Ohio State On This Date: Epic Comebacks Against Minnesota and Penn State Highlight Buckeye Games on Oct. 28

The first game Ohio State played on Oct. 28 was in 1893. The Buckeyes traveled to Kenyon and were waxed 42-6. The 36-point defeat is the largest margin Ohio State would ever suffer by Kenyon and is the seventh-largest loss the Buckeyes have ever had to an Ohio opponent. 

In 2017, Urban Meyer's sixth-ranked Buckeyes hosted James Franklin's second-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions. Saquon Barkley put the Nittany Lions up 7-0 when he returned the opening kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown. Following a Parris Campbell fumble, Penn State scored again and led 14-0 within the game's first four minutes. 

The Nittany Lions maintained a double-digit lead for the majority of the first three quarters and led 35-20 at the beginning of the final stanza. The stage was set for J.T. Barrett to orchestrate one of the finest performances and comebacks ever by an Ohio State quarterback. 

Denzel Ward blocked Blake Gillikin's punt, and two plays later, Barrett hooked up with Johnnie Dixon for a 38-yard touchdown. With 11:05 remaining, the Buckeyes were now one score and a two-point conversion away from tying the game.

Penn State answered with a 10-play, 64-yard drive that resulted in a field goal and a 38-27 lead. More important for the Nittany Lions was the drive milked the clock, leaving Meyer's team with only 5:42 to overcome an 11-point deficit. 

Barrett got busy and led his team 76 yards in five plays, culminating with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Dixon. The two-point conversion failed, and the home team trailed 38-33 with 4:20 on the clock. Urban Meyer opted to kick the ball deep, and the faith in his defense paid off as the Buckeyes forced Penn State into a three-and-out.

With the game on the line, Barrett directed another five-play drive. This time, he found Marcus Baugh for a 16-yard touchdown, and the Buckeyes dispatched their non-rival 39-38. Barrett finished the day completing 33 of 39 passes for 328 yards and four touchdowns. 

Games to remember

Ohio State scores 12 touchdowns against Iowa in 1950

In the game's first five minutes, Vic Janowicz did more than most players in an entire contest. The junior from Elyria started the game by booting the opening kickoff through the end zone. On Iowa's first play of the game's opening drive, the ball came loose and Janowicz recovered. Four plays later, Janowicz scored and kicked the extra point.

He booted the next kickoff, and the Hawkeyes were forced to punt after going three-and-out. Janowicz fielded the punt at Ohio State's 39-yard line and raced 61 yards for his second touchdown of the game. Following his PAT, the score was Vic Janowicz 14, Iowa 0. 

On the first play from scrimmage following Janowicz's third kickoff, Iowa fumbled again, and the man of the hour recovered his second fumble of the game. A few plays later, Tony Curcillo was on the receiving end of Janowicz's 12-yard touchdown pass. In less than five minutes of gameplay, the future Heisman winner had a 61-yard punt return touchdown, 12-yard passing touchdown, 11-yard rushing touchdown, three made extra points, two fumble recoveries and blasted two kickoffs out of the endzone.

The Buckeyes scored 35 points in the first quarter and defeated Iowa, 83-21, in front of the third-largest crowd in Ohio Stadium's history to that point.

Janowicz finished the day with two rushing touchdowns, completed five of his six passes for 128 yards and four touchdowns and made 10 extra points. 

As lopsided as the game was, Ohio State didn't actually try to run up the score. 

“You might not believe it, but no one is more sorry about the big score than I,” Wes Fesler said after the game. “But what could I do? You can't kick on a first or second down, or you're insulting the other team. You can't tell a boy to go in and not play his best or to drop passes.”

Greg Frey leads the largest comeback in team history

Trailing 31-0 in the second quarter, the 1989 Buckeyes were heading toward the largest loss to Minnesota in program history. As the seconds drew closer to halftime, Carlos Snow ran in from a yard out and Greg Frey connected with Jeff Graham on a 2-point conversion pass to make the first-half score 31-8 in favor of the host Gophers.

Ohio State's defense held Minnesota to eight points in the second half as Frey and Snow kickstarted the offense in gear for the improbable comeback. Frey passed for 362 yards, threw three touchdowns, and ran for another as the Buckeyes cut the deficit to 37-34 with 3:04 remaining in the game. 

Minnesota had the ball, a three-point lead and faced 3rd-and-5. Linbeback Steve Tovar dropped Steve Rhem for a 1-yard loss and forced the Gophers to punt.

Last year, Frey shared his experience with Eleven Warriors of the game-winning drive that started on Ohio State's 27-yard line with his team down three without any timeouts and 1:52 on the clock :

Right before I went on the field, Jim Colletto, who was our coordinator, said, "I think they're probably going to be in two-deep man under," which they hadn't played all game. And he nailed it. 

Colletto also suggested that Frey check to Snow if Minnesota was in man coverage. 

They lined up in that and I checked to it. Hit Carlos Snow out of the backfield because he had a linebacker covering him, which was a joke! The guy got lost, we picked up like 20 on first down. I had a signal for that play; it was like slashing your throat, which you can’t do now. I loved doing that because it was a sign to the defense that you ain’t getting us on this one. 

So, I called the same play on the next play and I checked to it again. They knew it was coming, and that’s the one that hit Stablein because the linebacker jumped the back and Stablein had a dig behind it.

That was one of those plays where everybody did their jobs. They had to block a little bit longer, I had to stay in the pocket and I had to step up in the pocket and Stablein made an amazing catch. 

The completion to Brian Stablein was a 19-yard gain and put the Buckeyes on Minnesota's 36-yard line. A 13-yard sack on the next snap set up a challenging 2nd-and-23 from just inside the 50-yard line. Frey found Jim Palmer for a 34-yard pass which Frey described as "The play of his life." Following Palmer's incredible catch, the team was exhausted and walking to the huddle. At this point, Frey was in the zone and felt in control of the game.

I knew the next play call before it came in because I was so in tune with our coordinator. We were on the left hash, I knew he was expecting a blitz, and I knew what he would call against a blitz and when Greg Beatty or somebody brought the play in, I just laughed. I already knew what was going to happen; the whole thing played out in my head before it happened. Which was the weirdest thing, but that’s how in tune I was. 

With the game on the line, Frey knew he was going to find Graham for the game-winning score.

Jeff Graham put on such a move; he was matched up against their free safety, who was not a good cover guy. So again, I walked up to the line of scrimmage, and I saw it and I about laughed. I’m like, this is going to be easy. The easiest throw of the game was the winning touchdown pass. It was easy. Getting to that point was not so easy. 

For Frey, the easiest play of the game was the game-winner, but he acknowledged getting that point “was not so easy.”

Stat Superlatives

Five Fun Facts

1. J.T. Barrett tied Joe Germaine for the program record of eight career 300-yard passing games (a record that has since been surpassed by C.J. Stroud and Dwayne Haskins).
2. Barrett threw four touchdown passes against Penn State in 2017 and finished the day with 94 career touchdown passes, surpassing the Big Ten's previous career record of 91. 
3. In 2000, Drew Brees became the only quarterback since 1960 to throw four interceptions in a game against Ohio State and leave the field as a winner. 
4. Ohio State’s comeback from trailing Minnesota 31-0 to defeat the Gophers 41-37 in 1989 is the largest comeback in school history.
5. The Buckeyes scored 56 first-half points against Iowa in 1995, making it the second-highest-scoring first half in school history. The record of 67 first-half points was scored against Oberlin in 1916.