1998 Football Review – Ohio State Buckeyes
2/10/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
February 10, 1999
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – The Ohio State University Buckeyes capped their 11-1, Sugar Bowl winning 1998 season with a No. 2 final national ranking in both the Associated Press top 25 and the ESPN/USA Today top 25 coaches polls. It is the second time in three years that the Buckeyes have finished as the No. 2 team in the nation and it marks the fifth time in the last six seasons that John Coopers Buckeyes have finished among the nations top 10 teams.
The Buckeyes capped their fourth-consecutive 10-or-more-win season by defeating Michigan, 31-16, to clinch a share of their 28th Big Ten Conference championship and their third in the last six years. That win landed Ohio State a spot in the first-ever Bowl Championship Series, where they dismantled Texas A&M in the 65th Nokia Sugar Bowl, 24-14. The Sugar Bowl represented Ohio States fifth-consecutive New Years Day bowl game and the 31st bowl game in the storied football history of Ohio State University.
The 1998 campaign will be remembered fondly by the legions of Buckeye fans around the nation and the world. For 10 consecutive weeks Ohio state was the No. 1 ranked team in the nation by both major polls, tieing an all-time school record for weeks at No. 1. Coach Mike Jacobs offense, led by Big Ten Most Valuable Player Joe Germaine and All-American record-setting receiver David Boston, was not only exciting, but also devastating with averages of 300 passing yards per game, 200 rushing yards per game and 35.8 points per game. Its eight games of 500 or more yards of total offense represented a new school record. The defense, led by All-American and Thorpe Award winner Antoine Winfield, All-American Damon Moore, 1997 Butkus Award winner and two-time Lombardi Award finalist Andy Katzenmoyer, and rising star Nail Diggs, was the nations best at stopping the run with a paltry 69 yards per game average. It was second against the pass and also second in total defense, the third-consecutive year that Fred Pagacs unit has been one of the top eight defenses in the nation. And what balance this team displayed. Ohio State had a 1,000-yard rusher (Michael Wiley with 1,235 yards) and a 700-yard rusher (Joe Montgomery with 766), a 1,000-yard receiver (Bostons school-record 1,435 yards) and a 900-yard receiver (Dee Miller with 915), six running backs who scored touchdowns and six receivers who scored touchdowns. Defensively, seven players had between 50 and 80 tackles, 21 players had a tackle-for-loss and 13 different players combined for the teams 17 interceptions.
The award winners were plentiful. Winfield won the Thorpe Award as college footballs best defensive back, he was a finalist for the Football News Defensive Player of the Year Award and he was a consensus All-American. Moore, Boston and left guard Rob Murphy joined Winfield as All-Americans, increasing the list of Ohio State All-Americans under Cooper to 19. Germaine was one of 10 top candidates for the Davey OBrien Award and he was a finalist for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award. Boston was a semifinalist for the Biletnikoff Award. Katzenmoyer was a finalist for the second-consecutive year for the Lombardi Award and the Maxwell Clubs Defensive Player of the Year Award. Cooper was a finalist for the Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year Award and he was a semifinalist for the Football News Coach of the Year Award. Defensive coordinator Pagac was a finalist for the Frank Broyles Award, which goes to the nations top assistant coach.
In the classroom, Jerry Rudzinski and Ahmed Plummer were each second-team Academic All-Americans and Kurt Murphy was named to GTE/CoSIDAs Academic All-District IV team. Rudzinski was named one of Burger Kings 1998 national Scholar-Athletes of the Week. Eleven Buckeyes were named to the Big Ten Conferences all-Academic team: Rudzinski, Plummer, Murphy, senior tackle Brooks Burris, sophomore end Chad Cacchio, junior guard Mike Gurr, junior tight end Kevin Houser, junior end Matt LaVrar, junior cornerback David Mitchell, freshman linebacker Jason Ott, sophomore split end Darik Warnke and junior tight end Steve Wisniewski.
Way to Go Bucks!
