1998 Ohio State Buckeyes football team

The 1998 Ohio State Buckeyes football team represented the Ohio State University in the 1998 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team's head football coach was John Cooper. The Buckeyes played their home games in Ohio Stadium. The team finished the season with a win-loss record of 11–1, and a Big Ten Conference record of 7–1. They were co-champions of the Big Ten Conference with the Wisconsin Badgers and the Michigan Wolverines and played in one of the premiere Bowl Championship Series bowl games, the 1999 Sugar Bowl.

1998 Ohio State Buckeyes football
Big Ten co-champion
Sugar Bowl champion
Sugar Bowl, W 24–14 vs. Texas A&M
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 2
APNo. 2
1998 record11–1 (7–1 Big Ten)
Head coachJohn Cooper (11th season)
Offensive coordinatorMike Jacobs (2nd season)
Defensive coordinatorFred Pagac (3rd season)
MVPJoe Germaine
Captains
Home stadiumOhio Stadium
(Capacity: 89,841)
1998 Big Ten Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
No. 2 Ohio State %+  7 –1     11 –1  
No. 6 Wisconsin $+  7 –1     11 –1  
No. 12 Michigan +  7 –1     10 –3  
No. 24 Purdue  6 –2     9 –4  
No. 17 Penn State  5 –3     9 –3  
Michigan State  4 –4     6 –6  
Minnesota  2 –6     5 –6  
Indiana  2 –6     4 –7  
Illinois  2 –6     3 –8  
Iowa  2 –6     3 –8  
Northwestern  0 –8     3 –9  
  • $ – BCS representative as conference champion
  • % – BCS at-large representative
  • + – Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll

Led by senior quarterback Joe Germaine, the Buckeyes were the preseason number one team and remained top-ranked throughout the majority of the season. The Buckeyes only loss came late in the season to the Michigan State Spartans. The team blew a 15-point lead late in the game to fall 28–24.

Because of the late loss, Ohio State was kept out of the National Championship Game, the 1999 Fiesta Bowl. Their regular season "miss" of not playing fellow tri-champion Wisconsin also cost the Bucks a trip to the 1999 Rose Bowl because Ohio State was the last to play in the Rose Bowl in 1997, Wisconsin last played in 1994.[1]

The Buckeyes beat Texas A&M in the Sugar Bowl to finish second in both polls behind the Tennessee Volunteers after their victory over Florida State in the Fiesta Bowl.[2]

Schedule
DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 58:00 p.m.at No. 11 West Virginia*No. 1
CBSW 34–1768,409[3]
September 1212:30 p.m.Toledo*No. 1
ESPNW 49–093,149[3]
September 193:30 p.m.No. 21 Missouri*No. 1
  • Ohio Stadium
  • Columbus, OH
ABCW 35–1493,269[3]
October 312:00 p.m.No. 7 Penn StateNo. 1
  • Ohio Stadium
  • Columbus, OH (rivalry) (College GameDay)
ABCW 28–993,479[3]
October 1012:00 p.m.at IllinoisNo. 1
ESPN+W 41–046,390[3]
October 1712:00 p.m.MinnesotaNo. 1
  • Ohio Stadium
  • Columbus, OH
ESPN+W 45–1593,138[3]
October 2412:00 p.m.at NorthwesternNo. 1
ESPN2W 36–1047,130[3]
October 313:30 p.m.at IndianaNo. 1
ABCW 38–752,049[3]
November 73:30 p.m.Michigan StateNo. 1
  • Ohio Stadium
  • Columbus, OH (rivalry)
ABCL 24–2893,595[3]
November 143:30 p.m.at IowaNo. 7
ABCW 45–1469,473[3]
November 2112:00 p.m.No. 11 MichiganNo. 7
ABCW 31–1694,339[3]
January 1, 19998:30 p.m.vs. No. 8 Texas A&M*No. 3
ABCW 24–1476,503[3]
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Eastern time

Game summaries

West Virginia
1 2 3 4 Total
Buckeyes 10 10 7 7 34
Mountaineers 3 7 0 7 17

Toledo
1 2 3 4 Total
Rockets 0 0 0 0 0
Buckeyes 21 21 7 0 49

Missouri
1 2 3 4 Total
Tigers 0 14 0 0 14
Buckeyes 7 6 8 14 35

Penn State
1 234Total
Penn St 0 360 9
• Ohio St 0 14140 28

Illinois
#1 Ohio St at Illinois
1 234Total
• Ohio St 10 14017 41
Illinois 0 000 0
  • Date: October 10
  • Location: Memorial Stadium, Champaign, IL
  • Game start: 12:00 p.m. EST
  • Game attendance: 46,390
  • Television network: ESPN
  • Joe Germaine 17/28, 307 Yds (third straight 300+ yard passing game – school record)

[4]

Minnesota
1 2 3 4 Total
Golden Gophers 3 10 0 2 15
Buckeyes 14 17 7 7 45

Northwestern
1 2 3 4 Total
Buckeyes 17 6 6 7 36
Wildcats 7 3 0 0 10

Indiana
1 2 3 4 Total
Buckeyes 14 7 7 10 38
Hooisers 0 7 0 0 7

Michigan State
1 2 3 4 Total
Spartans 3 6 9 10 28
Buckeyes 17 0 7 0 24

Iowa
1 2 3 4 Total
Buckeyes 14 14 7 10 45
Hawkeyes 7 7 0 0 14

Michigan
See also: 1998 Michigan Wolverines football team and Michigan–Ohio State football rivalry
Michigan Wolverines (8–2) at Ohio State Buckeyes (9–1)
1 2 34Total
Michigan 0 10 3316
Ohio St 14 7 10031

at Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

  • Date: November 21, 1998
  • Game time: 12:00 p.m.
  • Game weather: Cloudy, 38 °F (3 °C)
  • Game attendance: 94,339
  • Referee: Bill LeMonnier
  • TV: ABC
  • Box Score

Ohio State secured a share of its 28th Big Ten title as the fans stormed the field with less than 30 seconds to play. Joe Germaine completed 19-of-24 passes for 330 yards, his seventh career 300-yard game, and his favorite target was David Boston, who finished with 10 receptions for 217 yards, most ever by a Michigan opponent. Boston also broke his own single-season reception mark and moved past Cris Carter on the school's all-time yardage list.[5]

Texas A&M
1 2 3 4 Total
Aggies 7 0 7 0 14
Buckeyes 21 3 0 0 24
Main article: 1999 Sugar Bowl
See also: 1998 Texas A&M Aggies football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
3–0 1987 W 28–12

Coaching staff
  • John Cooper - Head Coach - 11th year
  • Bill Conley - Tight Ends, Recruiting Coordinator (12th year)
  • Jim Heacock - Defensive Tackles (3rd year)
  • Mike Jacobs - Offensive Coordinator, Offensive Line (4th year)
  • Fred Pagac - Defensive Coordinator, Linebackers (17th year)
  • Tim Salem - Quarterbacks (2nd year)
  • Shawn Simms - Defensive Ends (2nd year)
  • Tim Spencer - Running Backs (5th year)
  • Chuck Strobart - Wide Receivers (4th year)
  • Jon Tenuta - Defensive Backs (3rd year)

Depth chart

Q[6]

Rankings
See also: 1998 NCAA Division I-A football rankings
Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
Week
Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Final 
AP 1 (30) 1 (39) 1 (57) 1 (64) 1 (58) 1 (66) 1 (64) 1 (64) 1 (64) 1 (63) 7 7 5 5 3 2 
Coaches Poll 1 (31) 1 (38) 1 (52) 1 (53) 1 (45) 1 (54) 1 (59) 1 (58) 1 (55) 1 (54) 7 6 5 (1) 5 (1) 3 (1) 2 
BCS Not released 2 1 8 7 6 5 4 Not released

1999 NFL draftees
PlayerRoundPickPositionNFL Club
David Boston18Wide ReceiverArizona Cardinals
Antoine Winfield123Defensive BackBuffalo Bills
Andy Katzenmoyer128LinebackerNew England Patriots
Joe Montgomery249Running BackNew York Giants
Joe Germaine4101QuarterbackSt. Louis Rams
Damon Moore4128Defensive BackPhiladelphia Eagles
Brent Bartholomew6192PunterMiami Dolphins
Dee Miller6196Wide ReceiverGreen Bay Packers

References
  1. Thomaselli, Rich (1998). "Big Ten". The Sporting News. Retrieved June 12, 2008.
  2. "A Case for No. 1". CNN. January 9, 1999. Retrieved June 12, 2008.
  3. Park, Jack (2003). The Official Ohio State Football Encyclopedia. Champaign, IL: Sports Publishing LLC. ISBN 1-58261-695-7.
  4. USA Today. Retrieved 2014-Sep-02.
  5. "Michigan vs. Ohio State". USA Today. November 21, 1998.
  6. 1986 Ohio State Football Media Guide
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