Ohio State and Texas will meet on the gridiron for the fifth time when the programs open up their seasons in Columbus on Saturday. The showdown is one of the most anticipated non-conference games of the college football season after the Buckeyes beat the Longhorns 28-14 in a College Football Playoff semifinal at the Cotton Bowl back in January. The win by Ohio State evened the all-time series between the schools. Oddly enough, the road team has won both on-campus contests, and they have split the two
bowl games they have been matched up in. The first game between the schools came in 2005, when Texas and Vince Young beat the Buckeyes in Columbus, followed by Ohio State returning the favor a year later in Austin. Then Texas won the 2009 Fiesta Bowl to take the lead in the series before the Buckeyes beat the Longhorns in early January on their way to a national title. Since all of the previous four matchups between the college football powers have taken place in the last 20 years, they are easier to remember since each game has been a high-profile battle. To prepare for Saturday’s contest, we want to look back at the earlier meetings between the programs. Today we want to know which game between Ohio State and Texas is most memorable to you. The memories can be good or bad, we just want the one that sticks with you the most.
Today’s question: Which Ohio State-Texas game sticks with you most?
We’d love to hear your choices. Either respond to us on Twitter at @Landgrant33 or leave your choice in the comments.
Brett’s answer: The 2005 game in Columbus
This probably seems like a strange answer since Ohio State ended up losing in its first-ever matchup with Texas, but I swear I have good reasoning. This was the second-ever game I attended at Ohio Stadium, as the first one came the previous week when the Buckeyes beat Miami (OH) to open the 2005 season. Plus, the atmosphere of the game was incredible because it was a night game. There was just something about fretting all day about the game while tailgating that Ohio State fans these days won’t understand, since every big home game is now played at noon.
Even though the Buckeyes fell just short of beating the Longhorns, I felt like I left it all in the stands that Saturday night. I remember it was a toasty late summer day, which meant the beers were going down even smoother than normal. By the time the game was over, I had no voice left from all the yelling I was doing, and it felt like it didn’t come back for about a week. Along with no voice, I ended up sitting near the Texas band, so I had their fight song in my head for the longest time after the game.
If Ohio State had to lose a game, at least it was to one of the most memorable college football players in history. Even though Vince Young lost out to Reggie Bush for the Heisman Trophy, Young and the Longhorns got the last laugh when they shocked the Trojans with a fourth-quarter comeback in the BCS National Championship Game. Had the Buckeyes been able to beat Texas, it would have been interesting to see how Troy Smith and the rest of Jim Tressel’s team would have fared against USC in the title game.
With how FOX’s Big Noon Saturday has pretty much eliminated any chance there will be any massive night games in Columbus anytime in the near future, as years go on, the game against Texas holds an even bigger place with me because it was exactly how college football should be. Two passionate fan bases are waiting all day to see their teams play in a game that goes a long way in determining how their season is going to look. With College Football Playoff expansion, conference realignment, and some of the television contracts, every year we stray even farther from the type of hype and atmosphere that we saw early in the 2005 season, ahead of the showdown between the Longhorns and Buckeyes
Matt’s answer: The 2006 game in Austin
Since Brett took the loss in 2005, I have to go with the win in the next season. Troy Smith took the No. 1 Buckeyes down to DKR to face the No. 2 Texas Longhorns, and the legendary OSU QB put on a show with some help from his friends on both sides of the ball. The eventual Heisman Trophy winner put up 269 yards through the air on 17-of-26 passing while connecting on two touchdown passes, one to future congressman Anthony Gonzalez and another to his high school teammate Ted Ginn Jr.
Early in the first quarter, UT was on the doorstep of getting on the scoreboard first, but Ohio State and NFL legend James Laurinaitis punched the ball free, leading to a turnover and a massive momentum swing. Smith would cap the first quarter off with the first of his two touchdowns, finding Gonzalez in the corner of the endzone to go up 7-0.
Thanks to a horrific roughing the passer penalty called on Ohio State, Colt McCoy was given second life in the red zone with time running out on the first half. The UT QB found Billy Pittman in practically the same spot as Ginn’s TD to tie the score at a touchdown apiece. But the Jim Tressel offense wasn’t going to go quietly into halftime.
With just 19 seconds remaining in the second quarter, Smith found Ginn running away from the Longhorn defense to go up 14-7, and the Buckeyes would not look back.
Coming out of the break, Laurinaitis picked off McCoy on the first drive of the third quarter, which led to an Aaron Pettrey 31-yard field goal to put OSU up two scores. That is where the score stood until 6:31 remaining in regulation, when Antonio Pittman powered across the goal line (barely) to put the final nail in Bevo’s coffin, putting the Buckeyes up 24-7.
Gonzalez finished the day with career highs in catches (8) and yards (142) while Ginn went for five and 97 respectively. Pittman chipped in 74 yards on the ground to help balance out the offense a bit.
But it was really the defense that came to play in Austin. McCoy only threw for 154 yards on 19-of-32 passing. And while Jamaal Charles and Selvin Young combined for 164 yards on the ground, neither found the end zone.
Now, nearly 19 years later, Laurinaitis will again be looking to help lead the Buckeye defense to a masterful performance against the Longhorns, only this time from the sideline. While this year’s matchup is No. 1 vs. No. 3 instead of 1-vs.-2, there is plenty to take from that matchup almost two decades ago. Ohio State had something to prove that season and they went down to Texas with a chip on their shoulder.
Now, it is UT coming to Columbus, and despite being the defending national champions and favored by 2.5 points, the national media seems to love the Longhorns and are dismissing the Buckeyes. Hopefully, a little history and a little bulletin board material will help achieve the same results as 19 years ago.
Check out the highlights for the 2006 Ohio State vs. Texas game (sorry they include Mark May and Lou Holtz):
