Ohio State Heisman #4 & #5 – Archie Griffin – 1974 & 1975

Considered one of the greatest college football players only. Archie has been a symbol of dignity and class for the Ohio State University for over 35 years. He is by far one of the most recognizable faces in Columbus and will always be one of the favorite players in the history of the university.

• The ONLY college football player to win 2 Heisman Trophies.
• Eastmoor High School, where he went to school, renamed their football field in his honor.
• Won 4 Big Ten titles.
• Only player to start 4 Rose Bowl games.
• Fumbled on his 1st carry at OSU.
• Holds the NCAA record for most 100 yard games in a career (34).
• Holds the NCAA record for consecutive 100 yard games (31).
• Inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame in 1986
• Was ranked #21 on ESPN’s top 25 College Football Players of All Time List in 2007.
• Andy Katzenmoyer received special approval from Archie to wear #45 while at OSU, because Archie was his idol while growing up.
• Was drafted in the 1st round by the Cincinnati Bengals in 1976.
• Played briefly in the USFL as well.
• Is now President of The Ohio State University Alumni Association.

Archie’s Career Collegiate Statistics:

Year	Att	Yds	Avg
1972	159	1,428	8.9
1973	247	1,577	6.4
1974	256	1,695	6.6
1975	262	1,450	5.5

Here is the Heisman Voting for 1974

Place	Name	School	Class	Pos.	1	2	3	Total
1st	Archie Griffin	Ohio State	Jr.	RB	483	198	75	1,920
2nd	Anthony Davis	Southern California	Sr.	TB	120	148	163	819
3rd	Joe Washington	Oklahoma	Jr.	HB	87	146	108	661
4th	Tom Clements	Notre Dame	Sr.	QB	26	49	68	244
5th	David Humm	Nebraska	Sr.	QB	23	46	49	210
6th	Dennis Franklin	Michigan	Sr.	DE	6	30	22	100
7th	Rod Shoate	Oklahoma	Sr.	LB	12	16	29	97
8th	Gary Sheide	Brigham Young	Sr.	QB	12	19	16	90
9th	Randy White	Maryland	Sr.	DT	9	20	18	85
10th	Steve Bartkowski	California	Sr.	QB	6	13	30	74

Here is the Heisman Voting for 1975:

Place	Name	School	Class	Pos.	1	2	3	Total
1st	Archie Griffin	Ohio State	Sr.	RB	454	167	104	1,800
2nd	Chuck Muncie	California	Sr.	TB	145	104	87	730
3rd	Ricky Bell	Southern California	Jr.	TB	70	169	160	708
4th	Tony Dorsett	Pittsburgh	Jr.	RB	66	149	120	616
5th	Joe Washington	Oklahoma	Sr.	HB	29	47	69	250
6th	Jimmy Dubose	Florida	Sr.	RB	19	13	29	112
7th	John Sciarra	UCLA	Sr.	QB	12	15	20	86
8th	Gordon Bell	Michigan	Sr.	TB	2	27	24	84
9th	Leroy Selmon	Oklahoma	Sr.	DT	7	22	14	79
10th	Gene Swick	Toledo	Sr.	QB	5	19	20	73

Buckeye Leaf Helmet Stickers – How do the player’s get them?

Ok, here it is, a labor of love. This list took me about 8 hours to compile and put in a usable format. But, I think it will be an informative and entertaining resource.

The Buckeye Leaf sticker awards history has been detailed here : Buckeye Leaf

People still mistakenly call them just Buckeyes when in all actuality they are Buckeye leaves. The team uses black color leaves not green as they are commonly mistaken for.

Most of the head coaches have used their own system for determining how the players are awarded stickers. Tressel’s list is detailed below. I am not sure how Earle Bruce and John Cooper handed them out. But Woody’s stickers sure filled the helmet up a lot quicker then todays version:

The sticker awards is one of the most recognizable distinguishing marks separating the Buckeyes from all other teams. Other teams have tried to copy the helmet awards

but lets be honest, the Buckeyes have a one of kind tradition that isn’t going to work for any other team. Here is an ESPN article on just how ‘icon-ic’ this Buckeye tradition is ESPN Helmet Awards

Below is Tressel’s award criteria list. If you click on the picture it will bring up a larger more readable version of this list. Enjoy!

OSU Tradition 103 – Buckeye Grove

Founded in 1934, Buckeye Grove is in honor of all the first team All-Americans. Each player that has won that honor recieves a Buckeye tree planted in the grove in their honor which includes a plaque along the walking path, with their name and honorary winning year.

The grove was originally located on the east side of the stadium, but was moved to the rear corner as part of the expansion renovation in 2001. There are over 125 players in the grove. Each year that there are new players they are added during a pre-game ceremony prior to to the annual spring game.

Here is a list of all of

Ohio State’s 1st Team All Americans:

1914 Boyd Cherry
1916 Chic Harley
Robert Karch
1917 Charles Bolen
Harold Courtney
Chic Harley
Kelley VanDyne
1918 Clarence MacDonald
1919 Chic Harley
Gaylord Stinchcomb
1920 Iolas Huffman
Gaylord Stinchcomb
1921 Iolas Huffman
Cyril Myers
1923 Harry Workman
1924 Harold Cunningham
1925 Edwin Hess
1926 Edwin Hess
Martin Karow
Leo Raskowski
1927 Leo Raskowski
1928 Wesley Fesler
1929 Wesley Fesler
1930 Wesley Fesler
Lew Hinchman
1931 Carl Cramer
Lew Hinchman
1932 Joseph Gailus
Sid Gillman
Lew Hinchman
Ted Rosequist
1933 Joseph Gailus
1934 Regis Monahan
Merle Wendt
1935 Gomer Jones
Merle Wendt
1936 Charles Hamrick
Inwood Smith
Merle Wendt
1937 Carl Kaplanoff
Jim McDonald
Ralph Wolf
Gust Zarnas
1939 Vic Marino
Esco Sarkkinen
Donald Scott
1940 Donald Scott
1942 Robert Shaw
Charles Csuri
Lindell Houston
Paul Sarringhaus
Gene Fekete
1943 Bill Willis
1944 Les Horvath
Jack Dugger
Bill Willis
William Hackett
1945 Warren Amling
Ollie Cline
Russell Thomas
1946 Warren Amling
Cecil Souders
1950 Victor Janowicz
Robert Momsen
Robert McCullough
1952 Mike Takacs
1954 Dean Dugger
Howard Cassady
Jim Reichenbach
1955 Howard Cassady
Jim Parker
1956 Jim Parker
1957 Aurealius Thomas
1958 James Houston
Jim Marshall
Bob White
1959 Jim Houston
1960 Bob Ferguson
1961 Bob Ferguson
1964 Jim Davidson
Ike Kelley
Arnie Chonko
1965 Douglas Van Horn
Ike Kelley
1966 Ray Pryor
1968 David Foley
Rufus Mayes
1969 Jim Stillwagon
Rex Kern
Jim Otis
Ted Provost
Jack Tatum
1970 Jim Stillwagon
John Brockington
Jack Tatum
Mike Sensibaugh
Tim Anderson
Jan White
1971 Tom DeLeone
1972 John Hicks
Randy Gradishar
1973 John Hicks
Randy Gradishar
Archie Griffin
Van Ness DeCree
1974 Archie Griffin
Van Ness DeCree
Kurt Schumacher
Pete Cusick
Steve Myers
Neal Colzie
Tom Skladany
1975 Archie Griffin
Ted Smith
Tim Fox
Tom Skladany
1976 Bob Brudzinski
Chris Ward
Tom Skladany
1977 Chris Ward
Aaron Brown
Tom Cousineau
Ray Griffin
1978 Tom Cousineau
1979 Ken Fritz
Art Schlichter
1982 Marcus Marek
1984 James Lachey
Keith Byars
1985 Thomas Johnson
1986 Cris Carter
Chris Spielman
1987 Chris Spielman
Tom Tupa
1988 Jeff Uhlenhake
1991 Steve Tovar
1992 Steve Tovar
1993 Korey Stringer
Dan Wilkinson
1994 Korey Stringer
1995 Eddie George
Terry Glenn
Orlando Pace
Mike Vrabel
1996 Orlando Pace
Shawn Springs
Mike Vrabel
1997 Andy Katzenmoyer
Rob Murphy
Antoine Winfield
1998 David Boston
Damon Moore
Rob Murphy
Antoine Winfield
1999 Na’il Diggs
2000 Mike Doss
2001 LeCharles Bentley
Mike Doss
2002 Mike Doss
Andy Groom
Mike Nugent
Matt Wilhelm
2003 Will Allen
Will Smith
2004 A.J. Hawk
Mike Nugent
Ted Ginn Jr.
2005 A.J. Hawk
2006 Troy Smith
Quinn Pitcock
James Laurinaitis
2007
James Laurinaitis

The Man Crush Continues….

Is there an echo in here?? The national media sees it to, lookie:

Birth of the cool

By Matt Hinton

Ohio State 20, Wisconsin 17. Make no mistake: Ohio State is still Beanie Wells’ team. There’s no way to calculate what No. 28’s presence would have meant in the Coliseum last month, if anything, but for a clue, see what it meant tonight in the Buckeyes’ most critical Big Ten game of the season: Wells ran 22 times for 168 yards, turned in by far the biggest play of the game on an early 54-yard touchdown and paced Ohio State as expected. There was no hint of the foot injury, and OSU’s not back in the Big Ten race without him or the defense.

When it came down to the clutch, though, 6:30 left and suddenly down four, the Buckeyes turned not to their Herculean star but a true freshman on his first road start, and Terrelle Pryor was the Ice Man with the game on the line. Or at least the Ice Kid: he hit Brian Hartline for 19 yards to convert a critical third down, then for 27 yards from a 2nd-and-15 hole, and looped in a prayer to Ray Small for another big gain on another second-and-long. He converted the subsequent 3rd-and-1 himself, then galloped into the end zone for the winning touchdown, no sweat. Pryor handled the ball on eight of twelve plays on the winning drive, accounted for 68 yards and looked like he didn’t think twice about it. He’s supposed to be the next Vince Young, but it took Young almost three full years to look as composed as Pryor did in a critical game, on the road. If nothing else, he goes from here as a fully for-real quarterback, and not some desperate novelty who’s just good at running around out of the shotgun — not that there’s anything wrong with that, in a pinch. It did provide the winning points.

Wisconsin is 0-2 in the Big Ten, and it’s the heartbreaking kind of 0-2, the we’re-right-there 0-2 that eliminates you from consideration for anything serious even though the two losses together only proved that the Badgers are nearly identically as good as Michigan and Ohio State. Only without the ambition for the rest of the season. I’m sure the Outback Bowl or whatever they’re calling the Citrus Bowl these days will be glad to welcome back their northern neighbors, for the fifth year in a row.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Birth-of-the-cool?urn=ncaaf,112640

We all had it wrong….

TP is our leading Heisman candidate. Wait, slow down…I am not referring to this season. Remember 5 weeks ago when we all thought Beanie was gonna win the Heisman this season and all Buckeyes were planning their trips to the National Championship? What we didn’t know was (1)Boeckman was going to regress this year (2) our O-Line was like a collander (3)TP was such a stud as a Frosh! Hey don’t get me wrong, he is making mistakes, missing throws and holding the ball too long. But these mistakes aren’t the Boeckman kind. If ol’ #17 would have been put in that situation at the end of the game, we would have lost. A OSU fan with any sense can see the glimpses of what is to come. This guy is freaking amazing…..and he has no idea what the hell he is doing yet. The offense is being run at such a simple level right now. Can you image what this is going to be like once he figures college football out? Let me end this brief post on one high note tonight: Wisconsin’s 16 game home winning streak is over because of US!!!!!!!!

Terrelle & Beanie?????

Looks like Wells is a go this week. The team could be on the verge of an unstoppable offense:

Ohio State RB Wells probable for Minnesota

By RUSTY MILLER, AP Sports Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)—Tailback Chris “Beanie” Wells is likely to return for No. 14 Ohio State against Minnesota on Saturday.

“It adds to our arsenal,” coach Jim Tressel said Tuesday, shortly after announcing that Wells was probable for Saturday’s game.

Wells has been out of action since injuring his right foot early in the second half of the opening victory over Youngstown State. Dan Herron has been the tailback in victories over Ohio and Troy and a lopsided defeat at top-ranked Southern California.

Ohio State could use the boost. Even though freshman Terrelle Pryor threw four touchdown passes last week in his debut as a starter against Troy, the offense has been erratic since Wells left.

His teammates were happy to see him doing all the drills at Tuesday night’s practice.

Asked how Wells looked, offensive lineman Alex Boone said, “Fast. Very fast. He was running all over the place. He looked physical and fast. He looked like nothing had happened to him.”

Against Troy, the Buckeyes led just 14-10 heading into the fourth quarter before punts downed deep inside the 20 helped Ohio State set up two short touchdown drives to pull away 28-10.

Pryor gives the Buckeyes a mobile quarterback who can avoid a collapsing pocket and transform a potential loss into a gain. He escaped from severe pressure on several occasions to frustrate Troy defenders and perpetuate drives.

The Buckeyes also experimented up front with several other fresh faces on the offensive line. Jim Cordle, who had started the past 16 games at center, moved to left guard to fill in for the injured Steve Rehring. Another true freshman, Mike Brewster, then took Cordle’s spot.

Brewster wasn’t the only youngster in the rotation up front. True freshman J.B. Shugarts and sophomore Andrew Miller also saw action.

Suddenly, the huddle that Wells returns to doesn’t bear much resemblance to the one he left.

Todd Boeckman, the fifth-year senior who led the Buckeyes to a second consecutive outright Big Ten title and the national championship game a year ago, played just two plays against Troy and is now cemented to the bench as a backup to Pryor.

With Pryor on the field at the same time as Wells, who rushed for 1,600 yards a year ago, defenses will be in a quandary.

“Who are they going to defend?” Cordle said.

Asked what it would be like for a defense to face both Pryor and Wells, safety Kurt Coleman just shook his head.

“Scary,” he said. “Scary.”

Tressel said Pryor did not handle himself like a 19-year-old kid who had yet to attend his first college class.

“He knows where everyone is,” Tressel said. “He’s got a great ability to keep his head up, a calmness about him.”

The presence of Wells—if indeed he is healthy and ready to play—should take some of the pressure off the young quarterback.

“Yesterday in practice (Wells) was running up my back and he was saying, ‘Let’s go!”’ Cordle said with a laugh. “He almost ran me over on one play. He’s ready to go. You can see how bad he wants to play.”

Just two years ago, Tressel reined in quarterback Troy Smith so he wouldn’t run so much, increasing the chances he would get through the season without being injured. That approach worked wonders. Smith almost never missed a snap while leading to the Buckeyes to a perfect regular season and winning the Heisman Trophy.

Reminded of that on Tuesday, Tressel was asked how he would try to preserve Pryor throughout this season.

“Hand it to the tailback more,” he said.

With Wells now back in the fold, that’ll be a popular alternative.

Ohio State Heisman #3 – Howard ‘Hopalong’ Cassady – 1955

Howard ‘Hopalong’ Cassady was the 3rd Ohio State player to win the Heisman Trophy.

 

• Was nick named ‘Hopalong’ during his freshman year because he ‘hopped’ all over the field like the fictional performing cowboy, Hopalong Cassidy. 
• Attended Central High School in Columbus.
• Also played defensive back at Ohio State.
• Returned an 88 yard interception in the 1954 Wisconsin game, one of the wins in a 10-0 National Championship season.
• Played baseball at Ohio State.
• Was the #3 pick in the 1956 NFL Draft.
• Played 9 seasons in the NFL.
• Was a scout for the Yankees.
• Was 1st base & bench coach for the Columbus Clippers for a number of years.

OSU Tradition 102 – The Skull Session

The Skull Session is a huge part of the game day experience on the Ohio State University Campus. It is an event that involves the team, the band and the fans. Fans pack St John’s arena every game day about 2 hours before the game. The band plays the fight songs getting the crowd hyped up. Coach will speak essentially giving a pep talk to the team and fans. And then as the players leave the arena they being the walk to the stadium to get ready for the game.

• Started as the band’s warm-up routine.
• Rounghly attended by average of 10,000 fans.
• Coach Tressel began the tradition of bringing the team to the Skull Session in 2001.
• Coach Tressel and a senior will speak to the crown at each Skull Session
• At the conclusion, the team walks to the stadium and down the ramp, onto the locker room to being that game’s preperation.

The Terrelle Pryor era begins…………NOW!

“I think Coach Tressel is the best coach ever”

And with that the era of the true freshman quarterback begins in Columbus. Things are looking up!:

Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Acclaimed freshman Terrelle Pryor tossed four touchdown passes to lead sluggish No. 13 Ohio State to a 28-10 victory over Troy on Saturday.

In the wake of an ugly 35-3 defeat at top-ranked Southern California, Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel had said that the nation’s top quarterback recruit last spring and fifth-year senior Todd Boeckman would split the job 50-50 against the Trojans (2-1).

But Pryor started and played all but two snaps until the game was decided — and a less-than-capacity crowd loudly booed Boeckman when he threw a first-half incompletion on one of those.

Pryor’s touchdown passes covered 39 and 16 yards to Brian Hartline, 13 yards to Rory Nichol and 38 yards to Brian Robiskie. The 6-foot-6 standout from Jeannette, Pa., who won’t attend his first college class until next week, completed 10 of 16 passes for 139 yards with one interception. He also ran 14 times for 66 yards.

Still, the Buckeyes (3-1) led just 14-10 heading into the fourth quarter, at which point Troy had more first downs and total yards.

Pryor became the first true freshman to start at quarterback for Ohio State since Art Schlichter in 1978.

Ohio State turned two punts from the Troy end zone in the fourth quarter into short touchdown drives.