On Monday, the Indiana Hoosiers and Miami Hurricanes will battle for the College Football Playoff National Championship at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
As the only two teams to beat Ohio State this season will compete with the ultimate prize on the line in the national championship, let’s take a look back at a high-stakes game for the Buckeyes in Miami: the 1977 Orange Bowl.
Under the leadership of legendary head coach Woody Hayes, the Buckeyes enjoyed yet another successful season in 1976, marked by incredible highs but equally troubling lows.
Ohio State enjoyed a 12-7 victory over No. 7 Penn State in Week 2, but immediately endured a 22-21 loss to unranked Missouri and a tie against No. 4 UCLA in the following two weeks. From there, the Buckeyes ripped off six-straight victories to set up another historic battle against Michigan in the regular season finale.
Hosting the hated Wolverines, the Buckeyes failed to muster a single point for their home crowd, dropping the game 22-0 and yielding a piece of the Big Ten crown to Michigan in the loss. The Wolverines went on to play USC in the Rose Bowl, while the Buckeyes were sent to Miami to face No. 12 Colorado in the Orange Bowl.
The Buffaloes entered the Orange Bowl as the Big 8 co-champions after enjoying an 8-3 regular season, boosted by victories over No. 13 Oklahoma and No. 16 Iowa State. Like the Buckeyes, Colorado endured a loss to Missouri during its respective campaign.
Entering the Orange Bowl contest, the Buckeyes boasted the 18th-ranked defense in the country, led by the man in the middle, star middle linebacker Tom Cousineau. Ohio State’s offense leaned on its dominant rushing attack, powered by the running back tandem of Jeff Logan and Pete Johnson.
Colorado boasted a similar prowess on the ground, with running back Tony Reed and Jim Kelleher leading the way for the Buffaloes.
The 1977 Orange Bowl marked the only time Ohio State played at the world-famous Orange Bowl Stadium, and the Buckeyes made sure to leave their mark on the famed venue.
However, things looked dire for the Buckeyes during the early stages of the Orange Bowl. Colorado jumped on Ohio State early, scoring the game’s first ten points behind a 26-yard field goal from kicker Mark Zetterberg and an 11-yard touchdown strike from quarterback Jeff Knapple to Emery Moorehead.
In a 10-point hole, Hayes turned to injured quarterback Rod Gerald — who replaced Jim Pacenta — to lead the Buckeyes back. Gerald, who previously missed the last four games due to two broken vertebrae, certainly answered the call.
On his first series in control of the Ohio State offense, Gerald burst through the Colorado defense for a 17-yard gain on his first carry of the afternoon. Shortly after, Logan ran through the heart of the Buffaloes' defense for a 36-yard touchdown to get the Buckeyes on the board.
From there, it was an avalanche of scoring for the Ohio State offense. The Buckeyes tacked on 10 more points in the second quarter, thanks to a 28-yard field goal from Tom Skaldany and a three-yard touchdown plunge from Johnson, to give Ohio State a 17-10 advantage at halftime.
Ohio State added another field goal from Skaldany in the third quarter to take a two-possession lead into the final frame, before Gerald put a bow on the Buckeyes’ dominant victory with a four-yard scamper late in the game to lift Ohio State to the 27-10 victory.
The Buckeye defense was outstanding throughout the contest, holding Colorado’s potent rushing attack to just 134 yards on 40 carries and stifling Reed to just 50 yards on 20 carries. On the flip side, Ohio State rushed for 271 yards on 71 attempts, led by Gerald’s 81 yards on 14 attempts.
Gerald earned offensive player of the game honors, while Cousineau emerged as the defensive player of the game.
Thanks to the victory, Ohio State finished the season at No. 6 in the AP Poll while Colorado dropped to No. 16.
The Buckeyes would not return to the Orange Bowl Game until 2014, this time played at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. However, this edition of the game didn’t go quite as well for Ohio State, as the Buckeyes fell to Clemson 40-35.
