When the SEC travels north to Columbus, good things seem to happen for Ohio State.
Before Ohio State beat Tennessee in the first round of the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff in December, the last time an SEC team traveled north to take on the Buckeyes was in 1988, when LSU made its first trip to Columbus.
The Tigers came into the matchup as the No. 7-ranked team in the country riding a 14-game road winning streak and were expected to take care of Ohio State in John Cooper's first season leading the Buckeyes. That seemed to be the case for nearly the first 58 minutes of the game before Ohio State decided to stun the college football world.
After LSU quarterback Tommy Hodson found receiver Alvin Lee for a 55-yard touchdown to give the Tigers a commanding 33-20 lead with 4:29 left in the game, Ohio Stadium began to clear out, as many members of the OSU faithful in attendance figured they would start their trek home a little early a week after Ohio State was embarrassed by Pittsburgh on the road, 42-10.
But that was when the Buckeyes began to play their best football of the season and shocked both the remaining fans in attendance and the rest of college football.
"Maybe we started celebrating too soon," LSU cornerback Jimmy Young said at the time. "They set us up for the kill and they got us."
Ohio State cut the lead to 33-27 with a 10-play, 59-yard touchdown drive capped by a 5-yard score by Carlos Snow with 1:56 remaining, his second touchdown of the game.
Everyone expected Cooper to kick an onside kick but Cooper decided to kick it deep, having faith that his defense could force a three-and-out and give the ball back to Ohio State. That's exactly what it did.
After an LSU three-and-out, its first of the game and one that took only 24 seconds off the clock, the Buckeyes were set to get a chance to take the lead late in the game.
"I never thought of (kneeling down)," Hodson said at the time. "I'm 21 years old. That situation has never come up in my life, to keep the clock running. I just didn't know. ... I didn't think the time we would gain by running the ball would make the difference. It would have been 30 seconds at the most."
Then, on fourth down, the Tigers were called for a delay of game penalty on their own 18. Instead of punting it from their own 18, LSU head coach Mike Archer, who was mindful of a punt block returned for a touchdown earlier in the game, decided to have his punter run out of the back of the end zone for a safety, cutting the OSU deficit to 33-29 with 1:34 left.
Bobby Olive, a former walk-on, returned LSU’s free kick 30 yards to LSU's 38 with 1:24 remaining. On the drive's first play, Greg Frey completed a 16-yard pass to Jeff Graham. Then he completed a 3-yard pass to Snow with 38 seconds left.
On 3rd-and-7 at the 21-yard line, Frey found Olive for a 21-yard touchdown with 38 seconds left, the wide receiver's first career touchdown catch. Less than 80 seconds after trailing by 13, the Buckeyes held a 36-33 lead.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been around a more exciting finish. It was a good example of what happens when you hang tough and don’t give up.”– John Cooper after Ohio State’s 1988 Win over LSU
LSU failed to convert on a fourth down to give Ohio State a dramatic, come-from-behind win over No. 7 LSU. The Buckeyes scored 16 points in the final four minutes of the game to the delight of the second-largest crowd in Ohio Stadium history at the time – or at least those of the 90,584 fans that stuck around.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been around a more exciting finish,” Cooper said after the game. “It was a good example of what happens when you hang tough and don’t give up.
"That game should have been over," he said. "If their quarterback doesn't throw the ball into the stands, the game is over. But he did. That was a great win for us at the time."
Cooper's first season in Columbus didn't go as planned. The Buckeyes finished 4-6-1, the coach's fewest wins in a season while leading OSU and the program's fewest wins in 22 years. However, Ohio State's comeback win over LSU was one of its best comeback wins ever. The Tigers went on to share the SEC title with Auburn.
