From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about hype. What are you most hyped about heading into the 2026-27 season? You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our ”Hype Week” articles here.
There are times when an Ohio State game hits harder than others. Obviously, the annual clash against Michigan in late November is a prime example because of the intensity of the rivalry. Games against Penn State had a lot of the same feels before the Nittany Lions decided nobody in the Big Ten was worthy of being their rival, meaning there would no longer be a yearly battle with the Buckeyes.
Memorable Ohio State games that almost make you lose your mind aren’t just limited to football. Once upon a time, the Buckeyes had a men’s basketball team that was a yearly threat to make the Final Four. Back in the 2007 NCAA Tournament, Ohio State survived an overtime thriller against Xavier on St. Patrick’s Day, and followed it up with a wild comeback against Tennessee. Women’s hockey has made a habit of making the title game, while other sports have, at times, caught the attention of Buckeye Nation.
Today, we want to know what is the most hyped you have been during an Ohio State game. When it comes to the football team, there are certainly plenty of options with three national title runs since the 2002 season. As if that wasn’t enough to choose from, there are a bunch of meaningful games with Michigan, including 2006 when they were the top-two ranked teams in the country entering The Game. Some Buckeye games make you forget about everything else going on in the world, which is tough to do in this day and age.
While they provide the most memorable games, your answer doesn’t have to be an Ohio State football game, since there are other Buckeye teams that have had games that have captivated fans.
Today’s question: Which Ohio State game have you been most hyped while watching?
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: 2025 Rose Bowl against Oregon
The 2024 regular season was a roller coaster. The loss at Oregon in the middle of the season was understandable, especially since it was only by a point. The loss to Michigan to close out the regular season was inexcusable, leaving doubt with many Ohio State fans that the team was a true national title contender with Ryan Day as head coach. Then the blowout of Tennessee at Ohio Stadium restored the confidence of Buckeye Nation.
Many people are going to remember Jack Sawyer’s scoop-and-score against Texas as the defining moment of the national title run, but for me, it was the destruction of Oregon in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. I was actually out at a sportsbook in Coos Bay, Oregon, for the first game between the Bucks and Ducks back in October, watching with my dad and his neighbor, who both live out in Oregon. Had it not been for the loss to Michigan, Ohio State and Oregon might have ended up meeting three times since they would have played in the Big Ten Championship Game, and then there would have been a possible playoff battle.
Since I’m now 40, going out to a bar on New Year’s Eve is of no interest to me. Going out to a bar on New Year’s Day to watch College Football Playoff games is a whole different story. I went to Ledo’s a bit before the Buckeye game was scheduled to kick off, since Ledo’s is my bar of choice these days. Not only is it not too far from my house, but I also play in the Thursday night dart league there. At least if things aren’t going my team’s way when I’m there watching games, I know I can get out some frustrations by throwing some sharp objects.
Luckily, I didn’t have to worry about repressing any anger since Ohio State came out of the gates firing, leaving little doubt after the first quarter, and by halftime, the victory was secured since the Buckeyes destroyed any hope the Ducks had. It was one of the most dominant performances I’ve ever seen from an Ohio State team. I got my revenge for having to watch the loss to the Ducks in the state of Oregon, as the Buckeyes eliminated Dan Lanning’s team.
I even ended up getting some Rose Bowl swag since my dad and his neighbor drove down to Pasadena for the game from southern Oregon. In a way, I felt a little bad that they made the trip to watch their team get destroyed, but at least they said otherwise, it was a good trip. I just know I have had so much fun watching an Ohio State game in quite a while, since we were certainly celebrating early and often at Ledo’s on the first day of 2025.
Matt’s answer: 2003 Fiesta Bowl against Miami
This one is easy. It was my senior year at Ohio State, and after enduring a decade-plus of my formative football-watching years bearing witness to the annual disappointments of the Cooper Era, I found myself at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, for the BCS National Championship Game between Jim Tressel’s undefeated Buckeyes and Larry Coker’s undefeated and reigning national champion Miami Hurricanes.
The season had been a wild ride for the Buckeye team and its fans. Seven of OSU’s 13 games (and six of the last seven) were decided by one score or less, including two overtime games, so while Ohio State fans are always confident, very few were exceptionally bullish on the team’s chances of taking down The U juggernaut and winning the program’s first national title in 34 years.
The emotions were wild in the desert that night. After the Canes opened the scoring late in the first quarter, the Buckeyes ripped off 17-straight points until Miami cut the Buckeye lead to 17-14 with 2:24 left in the third quarter.
In the middle of OSU’s 17-point run, Maurice Clarett executed what I still believe is the most consequential play in 21st-century Buckeye history, if not of all-time. After connecting on a 57-yard completion to Chris Gamble that took the Scarlet and Gray to Miami’s 6-yard line, Ohio State quarterback Craig Krenzel threw an interception to the late, great Sean Taylor, who then proceeded to return it to the 34-yard line. However, Mo C never gave up on the play and chased down the Canes’ safety and stripped — and then recovered — the ball, maintaining OSU’s drive.
The Buckeyes couldn’t get back in the end zone, but did kick a field goal to go up 17-7. In the handful of seconds between Taylor’s pick and the confusion that resulted in Clarett’s recovery, you could feel the wind coming out of OSU fans’ sails. The Buckeyes had flown close to the sun all season, tempting fate, and their opponent this time around was just too good to let them get away with it again.
However, the true freshman showed a grit and stubbornness that had defined the team all season. Had Clarett not forced that fumble, I feel confident that Miami would have marched down the field to tie the game at 14 and won the game, potentially going away. But that didn’t happen. Instead, in the second overtime, the Buckeyes rightly won the national title, thanks in very small part to one of the most universally agreed upon penalty calls in college football history.
Now, I don’t want to take the focus off the plays that were made by talking about penalties that were called (or ones that weren’t, but should have been and would have undoubtedly ended the game in regulation in OSU’s favor), but my lasting memory of that game revolves around the unimpingeably correct defensive pass interference call (although it probably should have been defensive holding) on Glenn Sharpe.
The play happened in the opposite endzone from where I was sitting, so my view of the action was limited. But when I saw the ball fall to the field, dejected and heartbroken, I fell to the stairs in the aisles by my seat. However, as the yellow flag was falling through the air, my friend — Ohio State women’s volleyball’s still-reigning all-time assist leader, Katie Virtue — pulled me back to my feet because the game, in fact, was not over.
The highs and lows of that handful of seconds were like no rollercoaster of emotions that I had ever felt in my life to that point, and have rarely even approached in the 23+ years since. Believing that all hope was lost and that dreams had died, only to be literally pulled up by a friend with the best news possible in that moment, is something that I will never forget.
The rest, as they say, is history, and I have pictures of the scoreboard and the ensuing celebration that I took with my Kodak disposable camera hanging in my living room to prove it. There have clearly been incredible moments and immensely hypeable games in the intervening decades, but for reasons both historic and personal, I don’t know that I will ever experience a sporting event that I was more hyped to watch than this one.
