2013 Ohio State Buckeyes football team

The 2013 Ohio State Buckeyes football team will represent The Ohio State University in the 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It will be the Buckeye's 124th overall, the 101st as a member of the Big Ten Conference and the third as a member of the Big Ten Leaders Division. The team will be led by Urban Meyer, in his second year, and will play their home games at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.

Previous season
Urban Meyer, after being hired in November 2011, quickly brought in an entirely new staff to lead the team in 2012, featuring Tom Herman and Ed Warinner as co-offensive coordinators, with Everett Withers and former interim head coach Luke Fickell as co-defensive coordinators. Meyer also began to shape the team by bringing in a top ten recruiting class. Following an offseason of transition, Ohio State began the 2012 season against Miami (Ohio) on September 1, defeating the RedHawks 56–10. Ohio State entered Big Ten Conference play with a 4–0 record and in their first conference game, would defeat the Michigan State Spartans 17–16. A 63–38 victory over Nebraska on homecoming would give Ohio State a 6–0 record and put them in the top ten in the AP Poll. Overtime victories over Purdue and Wisconsin, along with many other close victories, would give the Buckeyes an 11–0 record heading into their annual matchup with the Michigan Wolverines. The Buckeyes defeated the Wolverines 26–21 and completed their undefeated season, the first for the program since 2002. Though Ohio State was ineligible to play in any bowl game or to be ranked in the BCS or Coaches' Poll, they were still eligible for the AP National Championship. Following the season, Ohio State was ranked third in the AP Poll behind the national champion Alabama Crimson Tide and the second ranked Oregon Ducks.

Spring Practice
Ohio State began their spring camp earlier than they had in previous seasons, starting it on March 5. The 2013 spring game will be played on April 13 and will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network. Ohio State will play their spring game at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio, while Ohio Stadium undergoes renovations.

Recruiting Class
On February 6, 2013 the Ohio State University athletic department confirmed that it had received letters of intent confirming the commitment of 24 athletes in its recruiting class. Among these included signing day commitments from Georgia safety Vonn Bell and Florida wide receiver James Clark, with the former announcing his intentions via ESPN. In reference to events of the day, Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer was quoted as calling it (February 6, 2013) a 'Great day. I thought it would be a good day, but now I'll put it in the great category.' According to various recruiting services, the Buckeyes was ranked first overall by Scout; second overall (behind Alabama) by Rivals and third overall by ESPN.

Schedule
The Big Ten Conference released the schedules for the 2013 season on April 6, 2011. The Big Ten will continue the same scheduling alignment as they had during the 2011 and 2012 seasons. As a result, Ohio State will play all five Leaders Division opponents: Illinois, Indiana, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin. Ohio State will also face three Legends Division opponents: Iowa, Northwestern and Michigan, the permanent cross-division opponent. Ohio State will play four non-conference games: Buffalo of the Mid-American Conference, San Diego State of the Mountain West Conference, California of the Pacific-12 Conference and Florida A&M of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Ohio State has two bye weeks during the season, the first between their games against Northwestern and Iowa, and their second between games against Purdue and Illinois.

All games during the 2013 season were broadcast on the Ohio State Football Radio Network. Paul Keels will head the crew with play-by-play, Jim Lachey with color commentary, Marty Bannister as sideline and locker room reporter and Skip Mosic serving as the pre-game and halftime show host.


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Buffalo

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San Diego State

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California

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Florida A&M

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Wisconsin

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Northwestern

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Iowa

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Penn State

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Purdue

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Illinois

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Indiana

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Michigan

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