Prior to College GameDay, Lee Corso had an interesting history with Ohio State fans.
Long before Corso would go on to don the Brutus Buckeye headgear over 40 times across decades of high-profile matchups featuring Ohio State, the Sunshine Scooter had an infamous rep around Columbus from his time as Indiana University's head coach.
That may come as a surprise to modern Buckeye football fans given the Hoosiers have only beaten OSU three times in football since 1950 and find themselves in the midst of a 28-game losing streak in the matchup since 1989. Corso also went 0-10 against Ohio State during his time with Indiana and only saw one game finish inside a margin of 10 points. So what could the sport's most notorious mascot enthusiast have done to draw the ire of Buckeye football?
According to an article from Sports Illustrated in November of 1977, during the previous year's game between Indiana and Ohio State, Corso called a timeout during the second quarter after the team took a 7-6 lead. He did so because he wanted to celebrate the moment as IU's first alleged lead over the Buckeyes in a quarter of a century by taking a team photo in front of the Memorial Stadium scoreboard.
"It's the first time in 25 years Indiana has led Ohio State in a game. I looked it up. Can you believe it? Twenty-five years! The goal of a lifetime!" — Lee Corso on the 1976 Indiana/Ohio State game
One can only imagine what impact such a stoppage of play had on the temperament of Ohio State football coach Wayne "Woody" Hayes. The Buckeyes responded with 41 unanswered points to win the contest 47-7.
Despite Corso's testimony to Sports Illustrated, the existence of the photo and even the incident itself remain disputed and shrouded in mystery. On one hand, Corso actually had a false recollection of history because Indiana held a 10-7 lead at the half against Ohio State in 1965 during a game Woody ultimately wrestled back from then-Hoosiers head coach John Pont to win by a 17-10 final score.
Furthermore, the Indiana University Archives Photograph Collection claims at least one anonymous player from the 1976 Hoosiers football team asserts nobody ever photographed such an incident during the game. The picture in question does not exist within the archives and did not appear or receive mention in The Indiana Daily Student newspaper on the following Monday. The timeout and photo also never received mention in The Indianapolis Star, The Columbus Dispatch, nor The Lantern.
Of course, given how Indiana's performance turned from triumph to humiliation following the team's brief lead, such a photo seeing the light of day would have certainly immortalized the embarrassment in a way many involved would have likely wanted to forget. In consideration of Corso's shameless recollection to the media, it hardly seems farfetched to assume the picture never saw the light of day if the Hoosier Athletic Department attempted to save face following the loss.
However, thanks to the miracles of modern technology, Eleven Warriors has successfully recreated the Indiana team photo in question with the help of ChatGPT. Enjoy this super accurate rendering of what likely took place on October 30th, 1976 in the late afternoon:
Corso obviously went on to become a beloved figure in college football lore despite his 73-85-6 lifetime record as a head coach. However, the 1976 game between the Hoosiers and Buckeyes remains a prime example of what can happen when celebrating before the final whistle — especially when Woody stood on the sideline.
