In the first edition of our new Deep Cuts series here at Eleven Warriors, Colin Hass-Hill watched Ohio State’s season-opening 1998 win over West Virginia – one of the most-hyped season openers in Buckeyes history – for a retelling of the No. 1-ranked Buckeyes’ 34-17 victory over the Mountaineers in Morgantown.
One of the stars of that game was fifth-year senior wide receiver Dee Miller, who caught six passes for 110 yards and a touchdown in the first game of his final season as a Buckeye. And we caught up with him – as we will with a key figure from every game we feature in Deep Cuts – for a Q&A about that game and what it was like to be a part of that Ohio State football team.
Below, you’ll learn why Miller described Morgantown as the “second-wildest” environment he played at during his Ohio State career, how confident he and the Buckeyes were entering that game and that season as the nation’s top-ranked team, what it was like to play opposite David Boston and go against Antoine Winfield in practice, why he still thinks about that season’s infamous loss to Michigan State 22 years later, what he thinks of the program’s continued growth over the past two decades and more.
September 5, 1998
| #1 |
 |
Ohio State | 34 |
| #11 |
 |
West Virginia | 17 |
John Cooper said going into that game that it was “the toughest opener by far” in his tenure as Ohio State coach. What do you remember about that game and the build-up to it?
Dee Miller: The build-up was big because we were ranked No. 1 in the preseason, so I think that when you come in with that high of a ranking, we just wanted to put on a good game on a national stage.
Us coming there was a big deal, and it was a night game. Back then, you didn’t really have a lot of night games, so it was a very, very wild atmosphere. Probably the second-wildest atmosphere that I’ve been to; I think the first was Wisconsin. As soon as we pulled up in the bus, there were bottles of whiskey hitting our bus. They were ready. My uncle and my mom, they almost got into like five fights just walking from the car to the stadium.
So it was a big deal, but I just think we went in and we were confident, obviously, with the talent that we had. And we made a big statement. We dominated them offensively, defensively, and I think that game kind of set the tone on what our expectation was for the rest of the season.
How much does it increase your excitement entering a season when you’re starting off with a big game like that?
Man, it’s totally different. Your first game, it could be Bowling Green, it could be someone like that, you’re still really excited to play because it’s your first game of the season, but in all honesty, it’s a different feeling when you’re playing Rice at home vs. West Virginia on the road when you’re ranked No. 1.
We knew that they had athletes. West Virginia had always kind of had athletes. And they were giving us a little bit of bulletin-board material as well.
It was a test to us. How we can go into a hostile environment, on the road, ranked No. 1, 8:00 at night? What does that feel like, and how are we going to start off the season? And I think that was a positive note obviously.
It sounded like the Mountaineers were pretty confident they could upset Ohio State. What did you guys think of that?
[Laughing] Well, you never want to get caught up in the back-and-forth. It’s basically like, ‘Oh, wow, they said that? OK. Well, we’ll see about that.’ We wouldn’t say anything to reporters or anything, but during the game, we gave them an earful for that. ‘Hey, I heard that quote. You can’t play with your mouth, it’s time to play with your asses now. Your ass is in trouble tonight.’
”As soon as we pulled up in the bus, there were bottles of whiskey hitting our bus. They were ready. My uncle and my mom, they almost got into like five fights just walking from the car to the stadium.”– Dee Miller on the hostile environment in Morgantown
You were playing opposite David Boston and Joe Germaine was going into his first game as the full-time starting quarterback. How much confidence did you have in your passing offense entering that game?
Man, we were real confident. The year prior was just difficult, because we had (Stanley Jackson) and Joe, and we were constantly changing things. When Joe was in, we’d run a certain offense; when Stan was in, we ran a certain offense. We handled it OK, but it was a very, very tense situation. Because we just felt like the playbook was different when Stan was in the game vs. Joe, and vice versa. So coming into our season, we knew that we were kind of behind that, and this was Joe’s offense.
And we knew that Joe was a passer first. He will take a beating in the pocket, God bless him, before he would run. So we knew that if we got open, then Joe would get us the ball. So Joe, myself, Dave, we spent a lot of time in the offseason going into that summer. We spent a lot of time where it was just us three going over to the Woody Hayes and getting our timing together because we knew we needed a big year. And we were confident we could have a big year. But we knew that we had to put in the work.
David went on to be an All-American that year. What was it like playing with him?
It was awesome. And for me, it was kind of, ‘OK, I’ve been here for quite a few years, am I gonna eventually crack the lineup or am I gonna let Ken-Yon Rambo or Reggie Germany or someone take into my time like David did?’ So David, that year, he was the settled one. Everyone knew about him. And I think for me, it was just like, OK, here was a guy that was deemed the next Cris Carter but hasn’t really found his way yet, is he gonna be the guy on the opposite side of David or is another young guy coming in?
(Strength and conditioning coach Dave Kennedy), he said, ‘Listen, I’m going to challenge your ass. David took your spot, and you can’t let that happen with Ken-Yon and Reggie.’ So I can remember that preseason, all the guys would come back – Eddie (George), Joey (Galloway), (Mike) Vrabel, (Chris) Spielman, Raymont Harris – all those guys would come back in the summer and work out, and Coach K, he let me start working out with all of them. That kind of helped my confidence, because here I am working out with guys that’s in the league, so that really helped me out.
But playing on the other side of David, my main concern was I have to be effective over here because if not, they can double-team David. So I always wanted to say, ‘Hey, I know he’s the All-American, but I’m pretty decent over here myself,’ so if they did try to shadow the coverage more to David’s side or double-team him, I felt like I had to make them pay on the opposite side.
Dee Miller Facts
- Native of Springfield, Ohio
- Ranks 10th in Ohio State history with 132 receptions, eighth in school history with 2,090 receiving yards
- Had eight career touchdowns and four career 100-yard games
- Selected in the sixth round of the 1999 draft by the Green Bay Packers, but never played in an NFL game
- Has worked as a State Farm insurance agent since 2006
You had a big game against WVU, catching six passes for 110 yards and a touchdown. Did you go into that game wanting to make a statement yourself?
Yeah, ‘cause it was our last year. My career had been so up and down at Ohio State, and finally, started to contribute my junior year and started to have fun, and coming into your last year, when they’re like, ‘Ah man, so you’re ranked No. 1, and the No. 1 wide receiver tandem in the nation,’ so I had to not fall off from my junior year, because I had 981 yards (in 1997), so I definitely wanted individually to have that same type of impact.
How much did it make you guys better to go up against Antoine Winfield, Ahmed Plummer and the rest of the Ohio State secondary in practice?
Man, it made us great. My freshman year, I was against Shawn Springs and Marlon Kerner. Then Ty Howard, then Antoine Winfield, Ahmed Plummer, Nate Clements. So your whole tenure, you’re going against guys that are amazing. But Antoine and Plum were definitely both first-rounders.
So just going against them each and every day, you knew that there were some corners in the Big Ten like Charles Woodson, he was elite. Antoine was elite. But you knew you wasn’t facing Charles Woodson every day outside of Ohio State. Like when we played Illinois, we knew that we wasn’t playing anyone that was on our type of talent. We always felt like that talent was a little below us. So we felt like if we were successful during practice, we could be that successful on Saturday.
Are there any specific moments from the West Virginia game that stand out in your mind?
I can remember, there was a pass that it was a deep bomb, and I had to dive for it, and it was just a beautiful throw by Joe. And I can remember getting up like, ‘Oh man, I caught that.’ And then you get home and you see the game and you’re like, ‘Man, that was a really hard catch.’
I remember I had a pretty good block for Mike Wiley’s touchdown. Some wide receivers just want to catch it. I always tried to pride myself on being a good blocker as well as contributing as far as catching the ball and moving the chains and things like that.
When you think back on that 1998 season as a whole, what other games or moments stand out in your mind?
Man, the worst moment is that Michigan State game. That game will haunt kind of all of us for the rest of our lives. It’s so hard to be on your best every week. And we were in control of that game, and then second half, Plaxico Burress just went off. And that entire last series, I think we had all of our timeouts, and we went for four straight strikes. So it’s like, ‘Man, if you could do it all over again, would you run Joe a little bit more?’ There’s so many things you could take back.
Even after that, we were depressed because that was the first year of the BCS, so if you lost late, it was just hard to kind of rebound to try to get back up in there. But just being able to rebound and finish the season strong. Of course, we beat Michigan my senior year. Coop’s era wasn’t that good against that, so our class was the only one that was there for his first and his last victory against Michigan.
So I think that just being No. 1, and now that you’re older, you look back at all the talent. I look at David, I look at Antoine, then I see Antoine’s son just being drafted. And you just take a step back and you’re like, man, you had a great time and a great experience, but a lot of people don’t get to experience being No. 1. Even though we didn’t run the table, a majority of the year we ran the table, and even though we didn’t win the national championship, you still hear that team as one of the deepest and best talented teams in college football. So it is what it is, but we lost one game, we came back and won the bowl game (Sugar Bowl against Texas A&M), and that was it.
Do you still think you would have won a national championship if not for that loss to Michigan State?
All the time. I think about that all the time. And I really think about it when I talk to my man Peerless Price, because he went to Tennessee and they won it. Him and I have been friends since elementary, growing up in Springfield and Dayton, so every time I see his name, I think about that.
What’s it been like for you to watch Ohio State’s continued evolution over the past two decades?
It’s exciting. ‘Cause when you leave there, you’ve got a lot of pride obviously about the wide receivers that was there before, so you kind of just want to keep seeing everyone get better and better and better, and I think they’ve definitely done that. Just to see the guys now, you see what Michael Thomas is doing in the league, you see what (Chris) Olave is doing now, all those guys that came through the program are just doing phenomenal. You look at our DBs in the NFL. I just think that we’re just doing a great job of recruiting and continuing that machine.
I remember when I used to be there, and older guys would come in and they would be 40, and we’re 21, we’d be like, ‘Dang, they old!’ Now I’m that guy. That’s the way things happen. But it was a great experience.
