The 4th National Title game in my life time!

2002, 2006, 2007 and now 2015!

Growing up a Buckeye fan in the 80's and 90's my fandom was full of mediocrity. I tend to reflect back on my experience by gauging my yearly emotions. The first game I remember going to was in 1987, against- you guessed it- Oregon. The excitement I felt at 7 years old was real. I remember sitting in trusty ole' B deck 60 minutes before kickoff with my dad. We were always early, to some painfully early, but to us soaking up every minute in the shoe' was very memorable. To this day I still like to get to the field at least 45 minutes before kick off.  As for that first game, I remember asking my dad if the Oregon colors were orange. Thankfully, 28 years later,  they were not.  We won easy that day 24-14. Ho hum on many fronts but the beginning something special for me. On a side note, the 1987 non- conference schedule was West Virgina, Oregon and LSU. How about that for the playoff pollsters?

An 18th ranked, 8-4 team during my most formidable years, is just what the Buckeyes were. It just was what it was. 3 or 4 losses a year and hopefully a New years day bowl game to play in. I just missed the 84' Rose Bowl year being too young so for me it was the Citrus bowl or Hall of Fame bowl it seemed like every year.

That all changed in 1993.

Every year, whether we did or not,  I feel like we started out ranked 18th in the polls. That is where we started in 1993. But something happened on the second week of the season that I never experienced before and something that I didn't think was possible. Yeah, I heard of the national titles and Woody and the tradition of seasons past but that was not real to me. What was real was a Cotton Bowl win over Texas A&M in 1988. That was it.
But on that second week of the 1993 season, the Ohio State Buckeyes I know and love today, were born.  The game was the first night game in the 'shoe since 1985 against the #12 Washington Huskies. The Huskies, only one season removed from sharing the National Title with Miami in 1991, were a legit opponent. Napoleon Kaufman was a legit RB talent coming in and the stage was set. 4 quarters later, Bobby Hoying, Joey Galloway (Mr. SEC Speed), "Big Daddy" Dan Wilkinson and the rest put the nation on notice with a 21-12 win. (YouTube it) It also planted a seed in my head of seeing OSU become a national power. I remember keeping all of the sports page articles that year and watching the Bucks climb to #3 in the polls. It was crazy seeing that, so much so I couldn't fathom it. Ohio State ranked right up there with mighty Florida State and Nebraska. I had to cut the polls out and keep them. It was awesome. The future was bright at Ohio State.

Well, it all came full circle as I grew up. I have been able to witness great and talented, nationally ranked Buckeye teams, BCS Bowl games, a Rose Bowl, a National Title in 2002, a decade of dominance over Michigan, Jim Tressel and now the Urban Meyer era. The program is on the highest trajectory to-date and is on the verge of competing for a National Title every year in the new playoff system. In today's game that is just unbelievable. 10 days ago beating the mighty SEC's Alabama felt like we had won the national championship. It was a statement game that took Ohio State from a good program to a great program again. Now, another ho-hum win over Oregon will take Ohio State football to the stratosphere! The future is bright at Ohio State.

Go Bucks!