Tressels, Fickells, Urbans, Days, Johnsons and Days,
I'll be honest upfront. After 21 years of my weekly Buckeye football tradition, this OSU prediction almost didn't happen.
After 21 seasons of writing OSU predictions, I thought of hanging it up this season.
Some of you received my first prediction from 2002 Game 1 -- OSU vs Texas Tech. I was a newly-displaced OSU fan longing for connection to home through college football. In that first email I predicted an OSU loss, but a Buckeye freshman running back ran for 175 yards and 3 touchdowns to emphatically prove me wrong. The emails didn't stop, predicting losses did. 2002 Ohio State became the first-ever college football team to go 14-0.
We've been in a golden age of Buckeye football since 2002, so I've been nervous to ever stop. But, I only have so many stories about Woody Hayes yelling at my dad to cut his hair in 1969, or the residents at Knightsbridge assisted living adorning their hallways with their Buckeye memories in 2010.
As I prepared not to write, tonight, I looked back at some of my old OSU prediction emails and came across something, so here we are.
One of the reasons I was going to stop is my preoccupation with a change unrelated to Ohio State Football that is on my mind quite a bit right now. I moved my oldest son, Austin, into his freshman dorm last Friday. Some of you may already get it. Mixed emotions, right? He's not at his after school job working at the Chipotle at Kingsdale right now. His work shoes are in the hallway cubby.
But, then I came across this :52-second video embedded in a prediction email during the 2008 season (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Mod8PEz71w) . The image is sideways -- but the melody still comes through just fine from 3-year-old Austin.
Too many fantastic moments and memories over the last 21 seasons with Ohio State football as the catalyst. And, the 2024 Buckeyes have the potential to be an amazing next chapter. I'll try my best to write along with it.
Touchdowns: Will Howard, TreVeyon, Quinshon, James Peoples, James Peoples, Emeka, Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate, Jelani Thurman, Brandon Inniss
OSU 70 Akron 0
Go Bucks! Beat Akron! Harry Miller and Tyleik Williams for Heisman!
Large Father
