That's just when I was starting to pay attention to college football. I didn't remember tOSU's 3-year stretch had been quite that good. That's a hell of a run to only emerge with one national championship.
I've seen Woody's 1967 recruiting class referred to as the best ever and they probably have a pretty strong case for it. Remember that Freshman couldn't play back then so in the three years that they played they went 27-2 and were two games from three straight NC's.
As Sophomores in 1968 they started #11. In their third game on October 12 they defeated preseason (and still at the time) #1 Purdue 13-0. They didn't take over #1 until after smothering the Wolverines 50-14 then played a (then) rare #1 vs #2 game against 9-0-1 USC in the Rose Bowl and won the NC.
In 1969 they started #1 and stayed there until losing to Bo's first Michigan team in Ann Arbor.
In 1970 they started #1 again but dropped to #2 in the October 26 poll (defending NC Texas had defeated Rice 45-21 the previous week while Ohio State defeated Illinois 48-29). They dropped to #3 the next week (also behind ND) and dropped all the way to #5 in the November 16 poll behind TX, ND, UNL, and M. Then they defeated #4 Michigan in a match-up of unbeaten and untied teams and regained #2. Heading into the Bowls Ohio State was #2 but as it turned out they did control their own destiny because #1 Texas lost 24-11 to #6 ND in the Cotton Bowl. That was an interesting ending to the season that allowed Nebraska to pick up their first NC:
- #1 Texas lost 24-11 to #6 Notre Dame. That knocked the Longhorns out.
- #2 Ohio State lost 27-17 to #12 Stanford. That knocked the Buckeyes out.
- #3 Nebraska beat #5 LSU* 17-12 in the Orange Bowl.
- #4 Tennessee* beat #11 Air Force 34-13 in the Sugar Bowl.
- #5 LSU lost 17-12 to #3 Nebraska in the Orange Bowl.
- #6 ND beat #1 Texas 24-11 in the Cotton Bowl.
- #7 Michigan did not play due to the Big Ten's RoseBowl only policy.
Nebraska's tie was 21-21 in LA with USC early in the season. That doesn't sound bad except that the Trojans were a mere 6-4-1 that year with losses to Stanford, Oregon, Cal, and UCLA.
*I don't know what happened in the SEC that year. It appears to me that LSU was the Champion because they went 9-3 but the three losses were to aTm (not an SEC member back then), ND (not an SEC member) and the bowl loss to Nebraska. Tennessee had a better overall record at 11-1 but the one loss was a conference loss to Auburn. I didn't realize there had been a time when the SEC Champion went to the Orange Bowl.
Nebraska went into the bowls needing a whole lot of help and they got it. Notre Dame's and Stanford's bowl wins were as integral to Nebraska's NC as any of their own wins.
After winning the NC in 1968 Woody's Buckeyes were extremely close four more times:
- 1969 lost final game as #1 to Michigan.
- 1970 lost RB to Stanford as #2 but #1 TX lost so a win would have meant an NC.
- 1973 tied Michigan and finished 10-0-1 and #2.
- 1975 lost RB to UCLA as #1. The annoying part is that the Buckeyes had already defeated UCLA in the Rose Bowl (stadium not game) earlier that season. The Buckeyes won the first game 41-20 and lost the second 23-10, ugh.
From 1968-1975 the Buckeyes won one NC and they were a single game each away from four or possibly five more. They went:
- 10-0 NC
- 8-1 (M loss cost a NC)
- 9-1 (RB loss cost a NC)
- 6-4 (rebuilding year)
- 9-2 (RB loss may have cost them an NC. They were #3 heading into the bowls and played #1 USC. #2 OU already had a loss so a win over #1 may have been enough to leapfrog your Sooners).
- 10-0-1 (M tie cost a NC)
- 10-2 (lost to MSU and USC, RB loss didn't cost an NC because #1 OU was undefeated).
- 11-1 (RB loss cost an NC)