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Ohio State Football: All Buckeye tournament, which team is the best?

By Frank Teriaca

ARLINGTON, TX - JANUARY 12: Head Coach Urban Meyer of the Ohio State Buckeyes hoist the trophy after defeating the Oregon Ducks 42 to 20 in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game at AT
ARLINGTON, TX - JANUARY 12: Head Coach Urban Meyer of the Ohio State Buckeyes hoist the trophy after defeating the Oregon Ducks 42 to 20 in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game at AT /
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WEST LAFAYETTE, IN – NOVEMBER 9: Quarterback Craig Krenzel #16 of the Ohio State University Buckeyes calls a play against the Purdue University Boilermakers during the game at Ross-Ade Stadium at Purdue University on November 9, 2002 in West Lafayette, Indiana. Ohio State defeated Purdue 10-6. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN – NOVEMBER 9: Quarterback Craig Krenzel #16 of the Ohio State University Buckeyes calls a play against the Purdue University Boilermakers during the game at Ross-Ade Stadium at Purdue University on November 9, 2002 in West Lafayette, Indiana. Ohio State defeated Purdue 10-6. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

Since everyone is doing a tournament as we are missing out on college basketball and March Madness, let’s figure out which Ohio State football team is the best.

There have been some great Ohio State football teams, players and coaches through the years. I think it would be a fun exercise to have a mini tournament among them to figure which Ohio State football team is the greatest of all time.

Now I’m writing this as a 33 year-old so it would not be fair for me to make assumptions on teams before my time. So we are going to call this the modern-day Ohio State football tournament.

Let’s start with picking the best eight teams of the past 25 years and seed them accordingly. I based the rankings on overall talent and play in the biggest of games.

  1.  2014 Buckeyes, 14-1: National Champions
  2.  2002 Buckeyes, 14-0:  National Champions
  3.  2006 Buckeyes, 12-1: Lost in National Championship
  4.  2012 Buckeyes, 12-0: Postseason ban
  5.  1996 Buckeyes, 11-1: Won the Rose Bowl
  6.  2019 Buckeyes, 13-1: Lost the Fiesta Bowl
  7.  2015 Buckeyes, 12-1: Won the Fiesta Bowl
  8.  1998 Buckeyes, 11-1: Won the Sugar Bowl

Game No. 1: 2014 vs. 1998

This would be a very fun game to watch as both teams had massive amounts of NFL talent. Quarterback Cardale Jones versus the 1998 quarterback Joe Germaine who led the Buckeyes to a 31-16 blowout win against Michigan.

If it wasn’t for a 28-24 stumble to Michigan State in Ohio Stadium on November 7th, we might be talking about this 1998 team as the greatest of all time, and a possible No. 1 overall seed in our tournament.

The 1998 team featured prime time players such as receiver David Boston, cornerback Antoine Winfield and linebacker Andy Katzenmoyer. But the question would be how in the world does that 1998 squad stop the rushing attack of Zeke Elliot and the 2014 offensive line?

That would be the difference in the game as I have the 2014 team winning this matchup 38-21.

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