SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The Fiesta Bowl on Saturday will feature a name-taking, score-naming giant of historic stature.
And Clemson.
If you’re an Ohio State fan anxious about facing the powerhouse reigning national champions, that’s worth remembering.
For as much acclaim as Clemson deserves, this is no ordinary Buckeyes team, either.
Don’t let one bad half of football in the Big Ten championship game let you forget it.
Ohio State is not good. It is all-time good, with a real chance to be remembered among the greatest — if not the greatest — teams the university has ever fielded.
“You want to be known as one of the best of all time, be up there with the national champs and in rare air? Here we go,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. “This is the push right here.”
For our money, the stakes are clear.
If the season ends in a storm of confetti, the 2019 Buckeyes will belong in a class of their own.
Sure, I know it’s impossible to compare between eras.
What about the Super Sophs in 1968, or the magic of 2002, or the many great Ohio State teams that fell achingly short (looking your way, 1969, 1973, and the mid-’90s)?
And, hold on, I’m just receiving a telegram from the 1916 team, which held off Oberlin 128-0 en route to the school’s first perfect season.
Maybe it’s best to celebrate teams for who they were in their time and leave it at that.
But what fun would that be?
Besides, these Buckeyes — featuring three of the top six Heisman vote getters, an offense with more dimensions than a Star Trek movie, and their best defense in a decade — really are that good.
Don’t just take it from us, either.
For a broader perspective in the best-ever debate, we reached out to several former Buckeyes from the heart of the program’s most celebrated era.
All of them played for Woody Hayes’ towering teams in the late 60s and ’70s — the teams of Rex Kern and Jack Tatum and Archie Griffin — and have remained fans of their alma mater. None argued against this year’s group.
“I’ve never seen an Ohio State team more talented than they are,” said Central Catholic grad Barney Renard, an offensive lineman in the mid-’70s. “These guys are, wow. They have so much. We had a lot of guys back then, too. But we didn’t utilize them like they utilize the kids today.”
Defensive linemen Mike Scannell (Central Catholic) and Dan Cutillo agreed.
“With the talent at every position, the offensive and defensive weapons, they’re the best,” said Cutillo, a former Perrysburg resident who played for the Buckeyes from 1971 to 1973. “I would rank the 1973 team second for the same reasons and the 1968 team third. The [’68] and [’73] teams were outstanding in their era, just slightly short of this year’s team from a talent standpoint.
“Plus, and possibly the biggest difference, is coach Day willingly spreads the ball around. His schemes go directly to our opponents weaknesses and space. He’s allowing our players to make plays rather than the round-peg-square-hole offensive mentality of coach Hayes.”
If we must bring data to the table, that supports this year’s Buckeyes, too.
They are the most dominant team in modern program history, and it is not especially close. Consider the Buckeyes’ eight national title seasons. Of the champions, the 2014 team had the highest average margin of victory (22.8 points per game) while the 1954 team had the most wins over ranked opponents (six).
Ohio State this season has breezed past the opposition by a national-best margin of 36.2 points per game, and, if it beats Clemson and goes on to win the national title, would have seven wins over ranked teams.
All they have to do now is finish the job.
Which, of course, is easier said than accomplished.
Before this season, the standard for dominance at Ohio State was 1969, which seemed another year destined for the ages, until it wasn’t.
As Buckeyes fans know too well, the top-ranked defending champions — billed as the greatest team ever assembled — had their 22-game winning streak shattered at Michigan, setting off the Ten Year War and an enduring sense of what might have been.
“I would like to believe that OSU would win 4 out of 5 against that [Michigan] team and certainly would have been able to handle [national champion] Texas if we’d been given the chance,” emailed Paul Schmidlin, a Rogers grad who was a starting defensive lineman from 1967-69. “But that is all bravado — and that’s what makes such playful conversations fun.
“The 1968 team took care of business right through the Rose Bowl and that’s why they are remembered as great (the greatest?). Should this year’s team win out, then let the bravado begin!”
And the debate end.
First Published December 25, 2019, 11:34 p.m.
