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As 2014 Ohio State champs celebrate 10th anniversary, we ask: 'Which OSU team is best?'
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- As 2014 Ohio State champs celebrate 10th anniversary, we ask: 'Which OSU team is best?'
Ohio State's 2014 national championship gave me chills. As in a 103-degree fever.
It is fuzzy now, because it was fuzzy then. Writing under the influence of influenza that arrived at kickoff messes with your memory, but playing hurt is part of the job, and it's not every day you get to cover a national championship game, so no sad violin music for me.
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The Buckeyes ' 42-20 win against Oregon in the first College Football Playoff title game was no flu-induced hallucination. It really happened, capping an improbable 14-1 season that concluded with a crescendo of victories that still resonate a decade later.
Ohio State’s Devin Smith beats Michigan’s Raymon Taylor on a 52-yard pass from J.T. Barrett during the third quarter.
The 2014 champions will be honored on the field between the first and second quarters of Saturday's game against Nebraska (the 1984 Big Ten champions also will be recognized). The fan response should be rousing, in part because '14 remains fresh enough to register strong personal connection and emotion.
It's hard to say where 2014 ranks among OSU's best teams. Comparing eras is never easy, and only subjectively accurate. Changes to the game across decades make definitive statements impossible. Recency bias also factors into the equation. Maybe the only reliable marker in making a fair evaluation is to look at how each team performed relative to the competition.
Ezekiel Elliott of Ohio State breaks away for an 81-yard touchdown run that marked the beginning of a rout over Wisconsin.
On that note, let's take a look at OSU's six national title teams by focusing on average points scored, points allowed and margin of victory.
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2014 (14-1):44.8 points scored per game and 22.0 allowed for a 22.8 differential.
2002 (14-0):29.3; 13.1; 16.2
1968 (10-0):32.3; 15.0; 17.3
1957 (9-1):26.7; 9.2; 17.5
1954 (10-0):24.9; 7.5; 17.4
1942 (9-1):33.7; 11.4; 22.3
Based on those metrics, 2014 looks like a winner, leading the six championship teams in two of the three categories. But if defense is your thing, the '14 Buckeyes don't look as impressive, having allowed 7.0 points more than the next closest team (1968). The 1954 Buckeyes led the group, allowing only 7.5 points a game.
Giving added weight to a balanced offensive-defensive performance, Paul Brown's 1942 champions can make a strong case for No. 1. But the war years make objective analysis challenging. Hard to say just how legitimate opponents like Fort Knox (59-0) and Iowa Pre-Flight (41-12) were, or how hard hit any particular program was by military enlistment and the draft.
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Still, Ohio State went 5-1 in the conference in 1942 with a 17.8 margin of victory in those games. Quite stout. The lone loss was a 17-7 loss at Wisconsin.
Strength of schedule always needs to be considered in such Mount Rushmore rankings, and on that count 1968 comes out on top, slightly ahead of 2014, 2002 and 1954. The '68 Buckeyes played four opponents ranked in the top 20, including three in the top 10. The 2014 team also played four top 20s, including three in the top 10, but only one of those came during the regular season. Plus, Urban Meyer's team lost to unranked Virginia Tech. The 1954 team played six ranked teams, but only one in the top 10.
What about talent? When six teams are in the running for best ever, why not use roster strength, i.e. top-level talent to break ties? Sounds easy enough, until you begin comparing rosters.
Was Ezekiel Elliott (2014) better than Hop Cassady (1954)? Jack Tatum (1968) better than Mike Doss (2002)? Dick LeBeau (1957) or Eli Apple (2014)? Will Smith (2002) or Joey Bosa (2014)? Michael Jenkins (2002) or Dante Lavelli (1942)?
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All six OSU teams loaded with talent, so roster strength a wash
Ultimately, I land on 1968 as the team to beat, with 2002 a close second. Sure, '02 had a lot of close calls, but won them all. That means something. And 2014 gets tricky. How do you judge the offense? With quarterback Cardale Jones or J.T. Barrett , who was 11-1 as the starting quarterback before breaking his ankle against Michigan.
Best OSU team does not mean most beloved
As challenging as it is to determine OSU's best team, it is just as hard to single out its most beloved. I wasn't around for the school's first three titles, but by pragmatic process of elimination, I would knock 1942 and 1957 from contention, '42 because fans were more worried about young men losing their lives in combat than winning football games – although I suppose one could argue the Buckeyes offered a welcome distraction that made the championship team that much more appreciated – and '57 because it came just three seasons after the 1954 championship. Infrequency makes the fan heart grow fonder, which brings us to 2002.
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As special as 1968 was – the Super Sophs are the stuff of legend – and as magical as 2014 turned out to be, with third-stringer Jones starting the last three games, 2002 still gets my vote for best loved.
My reasoning: the 2002 title ended a 34-year national championship drought; Coach Jim Tressel was the most popular coach since Woody Hayes, his "guarantee" of beating Michigan in 2001 forever endearing him to Buckeyes Nation; the "Luckeyes" won seven games by seven points or fewer, creating a high-stress experience that fans enjoyed, even as they decried "Tresselball;" upsetting supposedly unbeatable Miami in the BCS championship game brought similar satisfaction to beating Bama in 2014.
That is not to suggest 2014 deserves also-ran status in fan worship. After losing quarterback Braxton Miller two weeks before the season opener, then losing to Virginia Tech in Week 2, the Buckeyes were left for dead. They rebounded to win the remainder of their regular-season games, but again were counted out when Barrett went down against Michigan. Then came the tragic death of nose tackle Kosta Karageorge the day after the Michigan game, creating agony amidst the ecstasy of beating the Wolverines.
Ohio State's 2014 season was roller coaster ride to wild finish
Then came perhaps the most shocking final score in school history: Ohio State 59, Wisconsin 0 in the Big Ten Championship game. A much closer outcome likely would have kept the Buckeyes out of the four-team College Football Playoff, but the selection committee jumped No. 5 OSU over No. 3 TCU, dropping the Horned Frogs to No. 6 despite them pounding 2-10 Iowa State, 55-3. The committee's rationale for the OSU leapfrog? The Buckeyes won their conference championship game, while the Big 12 did not conduct a championship game. End of discussion.
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You can imagine the national uproar created by the committee's switcheroo, but No. 4 Ohio State proved the selectors right by defeating No. 1 Alabama 42-35 in the Sugar Bowl and Oregon 42-20 in the title game in Arlington, Texas.
It's interesting how many fans remember the details of that win against Alabama better than the step-by-step win against Oregon. But that's mostly because they were sick of Saban and the Crimson Tide – not sick from the flu.
A decade later, I remember popping as many cold medicine caplets as Zeke Elliott popped off touchdowns (four) against the Ducks . I recall Elliott rushing for 246 yards, four more than Jones threw for, and I remember Ohio State players celebrating by making confetti angels on the field.
Finally, I remember interviewing Urban Meyer's wife, Shelley, in the tunnel leading to the Buckeyes' locker room.
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"If OSU wins another one in 2015, does that make it a dynasty? " I asked.
"Not yet. You have to win three," she said in the afterglow of her husband's third national championship, but first with the Buckeyes.
Three never happened, of course. Neither did two, as Ohio State squandered the opportunity to repeat with a team that Urban Meyer this week described as "probably the best team I ever had."
But only probably, because to be the best you must finish No. 1. The Buckeyes have fielded at least a dozen teams that could, and maybe should have, won it all but didn't. Some, like 2015, 1969 and 1975 might have been better on paper than the actual champions, but you have to close the deal. And the 2014 Ohio State team certainly did.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football honoring 2014 national champions at Nebraska game
