By winning its first eight games of the 2019 season by at least 24 points, Ohio State has dominated its competition with a level of consistency that has rarely been seen in college football.
Dating back to 1929, only nine Football Bowl Subdivision teams have ever won that many games in a row by at least 24 points – and three of those teams have worn the scarlet and gray.
Ohio State’s 1969 football team won all of its first eight games of the season by 27 points or more, while the 1973 Buckeyes won all of their first nine games of the season by 24 points or more.
This year’s Buckeyes have defeated their first eight opponents by an average of 40.4 points, and all by at least 24 points. Their closest games of the year came in their season opener against FAU – in which Ohio State had a 28-0 lead in the first quarter before allowing the Owls to cut the lead to 45-21 – and their sixth game of the year against Michigan State, which they won 34-10.
The full list of teams in the past 90 years who have won eight or more consecutive games by at least 24 points – a feat that no school other than Ohio State has accomplished more than once – as compiled by research from Eleven Warriors data analyst Matt Gutridge and Sports-Reference.com’s school streak finder:
| School | Year(s) | Wins | Games |
|---|---|---|---|
| NEBRASKA | 1971 | 10 | Games 1-10 |
| STANFORD | 2010-11 | 10 | Game 11 (2010) - Game 7 (2011) |
| OHIO STATE | 1973 | 9 | Games 1-9 |
| BOISE STATE | 2002 | 9 | Games 4-12 |
| FLORIDA STATE | 2013 | 9 | Games 5-13 |
| OHIO STATE | 1969 | 8 | Games 1-8 |
| FLORIDA | 2008 | 8 | Games 5-12 |
| ALABAMA | 2018 | 8 | Games 5-12 |
| OHIO STATE | 2019 | 8* | Games 1-8 (Ongoing Streak) |
Given that Ohio State’s next two games are against Maryland, who has lost three games by more than 24 points this year, and Rutgers, who has lost five games by more than 24 points this year, the Buckeyes look to have a very real chance of matching the 1971 Nebraska Cornhuskers and the 2010-11 Stanford Cardinal by winning 10 straight games by at least 24 points.
Among the nine teams since 1969 who have won at least eight straight wins by 24 or more points, Ryan Day is the only first-year head coach to accomplish the feat.
Of course, Ohio State’s historic dominance to start the season isn’t what will ultimately define the Buckeyes’ 2019 season – how they finish will do that.
Within the previous eight teams in college football’s modern era that won at least eight straight games by 24 points or more, three have gone on to win national championships: 1971 Nebraska, 2008 Florida (coached by Urban Meyer) and 2013 Florida State.
The precedent this year’s Ohio State team doesn’t want to follow: neither the 1969 Buckeyes nor 1973 Buckeyes beat Michigan. The Wolverines ended the 1969 team’s winning streak with a 24-12 win over Ohio State, while the 1973 Buckeyes’ winning streak also came to an end in that year’s rivalry game, which ended in a 10-10 tie.
For all that Ohio State has already accomplished this year, Day knows that the Buckeyes must continue to build upon its dominant start for this to truly be one of the all-time great seasons in college football history.
“I talk to the guys all the time, you go through life, you don’t have many opportunities for something special like this. And we just can’t let it go,” Day said this week. “We got to make sure we stay focused on each week.”
