1970 National Championship – Ohio State Buckeyes
6/28/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
1970
(National Football Foundation)
Won 9, Lost 1
Led by All-Americans John Brockington, Jim Stillwagon, Jack Tatum and Mike Sensibaugh, the Ohio State Buckeyes claimed the Big Ten title and their most recent National Championship, the National Football Foundation crown, with a 9-1 record.
The national championship was Woody Hayes’ fifth with the Buckeyes and the Big Ten championship was the third in a string of nine championships in 10 years. Some say the senior class of 1970 may have been the school’s greatest ever. In three years,the team won 27 of 29 games, three Big Ten championships and a pair of National championships. They broke nearly every school record at the time, plus all of the OSU attendance marks.
OSU rolled through the regular season 9-0 with a 7-0 Big Ten mark, but stumbled in a 27-17 loss to Stanford in the Rose Bowl. Still, the NFF selected the Buckeyes No. 1, while UPI had OSU No. 2 and the Associated Press had the Buckeyes No. 5.
OSU finished the season averaging 29 points per game, while the defense allowed a meager 12 points per outing.
Brockington led the OSU offense with 1,142 yards rushing and 17 touchdowns. Quarterback Rex Kern passed for 470 yards and three touchdowns and also rushed for 597 yards and seven touchdowns. Jan White was the team leader with 17 catches for 171 yards.
Tatum, Stillwagon and Sensibaugh led a defense that allowed only 263.2 yards per game and forced 32 turnovers. Stan White led the team with 106 tackles.
Tatum, Stillwagon, Sensibaugh, Brockington, Mark Debevec (c), Dave Cheney (t), Phil Strickland (g) and Tom DeLeone (c) earned all-Big Ten honors.
Ohio State opened the season with a 56-13 romp over the Texas A&M Aggies in front of 85,657 fans in Columbus. OSU totaled 513 yards offense to only 321 for the Aggies and seven different players found paydirt for the Scarlet and Gray.
In week two, the Buckeyes dropped their second non-conference opponent with a 34-10 win over the visiting Duke Blue Devils. Ohio State once again dominated the statistics with 481 yards to 249 for the Blue Devils. Leo Hayden rushed for 165 yards while Brockington and Kern added 117 and 113 each.
The Hayes-led Buckeyes rolled through the Big Ten schedule. OSU opened the schedule with a 29-0 win over Michigan State in East Lansing followed by a 28-8 win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers. In the Minnesota game, Brockington rushed for 187 yards and two touchdowns.
One week later, the Buckeyes’ offense rolled up the big numbers in a 48-29 win at Illinois. Brockington scored three times in the game and Ohio State totaled 475 yards of total offense.
Ohio State continued to roll through the Big Ten schedule with wins over Northwestern, Wisconsin and Purdue. In the Northwestern game, Brockington rushed for 161 yards and a touchdown, while Kern rushed for a pair of scores. Brockington added three more scores a week later against the Badgers and he scored the Buckeyes’ only touchdown in the Purdue game.
In an emotional Michigan game, Ohio State, much to the delight of a delerious Ohio Stadium crowd, avenged their only loss of 1969, downing the Wolverines 20-9. OSU limited the Wolverines to 155 yards and 10 first downs.
In the Rose Bowl, Heisman Trophy winner Jim Plunkett led Stanford to 14 fourth-quarter points to clinch a victory. Plunkett was 20-of-30 for 265 yards and a touchdown. It was the only blemish on an otherwise perfect season.
