The 1968 Ohio State Buckeyes football team is considered one of the strongest in OSU history, fielding 11 All-Americans and six first-round NFL draft picks. With quarterback Rex Kern and running back Jim Otis leading a powerful OSU offense and Jack Tatum on defense, Woody Hayes ' Buckeyes capped an undefeated season with a dominating 50–14 victory over archrival Michigan and a come-from-behind 27–16 victory over Southern California in the 1969 Rose Bowl to secure the national title.[1]
Schedule [ ]
Date
Opponent#
Rank #
Site
Result
Attendance
September 28*
Southern Methodist
#11
Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH
W 35-14 73,855
October 5*
Oregon
#6
Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH
W 21-6 70,919
October 12
#1 Purdue
#4
Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH
W 13-0 84,834
October 19†
Northwestern
#2
Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH
W 45-21 83,454
October 26
at Illinois
#2
Memorial Stadium • Champaign, IL
W 31-24 56,174
November 2
#16 Michigan State
#2
Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH
W 25-20 84,859
November 9
at Wisconsin
#2
Camp Randall Stadium • Madison, WI
W 43-8 40,972
November 16
at Iowa
#2
Iowa Stadium • Iowa City, IA
W 33-27 44,131
November 23
#4 Michigan
#2
Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH
W 50-14 85,371
January 1*
vs. #2 USC
#1
Rose Bowl • Pasadena, CA (Rose Bowl )
W 27-16 102,063
*Non-Conference Game. # Rankings from AP Poll .
Depth Chart [ ]
Defensive Starters
WLB
SLB
Doug Adams
Mark Stier
⋅
Phil Strickland
DE
DT
NT
DT
DE
Mark Debevc
Brad Nielsen
Jim Stillwagon
Paul Schmidlin
Dick Whitfield
⋅
Bill Urbanik
⋅
⋅
⋅
Offensive Starters
LT
LG
C
RG
RT
Dave Foley
Thomas Backhus
Jim Muhlbach
Alan Jack
Rufus Mayes
⋅
⋅
Brian Donovan
⋅
Charles Hutchison
QB
Rex Kern
Ron Maciejowski
FB
Jim Otis
John Brockington
RB
Leo Hayden
Ray Gillian
[2]
Coaching staff [ ] Woody Hayes - Head Coach (18th year)George Chaump - Quarterbacks Coach (1st year)Earle Bruce - Offensive Line Coach (3rd year)Hugh Hindman - (6th year)
Lou Holtz - Defensive Back Coach (1st year)Rudy Hubbard - Running Backs (1st year)Bill Mallory - (3rd year)Esco Sarkkinen - (23rd year) Game notes [ ] Iowa [ ]
by Quarter
1
2
3
4
Total
• Ohio St
6
6
14
7
33
Iowa
0
0
6
21
27
Scoring summary 1
Ohio St Otis 7 yard run (kick failed) Ohio St 6-0 2
Ohio St Kern 3 yard run (pass failed) Ohio St 12-0 3
Ohio St Otis 1 yard run (Roman kick) Ohio St 19-0 3
Iowa Lawrence 1 yard run (kick failed) Ohio St 19-6 3
Ohio St Kern 1 yard run (Zelina kick) Ohio St 26-6 4
Iowa Podolak 3 yard run (Melendez kick) Ohio St 26-13 4
Ohio St Brockington 22 yard run (Roman kick) Ohio St 33-13 4
Iowa Manning 12 yard pass from Lawrence (Melendez kick) Ohio St 33-20 4
Iowa Reardon 9 yard pass from Lawrence (Melendez kick) Ohio St 33-27
[3]
Michigan [ ]
by Quarter
1
2
3
4
Total
Michigan
7
7
0
0
14
• Ohio State
7
14
6
23
50
Scoring summary 1
Michigan Johnson 1 yard run (Killian kick) Michigan 7-0 1
Ohio St Jim Otis 5 yard run (Roman kick) Tie 7-7 2
Ohio St Rex Kern 5 yard run (Roman kick) Ohio St 14-7 2
Michigan Johnson 1 yard run (Killian kick) Tie 14-14 2
Ohio St Jim Otis 2 yard run (Roman kick) Ohio St 21-14 3
Ohio St Larry Zelina 6 yard run (kick failed) Ohio St 27-14 4
Ohio St Roman 32 yard field goal Ohio St 30-14 4
Ohio St Rex Kern 3 yard run (Roman kick) Ohio St 37-14 4
Ohio St Jim Otis 2 yard run (Roman kick) Ohio St 44-14 4
Ohio St Jim Otis 1 yard run (pass failed) Ohio St 50-14
[4]
Statistical leaders [ ] Scoring-Jim Otis
Rushing-Jim Otis
Passing-Rex Kern
Receiving-Bruce Jankowski References [ ] Win/Loss statistics Draft data v · d · e 1968 Ohio State Buckeyes football—consensus national champions
