Big 10 Football Tour

We shouldn't kid ourselves.  No one expected this to be much of a game.  Iowa was without its starting quarterback, its starting running back, starting guard, etc.  The Buckeyes were 14 point favorites heading into this game. 

I made it to my seat in time for the coinflip and subsequently the kickoff of the game.  Little did I know that this would be one of the best college football games I've ever been a part of...

Being that my camera is pretty much on the low end of cameras, I tried to move abou the stadium and get some angles of the field and some of the more notable things in Ohio Stadium.  One such thing was the Woody Hayes sign at the south corner of the stadium. 

The sign reads "Ohio State Head Coach 1951-1978."  More importantly, it reads "13 Big Ten Titles / 5 National Championships."

If you get to some of the higher elevation points of the stadium and look towards the south end at the scoreboard, you can see the Columbus skyline in the distance.

The first quarter didn't produce any fireworks and it seemed that the crowd was on the edge of their seats waiting for the Buckeyes to quickly run up a lead.  The wait would be longer than expected as Iowa struck first, with Daniel Murray kicking a 32 yard field goal.  Iowa freshman quarterback James Vanderberg seemed to be holding his own early on.  Turns out that his first college start would be the Big 10 Championship Game, filling in for Ricky Stanzi, who was injured the previous week against the Northwestern Wildcats.

Five minutes into the second quarter, Ohio State kicker Devin Barclay would tie the game at three with a 30 yard field goal.  Approximately five minutes later, Brandon Saine would move closer to his pursuit of 103 rushing yards with a 22 yard touchdown yard.  The Buckeyes were now up 10-3 and the crowd was once again starting to make some serious noise.

As the half concluded at the score of 10-3, I headed down to the sidelines.  I looked up to the student section and it was a rather intimidating sight.  Some of the students started yelling down towards my direction and I realized that the Iowa players were beginning to return to the field.  Check out the video below.

I headed back up to my seat in the pressbox for the second half.  The use of the scoreboard to excite the fans was clearly evident in the 2nd half as there were all sorts of images to get the Ohio State faithful to make some noise.

The third quarter began rather slowly and didn't get exciting until Marvin McNutt caught a 9 yard pass from Vandenberg with 3:31 left to play.  The score now tied at 10 heading into the fourth quarter, everyone believed that Iowa was here to play. 

The fourth quarter began after the playing of "Hang on Sloopy" which I feel as if I heard 35 times during this day.

I looked up and saw all of the retired numbers of Ohio Stadium.  They included: 45 Archie Griffin, 31 Vic Janowicz, 40 Howard Cassady, 22 Les Horvath, 27 Eddie George, 99 Bill Willis, & 47 Charles Harley.

The Buckeyes began the 4th quarter with a 79 yard drive, capping it with an 11 yard touchdown run by Daniel Herron. 

After Vandenberg threw his 2nd interception of the day, it took all of one play for Brandon Saine to take it 49 yards for his second touchdown of the day.  Now a 24-10, it seemed that Ohio State had taken control of the game.  I decided to head down to field level again to get a few more shots in before the game was over.  As I exited the elevator however, I heard some faint crowd noise to which I found was Derrell Johnson-Koulianos taking a kick return 99 yards for a touchdown.

Iowa had gotten the ball back after Devin Barclay missed a 47 yard field goal and I was now standing on the 10 yard line (Ohio State side).  Suddenly Vandenberg threw another interception to Brian Rolle, who ran it back for a touchdown.  The interception was called back however as an Ohio State player was offsides.

Vandenberg made the most of this next opportunity as he threw a pass into the endzone where McNutt made a spectacular catch to tie the game at 24.  As you can see from the photo directly below, I was standing approximately 10 feet from this catch and it will go down as one of my most memorable sports moments of all time.

Both teams really stumbled on offense as the 4th quarter wound down, seemingly both had intentions for overtime.  The crowd wasn't too pleased with the efforts of both sides and the "boos" echoed throughout the stadium.

In overtime, Iowa would have the first possession.  The first pass was ruled incomplete and the Ohio State defense caused a loss of 6 yards and a loss of 10 yards on the next two.  Now out of field goal range, the Hawkeyes were forced with a desperation play.  A heave to the endzone was intercepted and Ohio State would get their turn. 

The Buckeyes attempted 3 straight runs up the middle.  All three resulted in small gains, but it seemed that the Buckeyes were only edging closer to attempt the field goal that could win the game.

As you can see in the video that I posted on the Ohio State main page, the walk-on, former professional soccer player, 26 year old Devin Barclay kicked 39 yard field goal to win the Big 10 Championship and secure the Rose Bowl bid for the Buckeyes for the first time in 13 years.

As the kick went through the uprights, I charged the field with the players and media!  I saw reporters grabbing the coaching and players in requesting a few words.  I saw players congratulating one another in good sportsmanship fashion.  Then, I saw the students... faces painted, yelling, screaming, high-fives, hugs, everything. 

Everyone was holding roses in the air (the local florist must have done some great business that day).  The scoreboard showed nothing but images of roses.  Cameras were out, phones were out, everyone was trying to capture a piece of the moment.  I had never been to Ohio Stadium or could I say I had ever routed for the Buckeyes...

But WOW! This moment was just as exciting for me.  What better was to end 11 weeks of traveling all over the Big 10?  This was my payoff, yelling and screaming with these fans.  Shaking hands and congratulating complete strangers and and sharing their happiness!

For 30 minutes, it was all worth it.  The expenses, the time invested, the frutsteration I experienced, the exhaustion, the foregoing an chance of getting a promotion.  This was fun, this was exciting.  This was one of those moments that you never forget in your life.  This was one of those moments that you tell your children and your grandchildren about.  Take anything away from me in my life, but this is one thing that I will never forget!