Oller: Ohio State football history sprinkled with fantastic finishes like Notre Dame
Ohio State’s 17-14 win against Notre Dame in the Big Ten vs. Just 10 instant classic in South Bend had all the elements of a fantastic finish: poised quarterback play by Kyle McCord, big defensive stops by JT Tuimoloau, Sonny Styles and Lathan Ransom and a game-winning touchdown by tailback Chip Trayanum.
But it was only one of many incredible endings turned in by OSU over the past three decades that concluded with a victory.
The Buckeyes know how to make comebacks that cause fans to bite fingernails to the bone. Check out 11 of the best, one for each player on either side of the ball. The only stipulation is OSU needed to score in the final two minutes to win, or the game went to overtime.
∙ Ohio State 31, Miami 24, 2 OT. (Jan. 3, 200,3 Fiesta Bowl/BCS title game): The Buckeyes’ first national championship in 34 seasons ranks as one of the most frantic finishes in bowl history. After Miami tied it at 17-17 on a 40-yard field goal with three seconds left in regulation, the teams traded touchdowns in the first overtime, the OSU score coming after a controversial late penalty against the Hurricanes on fourth-and-3 that gave OSU a first down at the 1-yard line. The Buckeyes took advantage of second life when Craig Krenzel sent the game to a second overtime with a 1-yard quarterback sneak.
Tailback Maurice Clarett scored on a 5-yard touchdown in double overtime and Ohio State sealed the win when linebacker Cie Grant pressured Miami QB Ken Dorsey into an incompletion on fourth down.
∙ Ohio State 10, Purdue 6 (Nov. 9, 2002, West Lafayette, Ind.) In a season of close calls, “Holy Buckeye” was about as close as it got. Trailing 6-3 with under two minutes remaining, OSU quarterback Craig Krenzel dropped back, avoided the rush and threw deep to Michael Jenkins, whose 37-yard touchdown catch in the end zone with 1:36 left kept Ohio State undefeated. Not every, or even most OSU fans, cared much for ABC announcer Brent Musburger, but his “Holy Buckeye” after Jenkins’ TD is the stuff of lore.
∙ Ohio State 41, Minnesota 37 (Oct. 28, 1989, Minneapolis). Trailing 31-0 late in the second quarter, Ohio State rallied to pull off one of the greatest comebacks in college football history. In the final minutes, trailing 37-34, OSU quarterback Greg Frey drove the offense to the Golden Gophers’ 18-yard line, where on first down he found wide receiver Jeff Graham for the go-ahead score, tying Maryland for what at the time was the largest Division I deficit ever overcome.
∙ Ohio State 36, LSU 33 (Sept. 24, 1988, Columbus). Buckeyes coach John Cooper, just three games into his new role as Earle Bruce’s replacement, was still in his honeymoon period when the unranked Buckeyes pulled off the stunning upset of No. 7.
In a rare Big Ten vs. SEC matchup, the Bayou Bengals were breathing easy against the Buckeyes, leading 33-20 with 4:29 left in their first visit to the Horseshoe. Tailback Carlos Snow scored on a 5-yard run to cut the deficit to six points with under two minutes left, then LSU took an intentional safety to gain a free kick, hoping to pin the Buckeyes deep. Instead, flanker Bobby Olive returned the kick 30 yards to the Tigers 38, and four plays later Olive’s diving catch in the end zone, off a Greg Frey pass with 38 seconds left, wowed the second-largest crowd in Ohio Stadium history.
∙ Ohio State 33, Wisconsin 29. (Oct. 29, 2011, Columbus). The Buckeyes were struggling at 4-3 in coach Luke Fickell’s fill-in season when quarterback Braxton Miller and wide receiver Devin Smith finally gave fans something to cheer. The unranked Buckeyes and No. 15 Badgers combined for four touchdowns in the final 4:39, with OSU getting the game-winner when Miller rolled right on first down and found Smith for a 40-yard touchdown with 20 seconds left.
∙ Ohio State 30, Michigan 27 2OT. (Nov. 26, 2016, Columbus). The “Spot Game” still rankles UM fans who claim OSU quarterback J.T. Barrett came up short on a 4th-and-1 keeper in the second overtime, which would have given the No. 3 Wolverines to the Big Ten Championship game. Instead, replays confirmed the call on the field – first down – and on the next play Curtis Samuel raced 15 yards for the winning score.
“That was not a first down,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said. “I'm bitterly disappointed with the officiating today.”
∙ Ohio State 20, Arizona State 17 (Jan. 1, 1997, Rose Bowl). Jake “The Snake” Plummer was all the rage in college football when the Sun Devils quarterback took the stage to lead No. 2 ASU against No. 4 OSU. The Buckeyes were still smarting from the 13-9 loss to Michigan five weeks earlier, and it appeared another heartbreaking loss was in store for the scarlet and gray.
Plummer, known for leading late comeback drives, scrambled 11 yards for the go-ahead score to make it 17-14 with 1:33 to play. But Ohio State had its own gunslinger in quarterback Joe Germaine, who threw two third-down completions to Dimitrious Stanley to keep OSU alive. The Buckeyes benefited from two pass interference penalties that put the ball at the ASU 5-yard, and Germaine stuck the final dagger into the Sun Devils’ national title hopes by flipping a pass to wide receiver David Boston, who ran untouched into the end zone for the winning score.
∙ Ohio State 31, Penn State 24, 2OT (Oct. 25, 2014, State College). The Buckeyes’ quest to advance to the first College Football Playoff, where they eventually would defeat Alabama and Oregon to capture their first national title since 2002, needed quarterback J.T. Barrett’s legs and edge rusher Joey Bosa’s arms to accomplish the task. No. 13 Ohio State blew a 17-0 halftime lead, only to see the unranked Nittany Lions send the night game to overtime on a 31-yard field goal with nine seconds left in regulation.
Penn State struck first in overtime on a 1-yard run, but Barrett tied it with a 5-yard TD to force the second overtime. Barrett scored again, this time from four yards out, and the Buckeyes escaped Happy Valley smiling when Bosa sacked Christian Hackenberg on fourth-and-5 from the OSU 20-yard line.
∙ Ohio State 44, North Carolina State 38, 3OT (Sept. 13, 2003, Columbus). The first overtime game in Ohio Stadium history turned out to be a triple doozy. The No. 3 Buckeyes surrendered a 24-7 lead in the final nine minutes to the No. 24 Wolfpack, with the game going to overtime on Philip Rivers’ 5-yard TD pass with 48 seconds showing.
After the first two OTs ended with both teams scoring, the Buckeyes scored first in the third OT when Craig Krenzel connected with Michael Jenkins, and the game ended famously with OSU safety Will Allen stuffing tailback T.A. McClendon on fourth-and-goal.
∙ Ohio State 39, Penn State 38. (Oct. 28, 2017, Columbus). Quarterback J.T. Barrett was known for getting tough yards with his legs, but the fifth-year senior turned into a pass-happy phenom during the No. 6 Buckeyes’ comeback against the No. 2 Nittany Lions in the Shoe.
Barrett turned in his greatest performance by rallying the Buckeyes from an 11-point deficit with 5:42 remaining, capping the comeback with a 16-yard touchdown to Marcus Baugh with 1:48 left. Barrett completed all 13 of his passing attempts in the fourth quarter, finishing the game 33 of 39 for 328 yards and four touchdown passes, including three in the fourth quarter. He also ran for 95 yards on 17 carries.
∙ Ohio State 29, Purdue 22, OT (Oct. 20, 2012, Columbus). Kenny Guiton was a backup quarterback fans knew little about, other than he wasn’t Braxton Miller. But the senior stunned Buckeye Nation when he took over for an injured Miller late in the third quarter and managed to accomplish one of the most unexpected finishes in the program's modern history.
Guiton had just thrown an interception on the previous series, with 2:40 left, when he took over again with his team trailing 22-14 with 47 seconds remaining and 61 yards to go for a needed touchdown.
Urban Meyer, in his first year coaching the Buckeyes, issued a motivating directive to the QB who 10 months earlier was deemed to have a poor work ethic and bad attitude.
“I said, ‘You’re going to win us a game,’” Meyer assured his QB, who eventually became one of the coach’s favorites. “He looked right at me. I think he was down but that moment kind of picked him up.”
Guiton led No. 7 OSU to a tying touchdown and two-point conversion with three seconds left to force overtime against the unranked Boilermakers, first firing to Chris Fields for the TD, then lofting a pass to freshman tight end Jeff Heuerman to tie it.
But Guiton wasn’t finished. He guided the offense to the 1-yard line in OT and Carlos Hyde bulled over for the winning touchdown.
Get more Ohio State football news by listening to our podcasts
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football fantastic finish against Notre Dame ranks high
