In my opinion, Ohio State has been the best program in college football since they hired Woody Hayes in 1951. They don't have the most national championships, but they have been consistently good and contending for the Big Ten and national championship almost every year since.
However, it has been rare that Ohio State completely dominates the sport on its way to a title. The 2002 team survived seven one-score games. The 2014 team lost a game to Virginia Tech early and suffered injuries to its top 2 quarterbacks. The 2024 team lost two games and lost two of its best offensive linemen to injuries. Their most dominant teams often come up short. See the 1998, 2006, and 2019 teams, among others. 1968 is the team that all other Buckeye teams strive to live up to.
The 1968 Buckeyes were led by the "super sophs." The recruiting class of 1967 included stars like Rex Kern, Jim Otis, Bruce Jankowski, Jack Tatum, Mike Sensibaugh, and others. At the time, freshmen were not allowed to play, so all these players were playing for the first time in 1968.
The Buckeyes were ranked 11th in the preseason poll, but jumped up to number after just three weeks, and a shutout win over the top-ranked Boilermakers. They won six of their nine regular-season games by at least 13 points.
At the end of the season, they dominated No. 4 Michigan 50-14, which led to the resignation of head coach Bump Elliot. The Buckeyes won the outright Big Ten title the first time in 7 years, and made it to the Rose Bowl for the first time in 11 years.
The Buckeyes' opponent in the Rose Bowl was a team from just 14 miles from Pasadena: the PAC-8 champions, the No. 2 USC Trojans. The winner would be the consensus national champions, 30 years before the first BCS National Championship Game. The game itself was similar to many other Buckeye games from that season, a fairly stress-free Ohio State victory.
After giving up an 80-yard touchdown to Trojans running back O.J. Simpson early in the game, the Buckeye defense shut the Trojan offense down, forcing five turnovers. After leading by just three at the half, the Buckeyes opened up a 27-10 lead. The final score was 27-16.
I believe this was the greatest win in Ohio State football history. Here are some of the other contenders. In 1942, Ohio State beat Michigan 21-7 and went on to win its first national championship. 2002, Ohio State beat Miami 31-24 in double overtime in the BCS National Championship Game at the Fiesta Bowl.
In 2006, No. 1 Ohio State beat No. 2 Michigan 42-39 to win the Big Ten title and advance to the BCS National Championship Game. In 2014, Ohio State defeated Nick Saban's Alabama in the first-ever College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Sugar Bowl. You could also argue for the 2014 Big Ten Championship against Wisconsin or the 2025 CFP quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl against Oregon for the most dominant games the Buckeyes have ever played.
For me, two wins stand out above the others. The 1969 Rose Bowl and the 2003 Fiesta Bowl. Which win you think was greater really just depends on which kind of story you prefer. The 2002 Buckeyes were a story of a team with a great culture that does all the little things well and can handle adversity. That team won seven games by one score, including a 14-9 win over Michigan. Not many gave the Buckeyes a chance against the defending champion Hurricanes in the title game, as they were double-digit underdogs going in. The Buckeyes were off to pull off the upset in overtime and win the program's first national title in over 30 years.
For many fans, that win was the best win in program history because Ohio State doesn't get to play the role of underdog very often. For me, the 1969 Rose Bowl win is less about the game itself, and more about what it represented. Ohio State is the ultimate front-runner program. In 1968, they dominated everyone and everything in their path to a title. There is no debate that that team is the best in program history, and one of the best in the history of the sport.
That game also represented an era of college football that people long for. Ohio State, the Big Ten Champions, against USC, the PAC-8 champions. Two of the biggest brands in the sport playing in the Rose Bowl, the Mecca of American sports in my opinion. I had a chance to go there in 2025, and would recommend anyone who has the chance to go to the Rose Bowl to take advantage.
The teams also just so happened to be the two highest-ranked teams in college football, and played in the national championship game when that wasn't even a thing. Try going back in time to 1968 and telling someone that in 58 years Ohio State and USC will be playing as conference opponents, and we'd be one year away from a 24-team College Football Playoff.
The new changes to the sport will make the '69 Rose Bowl survive as one of, if not the greatest, wins in Ohio State history for a very long time.
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