1975 Ohio State Football: Woody’s Last Rose Bowl Ride

Woody Hayes had the Ohio State football program humming as they entered the 1975 season. Starting with the national championship run of 1968, the Buckeyes were on a seven-year run where they had gone to the Rose Bowl five times and finished in the national top 10 each year. They added to those strings this year—but a crushing loss left them short of the national championship and foreshadowed modest, but notable decline, in the years ahead. In fact, this ’75 season was the last time the legendary head coach went to the Rose Bowl.

ARCHIE GRIFFIN & A GROUND-GAME POWERHOUSE

Ohio State’s offense was based on a dynamic running game and no one was more dynamic in mid-1970s college football than Archie Griffin. The running back, fresh off winning the Heisman Trophy in 1974, ripped off 1,357 yards and 5.5 yards-per-carry and became the only player to date win consecutive Heismans.

One thing Archie didn’t do a lot of was score touchdowns—only four all season. That was because down near the goal line, big Pete Johnson was the closer. With an NFL future ahead of him, the fullback rolled up 989 yards of his own and scored 24 TDs. Quarterback Cornelius Greene added nearly 500 rushing yards of his own. All of them ran behind an offensive line anchored by All-American guard Ted Smith.

College football in this era was running game-centric, and Woody’s offenses even more than most. Greene only threw 103 passes for the entire season. But he was effective when he did. Green’s 59% completion rate was excellent by the standards of his time. His 9.5 yards-per-attempt was dazzling by the standards of any time. His primary targets were Brian Baschnagel and Lenny Willis. The Buckeye offense led the nation in points scored.

The defense was even better. Led by All-Conference end Bob Brudzinksi, who had a good NFL career ahead of him, and All-American defensive back Tim Fox, Ohio State gave up just 7.2 points per game, ranking second in the nation. They opened the season at #4 nationally.

SURVIVING PENN STATE

The Big Ten in the 1970s basically boiled down to Michigan and Ohio State. But there were some decent teams in the middle class and Michigan State was usually one of them. This year was no different. The Spartans had a running back in Levi Jackson, who rushed for 1,000 yards and they had a freshman wide receiver who would make an impact—his name was Kirk Gibson. Ohio State was going to East Lansing to open the season, and they did so in style with a 23-6 win over the Spartans.

That set up a battle with seventh-ranked Penn State. The Buckeyes came out strong at home, marching 80 yards on the opening drive and finishing it off with a one-yard plunge by Johnson. At that point, the Ohio State offense bogged down. Between that opening drive and late in the fourth quarter, they only got as far as the Penn State 28-yard line once. Fortunately, that ended with a field goal, and the Ohio State defense forced three turnovers on their side of the field. They clung to a 10-9 lead late in the game.

The Buckeyes would finish as they started—a sustained 80-yard march that ended with a Johnson touchdown. The 17-9 win over a team that ended up making the Sugar Bowl moved Ohio State up to #2 in the polls.

BLASTING UCLA

An easy 32-7 home win over a bad North Carolina set up another tough non-conference game. Ohio State was going west to play 13^th-ranked UCLA at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

The game didn’t start well, as the Bruins scored a quick touchdown. Then the Buckeyes started pounding away up front. Griffin carried 21 times for 161 yards. Greene ran 23 times for 120 yards. They led by as much as 38-7 before closing out a 41-20 win.

When the next polls came out, Ohio State was ranked #1. And the schedule offered clear sailing from here to their visit to Ann Arbor on November 22.

BURYING THE BIG TEN

The Buckeyes began systematically dismantling the rest of the Big Ten. Consecutive home shutouts of bad Iowa and Wisconsin teams were by a combined score of 105-0. Ohio State went to West Lafayette and cruised past subpar Purdue 35-6. The Buckeyes were a little sluggish at home against lowly Indiana, but still won 24-13. Ohio State blasted mediocre Illinois 40-3 in Champaign.

A home date with Minnesota was the last obstacle before Michigan and then, hopefully, the Rose Bowl. The Gophers were a respectable team that would finish 6-5, and they had a quarterback named Tony Dungy. They were also no match for Ohio State. The Buckeyes rolled 38-6. They were primed for the biggest games of the season, in control of their destiny to win a national championship.

SHOWDOWN IN ANN ARBOR

Michigan had played a couple of tie games in non-conference play, but they hadn’t lost yet. The Wolverines were ranked #4 in the polls. It was winner-take-all for the Rose Bowl. Presuming there was a winner—college football did not start playing overtime until 1996 and Michigan’s tie games meant that Ohio State would get the trip to Pasadena if this game ended up deadlocked—a fact that would prove of no small importance to the outcome.

The Buckeyes were on their back foot for much of the game. They forced three turnovers on their own side of the field to stay alive. Archie couldn’t get anything going on the ground, with just 46 yards rushing. Trailing 14-7 in the fourth quarter, Ohio State was in trouble.

Greene came alive. He hit key passes to Baschnagel and Willis, part of a sequence of five plays where Ohio State moved the chains each time. The Buckeyes nudged inside the 10-yard line. Then, Woody called Johnson’s number. Four straight times. The last of which was a fourth-down touchdown.

A tie would be damaging to the Buckeye national title hopes, but Big Ten teams played for the Rose Bowl above all else in this era. Woody kicked the extra point. He also knew that Michigan had no choice but to play for the win, and there was still time on the clock.

It was a Griffin would make the game’s biggest play, but not Archie. His younger brother Ray came up with an interception in Michigan territory. Ohio State marched right back in and got the winning touchdown. They survived 21-14.

A ROSE BOWL REMATCH

A familiar foe was waiting at the Rose Bowl. UCLA, ranked #11, was ready for a rematch. It was presumed this game would be a Buckeye coronation, but that perhaps overlooks the fact that Ohio State had needed to force turnovers to survive both Penn State and Michigan. The Buckeyes were an excellent team, but they weren’t head-and-shoulders above the rest. And they were having to beat UCLA a second time in the Bruins’ own backyard.

Ohio State led 3-0 at the half, but then things fell apart. UCLA got their passing game going. The Buckeyes couldn’t keep up. They trailed 16-3 by the time the fourth quarter started and ended up losing 23-10.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END FOR WOODY HAYES

Ohio State would finish #4 in the final rankings. But this would be Woody’s last trip to the Rose Bowl. While the Buckeyes continued to be a good team over the next three years, they lost each time to Michigan. The 1978 season ended sadly, with the old coach losing his cool on the sidelines in the Gator Bowl, hitting an opposing player and getting fired. 1975 was his last real run at a national title.