines combined for 83 points and 1,129 yards. The result was a thrilling back-and-forth affair that included at least two touchdowns in every quarter. Ohio State ran for 393 yards, the most rushing yards it’s ever had in The Game, as Carlos Hyde went for 226 yards and a touchdown while Braxton Miller ran for 153 yards and three scores.
Ohio State’s passing defense struggled mightily, allowing Devin Gardner to throw for 451 yards and four touchdowns. On the game’s deciding play, however, Tyvis Powell stepped up to save the scarlet and gray from a crushing upset loss that would have ruined an undefeated regular season.
After Devin Gardner completed a touchdown pass to Devin Funchess with just 32 seconds remaining, Michigan could have opted to tie the game with an extra point and send it to overtime. Instead, Brady Hoke decided to go for two and the win. Ohio State cornerbacks coach Kerry Coombs correctly predicted what play Michigan would run, and Powell used his coach’s tip to break in front of Gardner’s pass attempt for a game-sealing interception.
The win secured Ohio State’s second straight 12-0 regular season. While the year ended in disappointment as the Buckeyes lost to Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship Game and Clemson in the Orange Bowl, the win over the Wolverines – which also featured Marcus Hall’s famous double-bird salute to the Michigan Stadium crowd after he was ejected for an on-field brawl – remains one of the great games in the history of college football’s greatest rivalry.
Eleven Warriors researcher Matt Gutridge contributed to this article.
