Welcome to BuckeyePedia™ -- The Buckeye Encyclopedia

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To create the most complete and definitive source of information about the past and present of the Ohio State Buckeye Athletics.

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To be your source for Buckeye Athletics related information. We will supply our visitors with up to date news, stories, and information about Ohio State Buckeyes Athletlics in the Buckeye Recent News Links section below.

Buckeyes Recent News Links:
What about Nebraska's Friday tradition?
3 Sep 2010 at 9:00pm
The University of Iowa has made it clear it thi...
Saturday gamedays are safe for now
3 Sep 2010 at 9:00pm
Three Big Ten teams -- Ohio State, Minnesota an...
BYU, Central Florida agree to home-and-home series
3 Sep 2010 at 8:25pm
Brigham Young University and the University of ...
Ad Campaign Under Fire
3 Sep 2010 at 3:39pm
After angry environmentalists objected to a Nik...
Big Ten Announces Football Division Alignments and 2011, 2012 Conference Sche...
1 Sep 2010 at 12:00am
The Big Ten Conference office announced today f...

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Ohio State Buckeye Athletics:
Ohio State University's intercollegiate sports teams and players are called the "Buckeyes" (after the state tree, the Buckeye), and participate in the NCAA's Division I in all sports and the Big Ten Conference in most sports. (The men's hockey program competes in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, and its women's hockey program competes in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association). The school colors are scarlet and gray (see trivia note below). The mascot of OSU is Brutus Buckeye.

Ohio State is one of only three universities (Michigan and Cal being the others) to have won an NCAA national championship in baseball, basketball and football. Ohio State has also won national championships in men's swimming & diving, men's outdoor track & field, men's golf, men's gymnastics, men's fencing, co-ed fencing, and synchronized swimming. Since the inception of the Athletic Director's Cup, Ohio State has finished in the top 25 each year, including top 6 finishes in three of the last five years. During the 2005-2006 school year Ohio State became this first Big Ten team to win conference championships in football, men's basketball and women's basketball in the same season. They repeated this feat in the 2006-2007 season, which also included a February 25, 2007 men's basketball game which saw the Buckeyes defeat the Wisconsin Badgers in the Big Ten's first one-versus-two basketball game.

Outstanding sports figures that were student athletes at Ohio State include Jesse Owens (“The Buckeye Bullet”; track and field), John Havlicek, Jerry Lucas, and Katie Smith (basketball), Frank Howard (baseball), Jack Nicklaus (golf); and Chic Harley (three-time All-American football running back). Hall of Fame coaches at Ohio State have included Paul Brown and Woody Hayes in football, Fred Taylor in basketball, Larry Snyder in track and field, and Mike Peppe in swimming and diving. Notable sports figures in Ohio State history may be inducted into the Ohio State Varsity O Hall of Fame.

Football:
The Ohio State football team, which plays at Ohio Stadium (a.k.a. the Horseshoe or simply the 'Shoe'), won the 2002 college football national championship at the 2003 Fiesta Bowl. It was the seventh national championship for Ohio State, which also topped the nation in 1942, 1954, 1957, 1961, 1968 and 1970. The Buckeyes became only the second team in NCAA history (next to Oklahoma) to lose consecutive BCS National Championship Games, in the year history of the BCS, after their losses to Florida in 2007 and to LSU in 2008.

Block O in game in the south standsFive former Ohio State head coaches have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame: Howard Jones, John Wilce, Francis Schmidt, Woody Hayes, and Earle Bruce. The coach perhaps most strongly associated with Ohio State football was the colorful and legendary Woody Hayes (1913-1987), who passionately taught players and students that a person succeeds in life through "outworking" the opposition.

The Buckeye's current coach is Jim Tressel. Coach Tressel has helped lead the Buckeyes to a bowl game in every season during his tenure including three National Title games.

The Buckeye football team boasts six Heisman trophy winners, including the only two-time winner Archie Griffin (in 1974 and 1975), Les Horvath (1944), Vic Janowicz (1950), Howard “Hopalong” Cassady (1955), Eddie George (1995), and Troy Smith (2006). Ohio State is a part of the intense athletic Ohio State-Michigan Rivalry (particularly in football). The University of Michigan leads the historical series 57-41-6, but Ohio State is 6-1 in the game since Jim Tressel became its coach in 2001. The OSU/UM game has been called the greatest rivalry in sports by ESPN.

The Daily Oklahoman ranked Ohio State the number one school for running backs in the nation in a July 10, 2006 sports section article.

All-Time Record 798-303-53 (.714)

Undefeated Seasons 1899, 1916, 1917, 1944, 1954, 1961, 1968, 1973, 2002

National Championships (7) 1942, 1954, 1957 , 1961, 1968, 1970, 2002

Big Ten championships (32) :1916 • 1917 • 1920 • 1935 • 1939 • 1942 • 1944 • 1949 • 1954 • 1955 • 1957 • 1961 • 1968 • 1969 • 1970 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 • 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1979 • 1981 • 1984 • 1986 • 1993 • 1996 • 1998 • 2002 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007

Heisman Trophy Winners - 1944 Les Horvath • 1950 Vic Janowicz • 1955 Howard Cassady • 1974 Archie Griffin • 1975 Archie Griffin • 1995 Eddie George • 2006 Troy Smith

Home Fields Recreation Park • Ohio Field • Ohio Stadium

Men's Basketball:
The Ohio State men's basketball team has played in Ten NCAA Final Fours, winning the championship in 1960, when they were led by Basketball Hall of Famers Jerry Lucas, John Havlicek, and Bob Knight off the bench. Twenty-three times a Buckeye has been named first team All American including five two-time All Americans and one three-time All American. Between 1960 and 1964 Ohio State won five consecutive Big Ten championships, an achievement that has yet to be matched.

In 2004, Ohio State University fired men's basketball coach Jim O’Brien for recruiting violations and self-imposed a one year penalty, including a ban on post-season play and reduction of scholarships. In light of these University self-imposed penalties, the NCAA Division I Committee on infractions merely placed Ohio State University on three years probation for the violations, and gave heavier penalties to Coach O’Brien and a former assistant coach. The lightness of this judgment was seen as encouragement for schools to be proactive in responding to violations. Nevertheless, O’Brien successfully sued Ohio State for improper termination. Thad Matta, the current coach of the Buckeyes, took over O'Brien's spot three years ago. Ohio State recruited such talents as Greg Oden, and Mike Conley, Jr. to start the 2006-2007 year. The Buckeyes finished the season with a 27-3 record; won the Big Ten tournament, and earned a number 1 seed for the NCAA tournament. After a very close game with state rival Xavier, and a thrilling 20 point come from behind victory against the Tennessee Volunteers, the Buckeyes managed to hold off Georgetown Hoyas 67-60 to reach the Championship Game for the first time since 1962, which they lost to defending NCAA champions Florida Gators, 84-75. The Buckeyes ended the 2006-2007 season with a record of 35-4.

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