First Posted: 10/28/2014
Until 1996 when the overtime rule came to NCAA Division I football, a game like Ohio State’s win over Penn State last Saturday night would have ended in a tie.
Ohio State played 53 ties before the arrival of overtime. Undoubtedly, the most famous one was a 10-10 tie with Michigan in 1973 that became hugely controversial when the Big Ten’s athletic directors voted to send the Buckeyes to the Rose Bowl instead of the Wolverines.
Who knows what it did to Bo Schembechler’s blood pressure every time that game was mentioned in the next 33 years?
Ohio State is 8-2 in overtime and coach Urban Meyer is 7-0 in OT after last Saturday night’s 31-24 double overtime win over Penn State.
OSU’s first overtime win came in 2002 when it beat Illinois in the next-to-last game of the regular season to remain in the national championship chase.
Obviously, the biggest overtime win in Ohio State history came two games later when it won the national championship 31-24 in two overtimes against Miami in the Fiesta Bowl.
An overtime win over Iowa in 2009 also stands out because it clinched the most recent Rose Bowl trip for Ohio State.
OSU’s only overtime losses came at Northwestern in 2004 and at Purdue during the forgettable 2011 season.
If Ohio State would go on a hot streak and win the rest of its games, the overtime win over Penn State might be remembered as a game that saved the season.
But it also could be remembered as a game in which Ohio State was exposed as a team which was not quite ready for prime time.
A repeat of the second half OSU played against Penn State at Michigan State on Nov. 8 would not lead to a good outcome.
