2006 Ohio State Football: Dominance, Until It Wasn’t

Ohio State football was, even by its own high standards, on a good roll coming into the 2006 season. Over the previous four years, head coach Jim Tressel had won the national title in 2002 and added two more top-5 national finishes. The Buckeyes were primed for more in ’06 and for the entire regular season, they lived up to lofty expectations. Until a shocking and disappointing ending left them short of their ultimate goal.

A HEISMAN QB & A DEEP LINEUP

Troy Smith was at quarterback, and the senior leader did everything well. His 65 percent completion rate, 8.2 yards-per-attempt and 30 touchdown passes all led the Big Ten. He steered clear of mistakes, throwing just six interceptions. And he was a landslide winner of the 2006 Heisman Trophy.

Smith had a future NFL playmaker as his big-play threat. Ted Ginn caught 59 passes for 781 yards and was All-Big Ten. What’s more, Ginn was an electric return man, giving the Buckeye special teams a dangerous dimension. Smith also had Anthony Gonzalez, with his 51 catches for 734 yards, to target.

Antonio Pittman led the running game, and he rolled up over 1,200 yards. When Tressel wanted to go for a chance of pace, Chris “Beanie” Wells, added nearly 600 yards of his own. Running behind a line anchored by all-conference performers in Doug Datish and T.J. Downing, both Pittman and Wells averaged better than five yards a pop.

Ohio State’s offense ranked eighth nationally in points scored, and the defense was even better. The line had an All-American in Quinn Pitock on the interior and Vernon Gholston on the edge. Collectively, the duo combined for 16 ½ sacks.

James Laurinaitis was another All-American at linebacker and he intercepted five passes. The secondary had fantastic corners, in Malcom Jenkins and Antonio Smith. And the defense ultimately ranked fifth in the nation for points allowed.

This was a team with no discernible weaknesses, and they were ranked #1 in the nation from the outset.

A BIG ROAD WIN THAT SET THE TONE

 The Buckeyes hosted a respectable Northern Illinois team to open the season and tuned up with a 35-12 win. That set the stage for a highly anticipated visit to Texas.

A year ago, Ohio State and Texas played a terrific game in Columbus at this same early place in the schedule. The Longhorn win vaulted them to an eventual national championship. This season, they were ranked right behind the Buckeyes at #2 in the country.

Playing under the lights in Austin, Smith put Ohio State on the board early with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Gonzalez. The offense then stayed quiet for much of the first half, but in a 7-7 tie, the Buckeyes launched a drive just before intermission. Smith’s 27-yard TD pass to Ginn in the closing moments of the second quarter gave them a 14-7 lead.

This was a different Texas team than a year ago—the legendary Vince Young was no longer at quarterback. And while Colt McCoy would eventually be a Longhorn legend in his own right, he was a true freshman playing his first big game. That showed on the first drive on the second half, when Laurinaitis intercepted the young QB and set up an Ohio State field goal.

The Buckeye defense stayed firmly in command and forced three turnovers on the night. While the offense never got the running game going, Smith went 17/26 for 269 yards and Ohio State did not turn the ball over. They added a touchdown in the fourth quarter and had an impressive 24-7 win.

SURVIVING A PHYSICAL TEST

Cincinnati was another decent above-average non-conference opponent, and the Buckeyes handled the Bearcats 37-7 a week later. It was time for another key revenge game. Penn State had given Ohio State their only Big Ten loss of the season a year earlier. And while the Nittany Lions, like Texas, weren’t as good in 2006, this was still an opponent who could play defense, run the ball, and ultimately won a New Year’s Day bowl game.

It was a hard-fought physical game in Columbus. Ohio State trailed 3-0 at the half. In the third quarter, they finally got a drive going, one that Pittman finished off with a 12-yard touchdown run. Early in the fourth quarter, Smith hit Brian Robiskie with a 37-yard TD pass that put the Buckeyes in command.

Penn State got a field goal to make it 14-6 and was launching one last drive to try and tie the game with under four minutes to play. Jenkins intercepted a pass and took it 61 yards to the house to seal the game. For good measure, Antonio Smith intercepted another one and ran it back 55 yards. An afternoon that was tougher than it appeared on the scoreboard ended with a satisfying 28-6 win.

COMPLETING THE SEPTEMBER GAUNTLET

There was no rest for the weary, as a difficult early schedule continued. While Iowa ended the season on a mediocre note, the Hawkeyes were ranked #13 when Ohio State went on the road to Iowa City. The Buckeyes came home with a 38-17 win. They had come through five consecutive September games, all against opponents that would finish with winning records, and were still atop the polls.

ANTICIPATING THE SHOWDOWN

The schedule got softer over the next six weeks and the Big Ten—along with the entire country—began to grow in anticipation for the season-ending showdown with Michigan. Over the course of the next several weeks, the Wolverines would rise to #2 in the polls. The postseason format of the time called for the top two teams to be selected for the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) National Championship Game. The possibility of the Buckeyes and Wolverines both being undefeated and playing for a spot in that game was now very real.

Ohio State began systematically taking care of business. They blasted subpar Bowling Green 35-7. A trip to East Lansing produced a 38-7 rout of a bad Michigan State team. Indiana was mediocre, and the Buckeyes sent the Hoosiers home with a 44-3 loss. A nearly identical result happened a week later—Minnesota, a fringe-level bowl team came to Columbus and was handed a 44-0 beatdown.

A road trip to lowly Illinois on the first weekend of November produced a letdown, but Ohio State still won 17-10. And they got back on track by hammering a shaky Northwestern squad 54-10. Ohio State was 11-0. So was Michigan. The showdown was at hand.

A COLLISION YEARS IN THE MAKING

This was the first time the Buckeyes and Wolverines had both been undefeated for their finale since 1973. That game took place at the height of the “Ten-Year War” between Ohio State’s legendary head coach Woody Hayes and Michigan counterpart Bo Schembecler. The ’73 result had been a controversial tie game. With overtime rules now a decade old in college football, that wasn’t going to happen this time.

It was a sunny day in Columbus with the ABC crew of Brent Musberger and Kirk Herbstreit on hand to call the game. And there was also sadness. On Friday, Schembechler had died of heart failure. Ohio State held a moment of silence before the game to honor their old rival.

Bo and Woody, who had passed away in 1987, were renowned for their physical games built around running the ball and playing defense. This 2006 game would be a more modern affair.

After Michigan scored the game’s first touchdown, Smith answered with a short touchdown pass to tie it 7-7. In the second quarter, Wells ripped off a 52-yard touchdown run, and Smith went up top to Ginn for a 39-yard scoring pass. The Wolverines answered with a touchdown, but Ohio State came back the same way they had at Texas—with a late second quarter drive. Smith’s eight-yard toss to Gonzalez with eight seconds left made it 28-14 at halftime.

The Ohio State defense was unable to maintain control and Michigan scored the first ten points of the third quarter, cutting the lead to 28-24 and putting the pressure on. The Buckeye offense answered immediately, with Pittman romping 56 yards for a score. The Wolverines cut the lead to 35-31. Smith flipped a short TD pass to Robiskie to make it 42-31 with just over five minutes to go.

Michigan scored and cut the lead to 42-39 with two minutes to go. But the Ohio State offense took over the closing duties, finishing out the game and preserving the win. Even though the Buckeyes lost the turnover battle 3-0, they got 139 yards on the ground from Pittman. If there was any doubt left that Smith was going to win the Heisman Trophy—and, quite honestly, there probably wasn’t—this game removed them. The quarterback had gone 29/41 for 316 yards and delivered at every threshold moment.

The Buckeyes were going to the BCS National Championship Game. After a couple of weeks of debate where the possibility of a rematch with Michigan was floated, SEC champ Florida ended up at #2 and would be the opponent. The Gator head coach, Urban Meyer, was someone Buckeye fans would eventually become very friendly with—although not so much this year.

AN UNEXPECTED ENDING

Ohio State had to feel good about going to Glendale for the title game. This was the location where they had stunned #1 Miami to win the national championship in 2002. It was where they won the Fiesta Bowl in 2003 and 2005. Now, with Ohio State slotted as a solid (-7) favorite, Arizona would surely be where a great team won another title.

When Ginn opened the game by returning the kickoff for a touchdown, it looked like the rout was on. It was—but not the rout that anyone anticipated. It turned out that Ginn’s return was the last high point of the 2006 Ohio State season.

Florida’s speed proved to be the defining factor in the game, and by halftime the Buckeyes were in a shocking 34-14 hole. It never got closer and ended in a 41-14 rout.

THE WEIGHT OF ONE NIGHT

There’s no getting around the embarrassment of the ending. But that tough final chapter should not overshadow what was otherwise an outstanding story, of great individual performance, dominant team performance and winning a historic rivalry’s biggest game. Ohio State still finished #2 in the final national polls.

This was the first of two straight losses in the BCS Championship Game. It would take until 2014, by which point Meyer had become the Ohio State coach, for the program to win another national championship.