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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/jimbobbypaul on 2023-08-23 19:59:46.
Main hub thread with the full 131 rankings
THE. OHIO. STATE. UNIVERSITY. COMES IN AT #2. And with that, we have confirmation as to who’s #1. Ohio State more than deserves the top 2, finishing as the top team in the Big Ten and #2 overall over the last 40 years with a staggering 394-103-5 (.790 win %) record. What’s even crazier is that they’re 297-65-3 (.818 win %) over the last 29 years, averaging just 2 losses a season for nearly 3 decades. They’ve won at least 6 games in 39 out of their 40 seasons, and won 8+ games in 33 out of 39 non-covid seasons, which compared to the worst team on the list to play 40 seasons (#130 New Mexico State), the Aggies have 0 seasons of 8+ wins in 39 years. Ohio State has a VERY strong case to be #1 on this list, but ultimately what dropped them to #2 was the lack of national titles. Continuing this trend of drooling over stats, Ohio State has 19 seasons of 11+ wins over the last 29 years…just unreal what they’ve accomplished under Urban Meyer, Jim Tressel, Ryan Day, and yes, John Cooper.
Best Seasons and Highlights
1. 2014: 1. Ohio State: 14-1 (60.159) 2. 2019: 2. Ohio State: 13-1 (59.567) 3. 2002: 1. Ohio State: 14-0 (57.543) 4. 2017: 3. Ohio State: 12-2 (48.390) 5. 1996: 3. Ohio State: 11-1 (48.262) 6. 1998: 2. Ohio State: 11-1 (47.581) 7. 2006: 3. Ohio State: 12-1 (46.885) 8. 2016: 3. Ohio State: 11-2 (46.677) 9. 2015: 3. Ohio State: 12-1 (46.547) 10. 2010: 4. Ohio State: 12-1 (45.161) 11. 2018: 4. Ohio State: 13-1 (44.476) 12. 2021: 4. Ohio State: 11-2 (42.779) 13. 2022: 3. Ohio State: 11-2 (42.686) 14. 2012: 5. Ohio State: 12-0 (42.370) 15. 2009: 6. Ohio State: 11-2 (41.446) 16. 2020: 2. Ohio State: 7-1 (38.018) 17. 1995: 6. Ohio State: 11-2 (37.344) 18. 2013: 10. Ohio State: 12-2 (36.877) 19. 2007: 8. Ohio State: 11-2 (36.706) 20. 2003: 6. Ohio State: 11-2 (36.686) 21. 1993: 7. Ohio State: 10-1-1 (36.417) 22. 2005: 7. Ohio State: 10-2 (34.964) 23. 2008: 11. Ohio State: 10-3 (29.872) 24. 1986: 10. Ohio State: 10-3 (28.378) 25. 1983: 11. Ohio State: 9-3 (25.919) 26. 1985: 19. Ohio State: 9-3 (23.863) 27. 1997: 13. Ohio State: 10-3 (23.713) 28. 1984: 11. Ohio State: 9-3 (22.452) 29. 1992: 15. Ohio State: 8-3-1 (22.173) 30. 1994: 17. Ohio State: 9-4 (17.755) 31. 2004: 23. Ohio State: 8-4 (12.692) 32. 2000: 32. Ohio State: 8-4 (11.562) 33. 1987: 25. Ohio State: 6-4-1 (11.105) 34. 1991: 33. Ohio State: 8-4 (8.633) 35. 1989: 31. Ohio State: 8-4 (7.203) 36. 1990: 34. Ohio State: 7-4-1 (6.371) 37. 2001: 41. Ohio State: 7-5 (3.702) 38. 2011: 52. Ohio State: 6-7 (-3.450) 39. 1999: 49. Ohio State: 6-6 (-4.218) 40. 1988: 54. Ohio State: 4-6-1 (-8.969) Overall Score: 49510 (2nd)
- 394-103-5 record
- 2 national titles
- 16 conference titles
- 19-19 bowl record
- 45 consensus All-Americans
- 240 NFL players drafted
Imagine your 14th best season being the year you went 12-0, and your 16th best season being the year you lost in the National Championship. Since 2002, Ohio State’s won 11 Big Ten titles, winning it every other year. Consensus All-Americans we won’t look at below are OL Jim Lachey (1984), RB Keith Byars (1984) who was Big Ten POTY, WR Cris Carter (1986) who’s an NFL Hall of Famer, P Tom Tupa (1987) who averaged 47.0 yards per punt and was also the starting QB, LB Chris Spielman (1986, 1987) who finished top 10 in Heisman voting twice, DT Dan Wilkinson (1993) who was the #1 overall pick in the draft, OL Korey Stringer (1994), WR Terry Glenn (1995) who won the Biletnikoff Award, RB Eddie George (1995) who won the Heisman, LB Andy Katzenmoyer (1997) who won the Butkus Award, DB Antoine Winfield (1998) who won the Thorpe Award, OL Rob Murphy (1998), C LeCharles Bentley (2001) who won the Rimington Award and has a great name, DB Will Allen (2003), LB AJ Hawk (2004, 2005) who’s one of the best LBs of the BCS era, QB Troy Smith (2006) who won the Heisman, DL Quinn Pitcock (2006), DB Malcolm Jenkins (2008) who won the Thorpe Award, LB James Laurinaitis (2006, 2007, 2008) who’s the most decorated player in a long line of Ohio State LBs, OT Taylor Decker (2015), S Malik Hooker (2016), C Pat Elflein (2016), CB Shaun Wade (2020), OT Paris Johnson Jr. (2022), and WR Marvin Harrison Jr. (2022) who was maybe the best player in the country regardless of position.
Top NFL players include OT Orlando Pace, WR Cris Carter, DT Cameron Heyward, DE Nick Bosa, DE Joey Bosa, C Nick Mangold, RB Eddie George, LB Chris Spielman, DB Malcolm Jenkins, CB Marshon Lattimore, WR Joey Galloway, RB Ezekiel Elliott, WR Michael Thomas, WR Terry McLaurin, CB Denzel Ward, LB Pepper Johnson, OT Jim Lachey, WR Terry Glenn, LB Mike Vrabel, C Corey Linsley, CB Antoine Winfield, CB Nate Clements, RB Robert Smith, LB AJ Hawk, WR Ted Ginn Jr., WR Santonio Holmes, S Donte Whitner, LB Ryan Shazier, DE Chase Young, WR Garrett Wilson, and WR Chris Olave.
Top 5 Seasons
Worst Season: 1988 (4-6-1 overall, 2-5-1 Big Ten)
If you just listened to Ohio State fans talk about coach John Cooper, you’d expect this to be his best season. All jokes aside, it was rough sledding for Cooper in his first year with the Buckeyes, inheriting a 6-4-1 team from Earle Bruce that had also lost 8 starters to the NFL. Ohio State was hit or miss all throughout the year, usually missing rather than hitting. An opening 26-9 win came over Dick MacPherson’s Syracuse team, which was coming off a #4 11-0-1 season and would finish #13 10-2 with 1 of their 2 losses to the Buckeyes. Followed up by…a 10-42 beating at the hands of Pitt, who had just 1 winning season the previous 4 years. Followed up by…a 36-33 win over #7 LSU in which Ohio State scored 16 straight points in the last 4 minutes. Followed up by…a 7-41 loss to Indiana, arguably the most embarrassing loss in Ohio State history. You get the idea. Ohio State finished the year 4-6-1, culminating in a 31-34 loss to #12 Michigan in The Game. Cooper would go on to finish 111-43-4 in 13 years with OSU, but his legacy is marred by a 2-10-1 record against Michigan and a 3-8 record in bowl games.
5. 1996 (11-1 overall, 7-1 Big Ten)
Here’s some John Cooper eye bleach for that 1988 season. Wait, no, this is the year Ohio State lost the national title at the HANDS OF MICHIGA-!
Cooper was now in his 9th season as head coach at OSU. LB Andy Katzenmoyer made headlines in week 1 by becoming the first true freshman to ever start at LB for Ohio State, as OSU trumped the Owls 70-7. Katzenmoyer would help lead one of the best defenses in the country, holding teams to 7.5 PPG in their first 4, beating #5 Notre Dame 29-16 and #4 Penn State 38-7. In just a month, Ohio State had moved up from #10 to #2. They kept winning, and really took off at the start of November, beating Minnesota 45-0 and Illinois 48-0 to improve to 9-0. Heading into The Game at 10-0 and #2, Ohio State was on the verge of a possible national title. The Buckeyes went up 9-0 by halftime against #21 Michigan, at home, but Michigan would score 13 unanswered points in the 2nd half to win 13-9 in one of the most painful losses of the series for Ohio State. They fell to #4, and beat #2 Arizona State in the Rose Bowl. The next day, #1 Florida State would lose to #3 Florida in the Sugar Bowl, meaning Ohio State missed out on a national title with the loss to Michigan.
Still, the Buckeyes finished #2, their highest finish since 1973. QBs Stanley Jackson and Joe Germaine combined for 24 TD 9 INT, and RB Pepe Pearson ran for nearly 1400 yards with 17 TD. It certainly helped to have legendary OT Orlando Pace, who was so dominant that the term “pancake block” exploded in popularity due to his tendency to put the opposing defensive lineman on their ass and lay on top of them, platonically. Pace finished 4th in Heisman voting, was the Big Ten Offensive POTY, was the #1 overall pick in the 1997 NFL Draft, and was selected to Sports Illustrated’s NCAA All-Century Team for the 1900s as one of the starting OTs. On defense, Katzenmoyer was a 2nd Team All-American, and DE and future Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel was also a 2nd Team All-American, allowing just 10.9 PPG.
1996 Ohio State is my 70th best team since 1983.
4. 2017 (12-2 overall, 7-1 Big Ten)
This was JT Barrett’s 298,354,282th season at Ohio State. Please clap. Reddit humor aside, this actually was Barrett’s 4th and final season, and amazingly he really did only play 4 seasons. Unfortunately this team is known for 2 embarrassing losses, because outside of them, this team was extremely good. The season opened with a 1-1 record thanks to a home loss to #5 Oklahoma at home, punctuated with a midfield flag plant by Baker Mayfield. Ohio State dropped from #2 to #8, but won the next 5 games by an average of 53-11. Now they had their chance to get back into playoff contention—hosting #2 Penn State in front of ESPN College GameDay, Penn State jumped out to a 21-3 lead, but JT Barrett played the game of his life, completing 33 of 39 passes for 328 yards with 4 TD 0 INT and 17 carries for 95 yards, leading Ohio State to a 39-38 comeback win. But again, the subsequent 24-55 loss to Iowa dominated the headlines, as it should’ve, with Barrett throwing 4 INTs with 3 of them to Iowa All-American CB Joshua Jackson. If not for that loss, Ohio State may have won the national title with the way they played down the stretch. A 5-0 finish included…
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