Even though they were without quarterback Troy Smith, the Buckeyes overwhelmed the Cowboys in San Antonio.
While we’ll have plenty of content this offseason about the upcoming Ohio State football team, I figured it would be fun to pay some respect to Buckeye teams of the past. A great way to do that would be to look back on random Ohio State bowl game wins.
The Buckeyes are 30-29 in bowl games over the years, so there are more than enough bowl game victories to pick away at each week. Before you know it it’ll be late August and it’ll be time to turn our full attention to the season opener against the Texas Longhorns!
The 2004 season felt like a good place to start since it was a bit of a transitional year for Ohio State. The Buckeyes were coming off two phenomenal seasons, beating Miami to win the BCS National Championship at the end of the 2002 season, followed by an 11-2 season and a win in the Fiesta Bowl over Kansas State in 2003.
2004 wasn’t quite as smooth since quarterback Craig Krenzel had exhausted his eligibility, meaning there was going to be a new starting quarterback in Columbus.
Highly touted recruit Justin Zwick got the first crack at trying to fill Krenzel’s shoes. Early on things went well, as the Buckeyes got off to a 3-0 start with wins over Cincinnati, Marshall, and NC State. Ohio State hit a rough patch in October, dropping three straight games to Northwestern, Wisconsin, and Iowa.
To make matters even worse at the time, Zwick was injured in the Iowa game, leaving Troy Smith to take the snaps at quarterback.
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Even though you’re never rooting for a player to get injured, Smith replacing Zwick due to injury might have been a bit of a blessing considering what Smith would do in the 2005 and 2006 seasons. The future Heisman Trophy winner would go on to win four of five starts to close out the regular season, including a 37-21 victory over rival Michigan in Columbus.
With the victory over the Wolverines, Ohio State would finish the regular season with a 7-4 record.
After accepting a bid to the Alamo Bowl to play Oklahoma State, Jim Tressel announced they would be without Smith in San Antonio after the quarterback was suspended for an unspecified team rules violation. The suspension would eventually be extended to the first game of the 2005 season when it was revealed Smith accepted $500 from a booster.
With Smith unavailable to play, Zwick would get another chance to state his case to be the team’s starting quarterback in the second game of the 2005 season when the Buckeyes would host the Texas Longhorns.
The opponent for Ohio State would be Les Miles and the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Like the Buckeyes, the Cowboys entered the Alamo Bowl with a 7-4 record. Oklahoma State started off the season strong, beating UCLA at the Rose Bowl on their way to five straight wins to open 2004.
Unfortunately for the Cowboys, they would lose four of their last six regular season games. Oklahoma State almost created some waves in the BCS when they narrowly lost to Oklahoma in Stillwater, falling to the rival Sooners 38-35 in Bedlam.
Quarterbacking the Oklahoma State offense was Donovan Woods, but the bread and butter of the offense was their running game with Vernand Morency, who ran for 1,474 yards and 12 touchdowns. Woods added 10 scores on the ground, while throwing for 13 touchdowns.
D’Juan Woods was the top threat for the Cowboys at wide receiver, with Prentiss Elliott and Billy Bajema proving to be reliable options when Woods decided to throw the ball.
The suspension of Smith was a big storyline heading into the Alamo Bowl, but there was also talk of head coach Les Miles leaving Stillwater for greener pastures. Early on it became obvious that the Buckeyes were the more focused team in San Antonio, jumping out to a 7-0 lead when Zwick found Anthony Gonzalez for a 23-yard touchdown in the first quarter.
Ohio State would slowly extend the lead throughout the first half, using three Mike Nugent field goals and a Lydell Ross touchdown to take a 23-0 lead into halftime.
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With such a big lead, the Buckeyes were essentially on cruise control the rest of the game. Ted Ginn Jr. ran for a touchdown and Nugent kicked his fourth field goal of the game before the Cowboys were able to avoid being shut out when they scored a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter.
The victory would be Ohio State’s third straight bowl victory. Ross rushed for 99 yards in the game, but the big story was Ginn. The speedster caught six passes for 78 yards, and added 51 yards rushing.
Aftermath
The win over Oklahoma State set high expectations for the Buckeyes in 2005. Not only would Smith be available after the first game of the season, also in the mix were Ted Ginn Jr., leading receiver Santonio Holmes, and a trio of outstanding linebackers led by A.J. Hawk, who registered 141 tackles in 2004.
Ohio State would unfortunately lose hotly contested games to Texas and Penn State, but they would beat Michigan and go on to defeat Notre Dame 34-20 in the Fiesta Bowl. Smith would go on to win the Heisman Trophy in 2006, leading the Buckeyes to the BCS National Championship Game against Florida.
Just five days after losing to Ohio State in the Alamo Bowl, Les Miles would agree to take the LSU job. Taking over for Miles was offensive coordinator Mike Gundy, who is still the head coach of the Cowboys. In his first season as head coach in 2005, Gundy’s Oklahoma State squad would go just 4-7, which would end up being their last losing season before posting a 3-9 record in 2024.
Miles would get his revenge on Tressel and Ohio State when he led LSU to a win in the 2008 BCS National Championship Game.