Ohio University assembled its first football team in 1894. Its first season consisted of only one game — an 8-0 loss to Marietta College.
Since then, the Bobcats have won more than 500 games, and some debate that Saturday’s victory against Penn State was the most prominent in program history.
Read our Penn State game coverage here.
Check out a Penn State game slideshow here.
The Post compiled a list of Ohio’s most significant wins, dating from its first to its most recent.
October 5, 1895: Ohio 18, Parkersburg High School 0
Coach: Harvey Deme
During the Bobcats’ first several seasons, it wasn’t uncommon for high school or YMCA teams to dot their schedule, and the Bobcats notched their first win against Parkersburg in the first game of their first multiple-game season.
Abbreviated as “Parker” in many records from the time, Parkersburg faced Ohio twice in its early existence.
Ohio holds the teams’ series record with a 2-1-2 mark.
October 10, 1914: Ohio 6, Miami 0
Coach: Mark Banks
It took five tries for Ohio to notch its first win against eventual-rival Miami. The first four tries were abysmal for the Bobcats, as they fell by a combined 112-12 margin.
The Bobcats have had the lesser hand in the teams’ “Battle of the Bricks” rivalry since, winning less than 40 percent of their matchups.
However, one onlooker said the Bobcats’ first win against Miami was one of the best he’d ever seen.
“Well, kid, we licked ’em right,” said Jim Osmond in The Post’s game recap. “That was the best specimen of football I ever seen.”
September 28, 1929: Ohio 18, Indiana 0
Coach: Don Peden
“Probably the greatest triumph ever achieved on the gridiron by an Ohio University team was realized Saturday when the Bobcats rode rough shod, 18 to 0, over Indiana, a Big Ten opponent at Bloomington, Ind.,” read the first line of a front-page Post story following Ohio’s first win against a Big Ten opponent.
The win opened the program’s first-ever undefeated season and Buckeye Athletic Association Conference championship win.
October 15, 1932: Ohio 14, Navy 0
Coach: Don Peden
Heading into Ohio’s first-and-only meeting with Navy, speculation was that the teams were “on about even ground,” according to a Post story about the game.
That notion fell flat, though, as the Bobcats blanked the Midshipmen on their own turf.
The game was a big deal around campus, as the Bobcats were given “the biggest send-off” in the better part of a decade as the team buses rolled out of Athens.
“That’s a long trip to make to lose a football game,” said then-Ohio coach Don Peden. “And we aren’t going to Annapolis to lose.”
October 13, 1945: Ohio 20, Cincinnati 19
Coach: Don Peden
Ohio didn’t have a team in 1943 or 1944 because of World War II, which made the Bobcats’ nail-biting win against Cincinnati three games into the 1945 season one for the ages.
With time winding down in the fourth quarter, the Bearcats mounted a drive that culminated in a 65-yard touchdown pass that put the score within one point.
As Cincinnati lined up for the potentially game-tying field goal, “the stadium was tense with excitement,” according to a Post story about the game.
However, when the kick fell short, “a tremendous roar was heard from the OU side.”
October 4, 1947: Ohio 14, Butler 7
Coach: Harold Wise
Ohio is the only member of the Mid-American Conference’s charter class of 1946 that remains in the league today.
Ohio played only one game against a conference team in 1946 and notched its first conference victory against Butler two games into its 1947 campaign.
The defining point in Ohio’s come-from-behind victory was a fourth-and-three stop near the end of the third quarter, in which the defensive line stopped Butler quarterback Ken Smock on the one-foot line, according to a Post story about the game.
October 8, 1960: Ohio 36, Boston University 6
Coach: Bill Hess
The Bobcats’ 1960 season was marked not only by their National Small College and MAC championships, but also by their collective margin of victory.
They routed opponents by a combined 235 points on the season, allowing only 34 points against them.
That sum wouldn’t have been enough to even grant Boston a win against the Bobcats, which ran for 319 yards en route to the victory.
“They ran with the ball, they passed it, they did everything but stick it down our throats,” said then-Boston coach Steve Sinko following the game.
November 16, 1968: Ohio 60, Cincinnati 48
Coach: Bill Hess
The 1968 season marked Ohio’s first real shot on the national stage. At the time, the Bobcats hadn’t competed in a bowl game, and the team was fresh off an undefeated regular season.
Although they lost in the Tangerine Bowl — which was, at the time, a middling bowl that MAC teams competed in regularly — their statement win against Cincinnati two games prior defined the season and set them up for their first bowl appearance.
Sept. 9, 2005: Ohio 16, Pittsburgh 10 (OT)
Coach: Frank Solich
If one moment could define the beginning of the Frank Solich coaching era at Ohio, it would be when Ohio defensive back Dion Byrum picked off Pitt quarterback Tyler Palko’s pass in overtime and ran it back for his second score of the night.
As the O Zone leaped onto the field, Pitt coaches retreated to the locker room dejectedly and ESPN announcers went nuts, the message was sent that Ohio was on the rise.
“We wouldn’t be where we are today without what happened at the Pitt game,” Ohio public address announcer Lou Horvath said.
Dec. 17, 2011: Ohio 24, Utah State 23
Coach: Frank Solich
More than a century of Ohio football culminated in the hoisting of a glass bowl of potatoes last season. But the hallmark win wasn’t as much about special spuds as it was breaking barriers.
“The bowl win was significant because it broke the ice for Ohio University football,” Horvath said. “It was the first bowl win, and one done with a dramatic ending. And that’s the signature of the program.”
If the Potato Bowl victory was Ohio’s signature win, it barely got done crossing its “Ts” and dotting its “Is” before another win gave the defining win a run for its money.
—Brandon Kors contributed to this story.
jr992810@ohiou.edu
