Buckeye History

This week we visit a game from last year.

 

Texas vs. OSU, September 10, 2005

Many people had pencilled the two-year series with Texas on their calenders years ago. Tickets were very difficult to find. I was fortunate to get a pair of tickets as a member of the Washington, DC Alumni Club. Since it was a night game, the tailgate parties lasted all day. There was quite a crowd of Texas Longhorns fans, mostly in the lower closed end section and in the south stands, while the rest were spread across the stadium. Under the direction of Vince Young, the Longhorns hushed the crowd with a 10-0 lead in the first quarter with 43 yard FG and five yard pass closing out a 84 yard drive. In the second quarter OSU responded with a 47 yard (plus a personal foul)kick return by Holmes, followed by a 45 yard FG by Huston. OSU tied the score with an 80 yard drive capped off by a 36 yard pass to Holmes by Smith. The defense stepped up with AJ Hawk running 24 yards on an interception to setup Huston's 26 yard FG. Hawk stepped up again and recovered a Texas fumble, setting up a 25 yard FG, putting OSU up 16-10. Texas closed out the half with a 37 yard FG. In the third quarter Huston hit another field goal for 44 yards. Texas drove the ball 72 yards and hit a 25 yard field goal. OSU called Huston's number one more time and he kicked a 26 yarder to put OSU up 22-16. In the fourth quarter many of the OSU fans sunk into their seats as Young hit Sweed for a 24 yard pass, putting them up 23-22. With very little time left on the clock Smith was tackled in the endzone, causing a safety, which put the final score at 25-22.

 

This game was filled with a lot of opportunities for OSU. What would the outcome have been if OSU hadn't settled for so many field goals? What if Huston had hit the 50-yarder with 5 minutes left in the game? What if tight end Hamby had held onto the pass in the endzone? What if Troy Smith had been the starter? What if we had not shuffled QBs during the game? What if one play or another had a different outcome? It was a tough loss, but it creates great motivation for this year.

 

How Significant this Loss Was

Before this game OSU had a 36-game home winning streak over non-conference opponents, stretching back to 1990. This was OSU's first loss at Ohio Stadium at night.