ESPN took a look back at all of college football’s national champions of the past 20 years, ranking them accordingly.
Coming in dead last on the list at No. 21 was Ohio State’s 2002 National Championship squad, which was the first team ever to go 14-0, beat five ranked teams, snapped a team’s 31-game winning streak in the title game, and saw 19 players drafted in either the 2003 or 2004 NFL Drafts.
Here’s the the full rationale from ESPN.com:
No one would label the 2002 Buckeyes dominant, despite five wins by 24 points or more and a defense that allowed only 64 points in the second half all season. Ohio State's signature moment before the famous pass interference call in the title game was a fourth-down touchdown pass from Craig Krenzel to Michael Jenkins that gave the team a 10-6 win over a 4-5 Purdue team. Holy Buckeye, indeed. The Purdue win kicked off a November of escapes for Jim Tressel's team. Ohio State beat unranked Illinois in overtime, then outlasted archrival Michigan 14-9 as running back Maurice Clarett returned from injury and Krenzel led a fourth-quarter touchdown drive. The defense had stars such as safety Mike Doss, lineman Will Smith and Chris Gamble, who played cornerback and receiver. Clarett, a true freshman, became the face of the offense. This was a team that simply knew how to win, style points be damned.
ESPN wasn’t exceptionally high on Ohio State's most recent national championship team either, ranking the 2014 squad No. 14 on the list.
