Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years: 97. Ohio
Only in Ohio
Only in Ohio. Ohio first formed a team back in 1892, part of the 4-team Athletic League of Ohio Colleges, with Otterbein College, Wittenberg University, and Marietta College. Fast forward to the present day, those schools play in Division III, and Ohio has more students enrolled than all of them combined.
Best Seasons and Highlights
+------+------+------+--------------+--------+
| rank | team | year | resume score | record |
+------+------+------+--------------+--------+
| 39 | Ohio | 2017 | 6.828 | 9-4 |
| 39 | Ohio | 2018 | 5.712 | 9-4 |
| 40 | Ohio | 2011 | 4.153 | 10-4 |
| 35 | Ohio | 1997 | 3.543 | 8-3 |
| 50 | Ohio | 2012 | 2.203 | 9-4 |
| 47 | Ohio | 2020 | 1.235 | 2-1 |
| 40 | Ohio | 2000 | 1.094 | 7-4 |
| 50 | Ohio | 2022 | 0.021 | 10-4 |
| 59 | Ohio | 2009 | -3.645 | 9-5 |
| 57 | Ohio | 2010 | -5.283 | 8-5 |
| 60 | Ohio | 2015 | -5.758 | 8-5 |
| 57 | Ohio | 2006 | -6.21 | 9-5 |
| 64 | Ohio | 2016 | -8.911 | 8-6 |
| 61 | Ohio | 2019 | -9.382 | 7-6 |
| 80 | Ohio | 2013 | -15.314 | 7-6 |
| 64 | Ohio | 1998 | -16.383 | 5-6 |
| 63 | Ohio | 1996 | -17.124 | 6-6 |
| 76 | Ohio | 2007 | -18.093 | 6-6 |
| 73 | Ohio | 1999 | -18.397 | 5-6 |
| 88 | Ohio | 2014 | -20.853 | 6-6 |
| 77 | Ohio | 1988 | -25.642 | 4-6-1 |
| 83 | Ohio | 1984 | -28.916 | 4-6-1 |
| 83 | Ohio | 1983 | -30.931 | 4-7 |
| 98 | Ohio | 2008 | -31.769 | 4-8 |
| 86 | Ohio | 1993 | -32.579 | 4-7 |
| 91 | Ohio | 2004 | -33.428 | 4-7 |
| 99 | Ohio | 2005 | -34.075 | 4-7 |
| 93 | Ohio | 2002 | -38.032 | 4-8 |
| 112 | Ohio | 2021 | -42.044 | 3-9 |
| 96 | Ohio | 1995 | -43.487 | 2-8-1 |
| 94 | Ohio | 1991 | -44.537 | 2-8-1 |
| 100 | Ohio | 1985 | -49.82 | 2-9 |
| 109 | Ohio | 2003 | -51.738 | 2-10 |
| 100 | Ohio | 1989 | -54.314 | 1-9-1 |
| 111 | Ohio | 2001 | -55.726 | 1-10 |
| 104 | Ohio | 1992 | -56.608 | 1-10 |
| 101 | Ohio | 1990 | -57.59 | 1-9-1 |
| 103 | Ohio | 1986 | -59.628 | 1-10 |
| 102 | Ohio | 1987 | -59.92 | 1-10 |
| 107 | Ohio | 1994 | -69.102 | 0-11 |
+------+------+------+--------------+--------+
Overall Score: 5692 (97th)197-265-6 record
0 conference titles
6-6 bowl record
0 consensus All-Americans
10 NFL players drafted
Ah yes, the famous 2-1 2020 season is Ohio’s 6th best team. All jokes aside, this program has certainly gotten better with age. 14 of the top 15 seasons have come since 2000, mostly falling under former Nebraska coach Frank Solich’s tenure. While Ohio’s been a very good MAC team—they haven’t been able to win the big one. Just 0-5 in MAC championship games, they lost in 2006, 2009, 2011, 2016, and 2022. And while Ohio has had some great teams in the last 4 decades, their pinnacle was in 1968, going 10-1 with a #20 final ranking.
Top 5 Seasons
Worst Season: 1994 (0-11 overall, 0-9 MAC)
Well, this is the worst offense we’ve seen in this series. Ohio ranked last in the nation with just 7.5 PPG. Their season high in points scored was 16 in a loss to Pitt, they were held to 10 points or less 8 times, and were shut out 3 times. The saddest part is, the defense was good! They gave up just 23.5 PPG, 52nd best in the nation, which is magnitudes more impressive when you consider how little rest they must’ve gotten with the offense’s production. The season included a 0-5 loss to Utah State, which I don’t know if there’s highlights of, but if the Sickos Committee wants to dive in and try to find it, that could be a fun one to check out. The QBs completed 41% for 1182 yards 6 TD 16 INT on the year, and nobody on the team ran for higher than 3.7 YPC. This was the worst team in the nation in 1994.
5. 2012 (9-4 overall, 4-4 MAC)
Heading into 2012, Ohio was on the up, coming off a 10-4 season and MAC Championship appearance. The season opened in Penn State, who was in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal and was about to play their first season without Joe Paterno since 1965. Ohio pulled off the nationally televised upset 24-14, and while many thought Penn State was going to be close to 0-12 for the year, they ended up going 8-4, and the win ended up being even more impressive than originally thought. A 7-0 start prompted President Barack Obama to visit the campus and remark "I hear you Bobcats have quite an exciting football team and they are fun to watch...undefeated this year!" Unfortunately the Obama Care ended up being a curse, and they would go just 1-4 the rest of the way. A 45-14 win over UL Monroe’s best team in the last 40 years softened the blow. Beau Blankenship was the best white RB since Peyton Hillis, rushing for 1604 yards and 15 TD on 5.1 YPC. QB Tyler Tettleton was in the middle of a record-setting career, throwing for 2844 yards 18 TD to just 4 INT.
4. 1997 (8-3 overall, 6-2 MAC)
Before Jim Grobe was Wake Forest’s coach from 2001-13, he was hired at Ohio in 1995 to turn the program around. That he did, taking them from 2-8-1 in his first season to 8-3 by his third. The coaching staff was loaded—current Air Force coach Troy Calhoun ran the offense, and future Fresno State coach Tim DeRuyter ran the defense. Calhoun was in his first year as OC, and implemented his famous triple option. Ohio as a team completed just 25%(!!!) of passes for 411 yards 3 TD 2 INT! That’s 37.4 passing YPG compared to 301.9 rushing YPG. QB Kareem Wilson led with 834 rushing yards and 12 TD, while RB Steve Hookfin ran for 864, Riz Buckman for 569, Ewane Nanji for 357, and John Cosgrove for 307. A tremendous 8-1 start to the season included a win over Maryland and just a 20-23 loss to #20 Kansas State. In position to make the MAC title game, they’d fall to Miami (OH), and to a Marshall team that featured Chad Pennington throwing to Randy Moss. Despite Marshall’s crazy offense that year, it was defense which beat Ohio’s triple option 27-0. No bowl for this team despite their 8-3 record. QB Kareem Wilson would go on to rush 885 times for 3597 yards in his career, which to this day is the record for most carries by a QB in a career. Hookfin would set the Ohio career rushing record with 3972 yards.
3. 2011 (10-4 overall, 6-2 MAC)
Picked 2nd in the MAC East to begin the year, Solich looked to win his first conference title at Ohio after previously failing twice. A 4-3 (1-2 MAC) start looked bleak, with the losses coming to eventual 3-9 Buffalo and eventual 6-6 Ball State, and the toughest games were yet to come. A matchup of 5-3 Ohio and 5-3 Temple determined who’d take control of the East, as Temple was coming off back-to-back 9-4 and 8-4 years, and had one of the best defenses in the country under Steve Addazio. Ohio didn’t care, and a few players had the games of their lives. RB Donte Harden had 20 carries for 184 yards and 1 TD, and 2 catches for 75 yards and 1 TD. Tyler Tettleton had 3 TD 0 INT, and WR Lavon Brazill had 7 catches for 165 yards. Brazill and Harden made up 85% of Ohio’s receiving yards that game! After that, Ohio won out against an easy schedule to face 9-3 Northern Illinois in the MAC Championship. After taking a 20-0 lead into halftime, Ohio choked away the game to lose 23-20 on a 33 yard FG with no time left. As great as Solich was, he seemed to never be able to win these big games. On the bright side—Ohio beat Utah State 24-23 in the bowl on a last second TD, to win their first bowl game ever! They’ve since won 5 more, so it was only a matter of getting over the hump. Tettleton had his best season throwing for 3306 yards 28 TD 10 INT and rushing for 666 yards and 10 TD. Brazill had 1150 receiving yards and 12 TD, and was drafted in the 6th round of the 2012 NFL Draft.
2. 2018 (9-4 overall, 6-2 MAC)
This was the best offense in the Solich era, averaging 40.1 PPG (12th in the nation). Led by a triple threat rushing attack of QB Nathan Rourke and RBs AJ Ouellette and Maleek Irons, they averaged 6.1 YPC as a team, ranking 5th in the nation. After a 3-3 start, Ohio won 6 of their last 7 to finish 9-4. The 2018 edition has a strong case as Ohio’s best team due to the quality and margin of their losses: 31-45 to 8-5 Virginia, 30-34 to #24 Cincinnati, 21-24 to MAC Chamipon Northern Illinois, and 28-30 to 6-2 MAC record Miami (OH). For wins, Ohio racked up victories like 59-14 over 7-6 Western Michigan, 52-17 over 10-4 Buffalo, and 27-0 over 7-6 San Diego State, along with 3 other wins by 21+ points. Rourke, who was born in Canada, threw for 2434 yards 23 TD 8 INT with 860 rushing yards and 15 TD on 6.4 YPC, winning his 2nd straight Jon Cornish Trophy given to the top Canadian player in NCAA football. Ouellette was 1st Team All-MAC with 1518 yards and 14 TD from scrimmage on 6.5 yards per touch, and Irons, who’s also from Canada, was a quality backup with 831 rushing yards and 8 TD on 6.6 YPC. All 3 would go on to play in the Canadian Football League with Ouellette winning the 2022 Grey Cup, Rourke winning the 2022 Most Outstanding Canadian award, and Irons playing for 4 years with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Back to Ohio, 2 offensive linemen were 1st Team All-MAC for 2018 and WR Papi White was 1st Team as well with 1011 yards and 10 TD from scrimmage.
1. 2017 (9-4 overall, 5-3 MAC)
But the year before had a slightly better resume. It was the same coaching staff next season as well, but it’s worth noting that while Solich was in his 13th season with Ohio, his offensive coordinator Tim Albin was in his 13th as well, and defensive coordinator Jim Burrow in his 13th too! Burrow is Joe’s dad, and timed his retirement in 2019 to attend Joe’s LSU games. Ohio jumped out to an 8-2 record (5-1 MAC) to set up a match with 5-5 (4-2 MAC) Akron for the division lead. In a scoring marathon, Akron outlasted Ohio 37-34 to hold the tiebreaker with 1 week to go. Ohio still had a chance to make the title game if they won and Akron lost, but the opposite of both things happened, with Akron winning and Ohio falling 24-31 to Buffalo. They managed to end the season on a high with a 41-6 demolishing of 8-4 UAB in the Bahamas Bowl, which if you’ve never heard the story about that game, go do yourself a favor and read about it this instant. Ohio had a dominant rushing attack like 2018, averaging 39.1 PPG with Ouelette, Rourke, and backup RB Dorian Brown all going for 750+ yards. Rourke had his best rushing season with 907 yards and 21 TD on 6.6 YPC. Senior LB Quentin Poling finished 1st Team All-MAC for the 2nd straight year with 106 tackles and 12 total TFL, and was drafted in the 7th round by the Miami Dolphins in the NFL Draft. Overall, Ohio led the conference in All-MAC selections with 12 total.
5th Quarter
So many great years under Solich, yet could never quite finish the job and win a MAC title. Who are the top 3 players from the Solich era? Plenty to choose from with players like Ouellette, Rourke, Tettleton, and anyone else I forgot to mention.
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