Ohio State will not know the fate of its opening matchup in the 2025-26 College Football Playoff until next Saturday after Texas A&M hosts Miami in the first round of the championship postseason. As Buckeye fans bide their time waiting for OSU to retake the field against one of those schools on the final day of the year, let's take a look back at the last time Ohio State played against the team favored to advance — the Aggies — in the 1999 Sugar Bowl.
The 1998 Buckeyes commonly find themselves remembered as the last great team of the John Cooper era. Ohio State began that season ranked at the top of the AP Poll and finished tied for first place in the Big Ten, but a tragic 28-24 loss at home to Michigan State at the beginning of November kept the Buckeyes from advancing to the BCS National Championship.
That result also forced a three-way tie between Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin for the Big Ten title back in the era prior to the conference hosting a game to decide its champion. Traditionally, such a team would be the one to receive an invite to the Rose Bowl if it would not play for a National Title.
However, the circumstances of the tie dictated that the school that had gone the longest without a postseason trip to Pasadena would receive the honor instead. Because Michigan and Ohio State had competed in the Rose Bowl during each of the previous two respective seasons, Wisconsin claimed the spot having not done so since the 1994 game.
Meanwhile, the Sugar Bowl traditionally featured the SEC Champion, but because an undefeated Tennessee team would play in the Fiesta Bowl for the National Championship against Florida State, the game in New Orleans defaulted to the next-highest ranked member of the conference. Florida would have been the next eligible candidate, but the Gators had already accepted an invite to the Orange Bowl. This led to an unconventional Sugar Bowl pairing between the fourth-overall Buckeyes and a Big 12 Champion: the Texas A&M Aggies.
Ohio State entered the matchup determined to make a statement to the rest of the country after feeling it had been slighted by the BCS system in the computers' final rankings. Despite all three teams owning 11-1 records, the Buckeyes finished behind FSU and Kansas State because the Seminoles' loss took place in just their second game of the season to a NC State team that finished November with a 7-4 record. Additionally, KSU had not lost until the Big 12 Championship to Texas A&M. MSU ultimately finished the season with a 6-6 record following losses to Purdue and Penn State after the Spartans' massive upset in Columbus, casting a heavy shadow of recency bias over Ohio State's final BCS ranking.
The Buckeyes ultimately closed as 12-point favorites in the matchup against Texas A&M given the public's inference that OSU would play pissed off. However, after receiving the ball to open the game, the afternoon at the Louisiana Superdome did not get off to a great start.
Quarterback Joe Germaine led the Buckeyes out onto the field for their first offensive series, but promptly went three-and-out. The Aggies then responded with a rapid six-play, 59-yard drive that lasted less than two-and-a-half minutes and concluded with a nine-yard touchdown run by future NFL special teams legend Dante Hall. Texas A&M achieved a 7-0 lead as underdogs not even five minutes into the game and were set to receive the ball after halftime.
As Ohio State prepared to kick the extra point, Brent Musburger on the call for ABC remarked in astonishment, "Buckeyes better strap it up real tight, folks. This one's gonna be tough."
Strap it up, they did.
Though not right away. After taking back possession of the ball, Germaine and the Buckeyes found themselves staring down back-to-back three-and-outs on a 3rd and 15 from their own 24-yard line. Germaine thankfully found a wide-open Dee Miller on his only catch of the game for a gain of 28 yards to move the chains and put Ohio State into Texas A&M territory.
From then on, the momentum surged firmly in favor of the Buckeyes. Five plays later, Germaine would throw his lone touchdown of the contest to Reggie Germany on an 18-yard pass that allowed Ohio State to tie the game just over two minutes after falling behind.
OSU stopped the Aggies on the latter's next offensive series, then the Buckeyes promptly returned to the endzone again on the effort of multiple great carries from running back Joe Montgomery, ending in a 10-yard touchdown for him on the ground. Despite serving as a backup to starter Michael Wiley, Montgomery ultimately finished the day as Ohio State's leading rusher with nine carries for 96 yards and a go-ahead touchdown in his final game as a Buckeye.
Now leading by a 14-7 score, OSU kicked the ball back to Texas A&M. The Buckeyes forced another stop, prompting the Aggies to punt the ball away for a second straight series.
What happened next put the game away for good and immortalized a second Griffin in the history of Ohio State football.
Defensive back Derek Ross lined up at the end of the line of scrimmage, beat the Texas A&M blocker around the edge and successfully blocked the Aggies' punt attempt. Wide receiver Kevin Griffin then scooped up the ball and returned it 16 yards uncontested into the endzone to set up a 21-7 lead for Ohio State.
Just eight minutes after allowing themselves to fall into a seven-point deficit not even four minutes into the game, the Buckeyes responded with three unanswered touchdowns prior to the end of the first quarter. After adding a field goal just before halftime, Ohio State entered the locker room with a 24-7 lead and never looked back.
The Aggies did ultimately scored the final points of the game over halfway through the third quarter on a short touchdown pass. Thankfully, the Buckeye defense otherwise held stout as the offense generated just enough production to hold onto the ball and achieve a 24-14 win for Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl.
Although he failed to visit the endzone in his final performance as a Buckeye, wide receiver David Boston nevertheless put forth a solid effort in his scarlet and gray swan song with 11 catches for 105 yards. The receptions total tied for his third-most in his career as a Buckeye and remains tied for 12th-most in Ohio State history to this day behind just 11 other single-game performances.
The Buckeyes finished the season as the second-ranked overall team in the AP and Coaches' polls after Tennessee beat Florida State to claim the National Championship. Ohio State still owns a 4-0 record all-time against Texas A&M since winning the first matchup between the schools in a 17-0 shutout during the 1963 season. OSU then won again 56-13 in 1970 before a 28-12 triumph in Dallas a decade-and-a-half later to earn a victory at the 1987 Cotton Bowl.
Should Texas A&M defeat Miami next weekend, the Buckeyes will face the Aggies at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on December 31st in another Cotton Bowl showdown.
