It’s time to look back at Ohio State’s five greatest games of the last 25 years.
We’ve already looked back at 20 of Ohio State’s most memorable wins from the first 25 years of the 21st century. In case you haven’t had a chance to read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 or Part 4 yet, here’s a list of the No. 25-6 games on our countdown:
25. Oct. 20, 2012: Ohio State 29, Purdue 22 (OT)
24. Nov. 14, 2009: Ohio State 27, Iowa 24 (OT)
23. Nov. 30, 2019: Ohio State 56, Michigan 27
22. Sept. 23, 2023: Ohio State 17, Notre Dame 14
21. Nov. 20, 2004: Ohio State 37, Michigan 21
20. Jan. 1, 2010 (Rose Bowl): Ohio State 26, Oregon 17
19. Jan. 2, 2006 (Fiesta Bowl): Ohio State 34, Notre Dame 20
18. Sept. 29, 2018: Ohio State 27, Penn State 26
17. Dec. 21, 2024 (College Football Playoff First Round): Ohio State 42, Tennessee 17
16. Nov. 30, 2013: Ohio State 42, Michigan 41
15. Jan. 20, 2015 (National Championship Game): Ohio State 42, Oregon 20
14. Nov. 24, 2001: Ohio State 26, Michigan 20
13. Jan. 1, 2022 (Rose Bowl): Ohio State 48, Utah 45
12. Jan. 20, 2025 (National Championship Game): Ohio State 34, Notre Dame 23
11. Nov. 24, 2018: Ohio State 62, Michigan 39
10. Jan. 1, 2025 (Rose Bowl): Ohio State 41, Oregon 21
9. Jan. 1, 2021 (Sugar Bowl): Ohio State 49, Clemson 28
8. Oct. 28, 2017: Ohio State 39, Penn State 38
7. Dec. 6, 2014 (Big Ten Championship Game): Ohio State 59, Wisconsin 0
6. Nov. 26, 2016: Ohio State 30, Michigan 27 (2OT)
Now, we wrap up our weeklong lookback at Ohio State’s Top 25 Games of the Quarter-Century with the five most iconic Buckeye games of the last 25 years. Including the four most thrilling wins of Ohio State’s three 21st-century national championship seasons as well as one of the greatest games in the history of the Ohio State/Michigan rivalry, each of these five games will live forever in Ohio State lore and the minds of all the Buckeye fans who watched them.
Of course, our selections are entirely subjective, so we welcome your opinions on what we got right and what we got wrong in the comment section. That said, the following games were selected as Ohio State’s five greatest games of the quarter-century because of how thrilling they were to watch and what they meant to the program and their respective seasons, which we’ll get into below.
5. Nov. 18, 2006: Ohio State 42, Michigan 39
Ohio State’s 2006 clash with Michigan was called the “Game of the Century” for a reason.
Eight years before the advent of the College Football Playoff, the first-ever No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup in the Ohio State/Michigan rivalry doubled as a de facto playoff semifinal. Top-ranked Ohio State and second-ranked Michigan both entered The Game with 11-0 records, effectively guaranteeing the winner a berth in the BCS National Championship Game.
The most anticipated game in the history of the rivalry lived up to the hype.
Michigan started the game strong as a pair of long completions from Chad Henne to Mario Manningham set up a 1-yard Mike Hart touchdown run less than three minutes into the game. Heisman frontrunner Troy Smith and the Buckeyes responded on their opening drive, tying the game on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Roy Hall.
Beanie Wells ran for a 52-yard touchdown on Ohio State’s opening drive of the second quarter. On Ohio State’s next possession, Smith hit Brian Robiskie for a 40-yard completion and followed it up with a 39-yard touchdown pass to Ted Ginn Jr. two plays later. Michigan cut the lead back down to one score with a 37-yard touchdown pass from Henne to Adrian Arrington, but Smith responded by leading an 80-yard 2-minute drill, culminating with a touchdown pass to Anthony Gonzalez, to make it a 28-14 game at halftime.
Michigan’s defense forced a 3-and-out to start the second half, which Hart followed with his second touchdown of the game to cut the lead to seven. An interception by Michigan defensive tackle Alan Branch at Ohio State’s 25-yard line put the Wolverines in position to tie the game, but the Buckeyes held the Wolverines to a field goal to keep a four-point lead. Antonio Pittman raced to a 56-yard touchdown on Ohio State’s next possession to extend the Buckeyes’ lead back to 11.
A fumble by Smith deep in Ohio State territory in the final seconds of the third quarter led to Hart’s third touchdown of the game, and another fumble by Smith on the Buckeyes’ ensuing drive gave Michigan a chance to take the lead. But after Ohio State’s defense forced a 3-and-out, Smith responded with his fourth touchdown pass of the day – a 13-yarder to Robiskie – to make it a two-score game again with just 5:38 to play. Michigan responded with a touchdown drive and two-point conversion, but a 3rd-and-2 conversion by Pittman ran the final seconds off the clock and sealed a three-point victory.
With the win, Ohio State secured its first outright Big Ten title in 22 years and its second berth in the BCS National Championship Game, where it lost to Urban Meyer’s Florida Gators. Smith finished the game with 29 completions for 316 yards and four touchdowns, completing a spectacular regular season to secure Ohio State’s first and still-only Heisman Trophy of the 21st century.
The “Game of the Century” doesn’t quite rank as Ohio State’s best game of the quarter-century, but it kicks off the top five games of our countdown as the biggest of Ohio State’s 17 wins over Michigan since 2000.
4. Nov. 9, 2002: Ohio State 10, Purdue 6
Ohio State’s first national championship season of the century was nearly derailed on an early November Saturday in West Lafayette, Indiana. Then Craig Krenzel and Michael Jenkins connected for one of the most revered plays in Ohio State history.
The third-ranked Buckeyes traveled to Purdue as heavy favorites to beat the Boilermakers, who were just 4-5 on the season. But the Buckeyes’ only points on their first 10 possessions of the game came on a 22-yard field goal by Mike Nugent to end the first half.
Ohio State never fell behind by more than three points, though, thanks to a dominant defensive effort. Dustin Fox, Matt Wilhelm and Chris Gamble all intercepted Kyle Orton, and the Buckeyes never allowed Purdue to reach the goal line. Ohio State held the Boilermakers to three field goals attempts in the red zone, one of which Berin Lacevic missed.
As such, the Buckeyes needed only a field goal to extend the game when they took over possession at Purdue’s 46-yard line – following a 22-yard punt return by Gamble – with 3:10 left to play at Ross-Ade Stadium. But the Buckeyes had no plans of settling for overtime.
The drive started ominously for Ohio State when Krenzel took a sack and threw an incomplete pass, setting up 3rd-and-14. Krenzel responded by scrambling and completing a 13-yard pass to Ben Hartsock, bringing up 4th-and-1 at the 37-yard line.
Jim Tressel could have turned to Nugent’s big leg to attempt a game-tying field goal, or the Buckeyes could have run the ball just looking for one yard to keep the drive alive. Instead, they dialed up a passing play, “King Right 64 Y Shallow Swap.”
Krenzel’s first read on the play was a shallow cross to Hartsock, but the Buckeye QB opted to go deep instead. Krenzel found Jenkins for a 37-yard touchdown, a play now forever known as “Holy Buckeye” thanks to Brent Musberger’s iconic call on ABC’s game broadcast.
Gamble picked off Orton on Purdue’s subsequent drive to seal the Buckeyes’ comeback win.
The win in West Lafayette was far from the most impressive performance of Ohio State’s 2002 national championship season, yet it remains OSU’s most famous regular-season victory of the century nearly 23 years later. Without it, Ohio State may have never had the opportunity to play in that season’s BCS National Championship Game, and it certainly wouldn’t have completed the first 14-0 season in college football history.
3. Jan. 10, 2025 (Cotton Bowl): Ohio State 28, Texas 14
The toughest test of Ohio State’s four-game College Football Playoff run last season spawned arguably the greatest defensive play in school history and will long be remembered as one of Ohio State’s most legendary postseason wins of all-time.
Unlike the other three games in OSU’s playoff run, in which the Buckeyes took leads of at least 24 points, Texas gave Ohio State a four-quarter battle. As the Longhorns held Jeremiah Smith to just one catch for three yards, Ohio State scored just twice in the first three quarters.
After Quinshon Judkins ran for a touchdown on Ohio State’s opening drive, neither team would score again until Texas tied the game on an 18-yard catch-and-run by running back Jaydon Blue just 29 seconds before halftime. Facing real adversity for the first time in the CFP, Ohio State struck a spectacular counterpunch as TreVeyon Henderson turned a screen pass into a 75-yard touchdown, putting the Buckeyes back in front at halftime.
Ohio State was held scoreless on three third-quarter possessions, however, allowing Texas to tie the game on Blue’s second touchdown of the night, a 26-yard catch-and-run.
The Buckeyes retook the lead with a 13-play, 88-yard drive to start the fourth quarter. Will Howard showed off his clutch gene by converting a 3rd-and-8 with an 18-yard pass to Carnell Tate and converting a 4th-and-2 with an 18-yard run, setting up a go-ahead Quinshon Judkins touchdown run with 7:02 to play. Texas drove right back down the field, however, as Quinn Ewers completed a pair of long passes to Gunnar Helm and Matthew Golden and drew two pass interference penalties to reach Ohio State’s 1-yard line.
Then came one of the greatest goal-line stands in Ohio State history.
After the Buckeye front stuffed Jerrick Gibson for no gain on 1st-and-goal, Texas ran a toss play to Quintrevion Wisner and Caleb Downs and Lathan Ransom blew it up for a 7-yard loss. Following an incompletion on 3rd-and-goal, Texas had one more chance to tie the game with under three minutes to play. But Jack Sawyer blew by Texas right tackle Cameron Williams and hit Ewers – his former roommate before Ewers transferred from Ohio State to Texas – to knock the ball out of his hands.
Sawyer scooped up the loose ball himself, ran it all the way back to the end zone for an 83-yard touchdown and turned a game Texas was on the doorstep of tying into a 14-point lead for the Buckeyes with just 2:13 remaining, effectively clinching Ohio State’s berth in the national championship game. Caleb Downs fully sealed the victory by intercepting Ewers less than 30 seconds of game time later.
While Ohio State still had to beat Notre Dame to win the national title, even Ryan Day himself has said the Scoop-and-Sawyer aka The Lone Star Heist was the moment he knew Ohio State would win last season’s national championship. And many players have called that win, made extra special by it coming in front of a large crowd of Texans fans in the Longhorns’ backyard, their favorite moment of the four-game championship run.
Much like Ohio State’s first College Football Playoff triumph 10 years earlier, the semifinal win over Texas is poised to stand as the defining moment of Buckeyes’ championship run because of how the game was won and who it came against.
2. Jan. 1, 2015 (Sugar Bowl): Ohio State 42, Alabama 35
Ten years before the Cotton Bowl win over Texas, Ohio State won another CFP semifinal game in the South over an SEC power with an 80-plus-yard touchdown that now stands as one of the greatest plays in school history.
While Ohio State was favored to beat Texas after its blowout win over Oregon in the quarterfinals of last season’s inaugural 12-team playoff, the Buckeyes entered the first four-team playoff as a 7.5-point underdog for their semifinal game against Alabama. The Buckeyes had never beaten the Crimson Tide, losing their first three all-time matchups against Alabama, who entered the inaugural CFP favored to win their fourth national championship in six years.
Early on, Ohio State didn’t look like a team ready to pull off the first great upset of the playoff era. The Buckeyes turned the ball over twice in the game’s first 20 minutes, and Alabama turned both of those takeaways into touchdowns on its way to taking a 21-6 lead midway through the second quarter.
The tide of the game started to turn as Ohio State scored on its final two possessions of halftime. First, Ezekiel Elliott ran for a touchdown after Cardale Jones converted a pair of long third downs with 26-yard completions to Jalin Marshall. Then, Evan Spencer executed the greatest trick play in Ohio State history when he took an end-around from Marshall and threw the ball to the left front corner of the end zone for fellow wide receiver Michael Thomas, who got one foot down for a toe-tap 13-yard touchdown catch that cut Alabama’s lead to one.
Ohio State took the lead on the opening drive of the second half as Jones hit Devin Smith deep for a 47-yard touchdown. Buckeye defensive end Steve Miller made it 28 unanswered points when he dropped into coverage, picked off Alabama quarterback Blake Sims and returned it 41 yards for a touchdown.
Alabama stopped the Buckeye onslaught with an 84-yard drive that included a 52-yard catch-and-run by Derrick Henry and ended with a 5-yard touchdown run by Sims. From there, neither team would score on any of their next three possessions as Ohio State clung to a six-point edge.
Then came the moment that lives in Buckeye lore. With less than four minutes to play, Elliott ran 85 yards through the heart of the South for a touchdown to put the Buckeyes back ahead by two scores. A two-point conversion pass from Jones to Thomas made it 42-28 with just 3:24 left to play.
Alabama didn’t stop fighting, quickly driving for a touchdown and forcing a 3-and-out to get the ball back with 1:33 to play. But Ohio State’s defense prevented the Crimson Tide from mounting a game-tying drive, with Tyvis Powell intercepting Blake Sims’ last-second Hail Mary attempt to punch the Buckeyes’ ticket to the first College Football Playoff national championship game.
The win was just Ohio State’s second win of the 21st century over a No. 1-ranked team, and just its second postseason win over an SEC opponent. Most importantly, it set the stage for Ohio State’s second national championship of the 21st century, and the win over Alabama – particularly Zeke’s run – remains the defining moment of Ohio State’s 2014-15 title run a decade later.
1. Jan. 3, 2003 (National Championship Game): Ohio State 31, Miami 24 (2OT)
As great as Ohio State’s last two national title runs were, the Buckeyes’ first national championship game win of the 21st century reigns supreme as Ohio State’s greatest victory of the last 25 years.
Going into the 2003 BCS National Championship Game, Miami had established itself as the powerhouse team in college football. “The U” had won 34 straight games dating back to 2000 and was chasing its second consecutive national title. Ohio State entered the national championship game as an 11.5-point underdog, the largest underdog Ohio State has been in any game since the turn of the century.
Much like the Alabama game 12 years later, the favorite looked like the better team early on. The Hurricanes’ vaunted defense forced punts or turnovers on Ohio State’s first five possessions, including a fake field goal attempt by the Buckeyes. Miami took a first-quarter lead on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Ken Dorsey to Roscoe Parrish.
The first turning point of the game came when Mike Doss intercepted Dorsey and returned the ball to the 17-yard line. Ohio State took advantage of the short field and tied the game on a Craig Krenzel touchdown run. Ohio State’s defense gave the Buckeyes the ball in the red zone again when Kenny Peterson hit Dorsey to force a fumble that Darrion Scott recovered. The Buckeyes capitalized on prime field position again, taking the lead on a Maurice Clarett touchdown run.
Krenzel briefly threw away a chance to take a two-score lead when Sean Taylor picked him off in the end zone, but Clarett made an all-time hustle play by stripping the ball out of Taylor’s hands to give the Buckeyes the ball back at the 28-yard line. Ohio State took a 10-point lead on a 44-yard field goal by Mike Nugent.
Miami made it a three-point game later in the third quarter on a Willis McGahee touchdown run. The Hurricanes’ next drive stalled after McGahee suffered a severe knee injury, and Todd Sievers missed a potential game-tying field goal wide right. Following a 42-yard miss by Nugent, Miami squandered another scoring opportunity when Dustin Fox forced a Parrish fumble that Will Allen recovered. But Miami’s defense forced a Buckeye punt, which Roscoe Parrish returned 50 yards to set up a game-tying 40-yard field goal for Sievers at the end of regulation, sending the national championship game to overtime for the first time ever.
The Hurricanes started the first overtime with the ball and took the lead on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Dorsey to Kellen Winslow II. Miami’s defense subsequently sacked Krenzel to bring up a 4th-and-14, but just like they did at Purdue, Krenzel and Jenkins saved the season again with a 17-yard connection for a first down.
After forcing another fourth down on Ohio State’s subsequent set of downs, Miami initially appeared to win the game when Krenzel’s pass to Chris Gamble went off of Gamble’s hands in the end zone. In one of the most debated calls in college football history, however, Miami’s Glenn Sharpe was called for pass interference. Ohio State received a new set of downs and took advantage, with Krenzel running for a 1-yard touchdown to tie the game.
Ohio State’s Top 25 Games of the Quarter-Century
Having cheated death twice in the first overtime, Ohio State needed only five plays to take the lead in the second overtime, pulling ahead 31-24 on a 5-yard touchdown run by Clarett. Miami converted a pair of first downs on its ensuing possession, including a 4th-and-3 completion from Dorsey to Winslow. Following a pair of penalties against the Buckeyes, Miami had four downs to gain just two yards for a game-tying touchdown.
But after Jarrett Payton gained just one yard on 1st-and-goal, Dorsey’s second-down pass attempt fell incomplete and Quadtrine Hill was stuffed for no gain on 3rd-and-goal. On 4th-and-goal from the 1-yard line, Cie Grant burst through the line to hit Dorsey and force an incomplete pass, securing Ohio State’s first national title in 34 years.
Ohio State became the first-ever 14-0 team in college football history, and it did so by beating a team that hadn’t lost in more than two years. It remains one of the biggest upsets ever in the national championship game, and it firmly reestablished Ohio State as one of college football’s elite programs, a status it’s maintained ever since.
Doing all of that in a down-to-the-wire thriller with an unforgettable ending made the Buckeyes’ 2002 win over Miami the clear choice for Ohio State’s best game of the quarter-century.
Eleven Warriors researcher Matt Gutridge contributed to this article.
