1979 Ohio State Buckeyes football team

1979 Ohio State Buckeyes football
Big Ten champion
Rose Bowl, L 16–17 vs. USC
Conference Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches No. 4
AP No. 4
1979 record 11–1 (8–0 Big Ten)
Head coach Earle Bruce (1st year)
MVP Jim Laughlin
Captain Ken Fritz
Captain Mike Guess
Captain Jim Laughlin
Captain Tom Waugh
Home stadium Ohio Stadium
(Capacity: 83,112)
1979 Big Ten football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#4 Ohio State $ 8 – 0 – 0     11 – 1 – 0
#10 Purdue 7 – 1 – 0     10 – 2 – 0
#18 Michigan 6 – 2 – 0     8 – 4 – 0
#19 Indiana 5 – 3 – 0     8 – 4 – 0
Iowa 4 – 4 – 0     5 – 6 – 0
Minnesota 3 – 5 – 1     4 – 6 – 1
Michigan State 3 – 5 – 0     5 – 6 – 0
Wisconsin 3 – 5 – 0     4 – 7 – 0
Illinois 1 – 6 – 1     2 – 8 – 1
Northwestern 0 – 9 – 0     1 – 10 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1979 Ohio State Buckeyes football team represented the Ohio State University in the 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Buckeyes compiled an 11–1 record, including the 1980 Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, where they lost, 17–16, to the USC Trojans.

Schedule

Date Time Opponent# Rank# Site TV Result Attendance
September 8 1:30 p.m. Syracuse* Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH W 31–8   86,205
September 15 2:30 p.m. at Minnesota No. 15 Memorial Stadium • Minneapolis, MN W 21–17   43,926
September 22 1:30 p.m. Washington State* No. 16 Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH W 45–29   87,495
September 29 4:00 p.m. at No. 17 UCLA* No. 14 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum • Los Angeles, CA ABC W 17–13   47,228
October 6 1:30 p.m. Northwestern No. 8 Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH W 16–7   87,406
October 13 1:30 p.m. Indiana No. 8 Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH W 47–6   87,521
October 20 1:30 p.m. Wisconsin No. 6 Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH W 59–0   87,585
October 27 1:30 p.m. Michigan Statedagger No. 4 Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH W 42–0   87,747
November 3 2:00 p.m. at Illinois No. 5 Memorial Stadium • Champaign, IL (Illibuck Trophy) W 44–7   41,870
November 10 1:00 p.m. Iowa No. 3 Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH W 34–7   87,835
November 17 12:30 p.m. at No. 13 Michigan No. 2 Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI (The Game) ABC W 18–15   106,255
January 1, 1980 5:00 p.m. vs. No. 3 USC* No. 1 Rose Bowl • Pasadena, CA (Rose Bowl) NBC L 16–17   105,526
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. All times are in Eastern Time.

[1]

Depth chart

Defense
FS
Vince Skillings
Bob Murphy
⋅
WLB ILB ILB SLB
Jim Laughlin Al Washington Marcus Marek Keith Ferguson
Ben Lee ⋅ ⋅ ⋅
⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅
ROV
Todd Bell
⋅
⋅
CB
Mike Guess
Doyle Lewis
⋅
DE NT DE
Jerome Foster Tim Sawicki Luther Henson
Reggie Echols Mark Sullivan Gary Dulin
⋅ ⋅ ⋅
CB
Ray Ellis
Norm Burrows
⋅
Offense
SE
Gary Williams
Chuck Hunter
⋅
LT LG C RG RT
Tim Burke Ernie Andria Tom Waugh Ken Fritz Joe Lukens
⋅ Scott Burris Jim DeLeone Joe Smith Tim Brown
⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅
TE
Brad Dwelle
Bill Jaco
Ron Barwig
FL
Doug Donley
Tyrone Hicks
⋅
QB
Art Schlichter
Jeff Harris
⋅
FB
Ricardo Volley
Paul Campbell
Cliff Belmer
Special Teams
PK Vlade Janakievski
P Tom Orosz
LS John Hutchings
RB
Calvin Murray
Jimmy Gayle
Tim Spencer

[2]

Coaching staff

1980 NFL draftees

Player Round Pick Position NFL Club
Jim Laughlin 4 91 Linebacker Atlanta Falcons
Mike Guess 6 156 Defensive Back Chicago Bears
Ken Fritz 10 277 Guard Pittsburgh Steelers

[3]

Game notes

Syracuse

1 234Total
Syracuse 0 080 8
• Ohio St 7 1437 31
  • Date: September 8
  • Location: Ohio Stadium
  • Game start: 1:30 p.m.
  • Elapsed time: 2:46
  • Game attendance: 86,205
  • Game weather: Partly cloudy; 67°F; wind 10–15 N

[4]

Minnesota

1 234Total
• Ohio St 7 068 21
Minnesota 14 300 17
  • Date: September 15
  • Location: Memorial Stadium
  • Game start: 1:30 p.m.
  • Elapsed time: 2:36
  • Game attendance: 43,926
  • Game weather: Sunny; 68°F; wind 8 SE
  • Referee: Otho Kertz

[5]

Washington State

1 234Total
Wash St 3 01016 29
• Ohio St 7 17714 45
  • Date: September 22
  • Location: Ohio Stadium
  • Game start: 1:30 p.m.
  • Elapsed time: 2:46
  • Game attendance: 87,495
  • Game weather: Overcast; 64°F; wind 10–20 NE

[6]

The longest pass in school history to date, an 86-yard bomb from Art Schlichter to Calvin Murray, helped propel Ohio State to a 45-29 win over Washington State. The previous record was an 80-yard pass from Joe Sparma to Bob Klein in 1961 versus Michigan.[7]

UCLA

1 234Total
• Ohio St 0 737 17
UCLA 10 003 13
  • Date: September 29
  • Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
  • Game start: 1:00 p.m.
  • Elapsed time: 2:46
  • Game attendance: 47,228
  • Game weather: Cloudy; 71°F; light wind SW
  • Referee: Bill Love

[8]

Northwestern

1 234Total
Northwestern 0 007 7
• Ohio St 10 303 16
  • Date: October 6
  • Location: Ohio Stadium
  • Game start: 1:30 p.m.
  • Elapsed time: 2:41
  • Game attendance: 87,406
  • Game weather: Partly cloudy; 58°F; wind 10–20 SW

[9]

[10]

Indiana

1 234Total
Indiana 0 060 6
• Ohio St 9 17147 47
  • Date: October 13
  • Location: Ohio Stadium
  • Game start: 1:30 p.m.
  • Elapsed time: 2:48
  • Game attendance: 87,251
  • Game weather: Cloudy; 44°F; wind 15 NW

[11]

Wisconsin

1 234Total
Wisconsin 0 000 0
• Ohio St 14 141021 59
  • Date: October 20
  • Location: Ohio Stadium
  • Game start: 1:30 p.m.
  • Elapsed time: 2:48
  • Game attendance: 87,585
  • Game weather: Sunny; 77°F; wind 15–20 S

[12]

Michigan State

1 234Total
Michigan St 0 000 0
• Ohio St 14 1477 42
  • Date: October 27
  • Location: Ohio Stadium
  • Game start: 1:30 p.m.
  • Elapsed time: 2:35
  • Game attendance: 87,747
  • Game weather: Mostly sunny; 53°F; wind 10–15 S

[13]

Illinois

1 234Total
• Ohio St 3 141017 44
Illinois 0 070 7
  • Date: November 3
  • Location: Memorial Stadium
  • Game attendance: 41,870
  • Game weather: Clear; 51°F; wind 9 NW

[14]

Iowa

1 234Total
Iowa 0 007 7
• Ohio St 13 1407 34
  • Date: November 10
  • Location: Ohio Stadium
  • Game start: 1:30 p.m.
  • Elapsed time: 2:51
  • Game attendance: 87,835
  • Game weather: Cloudy; 41°F; wind 10–20 NW

[15]

Michigan

#2 Ohio State at #13 Michigan
1 234Total
• Ohio St 0 666 18
Michigan 0 780 15
  • Date: November 17
  • Location: Michigan Stadium
  • Elapsed time: 2:47
  • Game attendance: 106,255
  • Game weather: Sunny; 55°F; wind 10–15 SW
  • Television network: ABC

Ohio State clinched the Big Ten title and a trip to the Rose Bowl with an 18-15 victory over their archrivals. The Buckeyes had not beaten nor scored a touchdown against Michigan since 1975, the last time they had gone to Pasadena.[16]

Rose Bowl

1980 Rose Bowl
1 234Total
• USC 3 707 17
Ohio St 0 1033 16
  • Date: January 1
  • Location: Rose Bowl
  • Game start: 2:00 p.m.
  • Game attendance: 105,526
  • TV announcers (NBC): Dick Enberg, Merlin Olsen, O.J. Simpson

[17]

References

Win/Loss statistics
Draft data
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