Ohio State Buckeye national championship seasons

2002
Unanimous
14-0

The most prolific season in the history of Ohio State football, one full of huge plays and heart-pounding wins, came down to one final play in the Fiesta Bowl against defending national champion Miami. After whipping their loyal but title-starved fans into a frenzy with close call after close call this season, the Buckeyes left them in ecstasy by winning the school's first national title since 1968.

Ohio State prevailed 31-24 in double overtime when blitzing senior linebacker Cie Grant forced Miami quarterback Ken Dorsey to flip an errant pass on the final play. It made freshman tailback Maurice Clarett's 5-yard touchdown run moments earlier stand.

And it left pundits to ponder whether they had, in fact, just witnessed the greatest college football national championship game ever played.

"It's fair to say that last night was one for the ages,'' longtime Fiesta Bowl executive director John Junker, a native of Akron, said yesterday morning.

Sitting next to him, just 10 hours removed from the game, was OSU coach Jim Tressel.

"It was extraordinary, and I think it was good for college football,'' Tressel said. "It was a great game, great competition, and those teams, how hard they play is amazing -- both teams.''

In the end there was one winner. On tables to Tressel's left and right yesterday were the spoils of victory: the Circuit City ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll trophy, the Associated Press media poll trophy, the Grantland Rice Football Writers Association of America trophy, the McArthur Bowl and the towering, glittering Fiesta Bowl trophy.

It was almost too much to take in at once, though Tressel -- who won four NCAA Division I-AA national championships in 15 years at Youngstown State -- has had more experience than most. But he knew many of his OSU players will grapple with the thought for a while.

"I don't know that they will fully get it until more time passes,'' he said. "They were starting to get it. I can picture some of them out there saying, 'We're the national champions. We're the national champions. We did it. We did it.'

"You know, it will be something that will be very special the rest of their lives. I hope what they get from it is what it takes to be a champion.''

For the Buckeyes, the lesson learned was that teamwork, sacrifice, desire, tenacity and the belief that they were a team of destiny can amalgamate into something great. It all came together for a final time in front of a Sun Devil Stadium crowd of 77,502, the overwhelming majority of which was scarlet-clad OSU fans.

What they witnessed was a game of huge plays -- delivered primarily by OSU's defense -- and a defending national champion that refused to go quietly into the night.