Ohio State Football
As part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, the Ohio State Buckeyes football team competes. It represents the Ohio State University in the East Division of the Big Ten Conference. At Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio State has played their home games since 1922.The Buckeyes are recognized by the university and NCAA as having won 8 national championships along with forty conference championships (including 38 Big Ten titles), eight division championships, 10 undefeated seasons, and six perfect seasons (no losses or ties). As of 2017, the football program is valued at $1.5 billion, the highest valuation of any such program in the country.
A 20–14 victory over Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, was the first Ohio State game was on May 3, 1890. From 1890 to 1901 the team was a football independent before joining the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) as a charter member in 1902. The Buckeyes won 2 conference championships while members of the OAC and in 1912 became members of the Big Ten Conference.
Under head coach Paul Brown, Ohio State won their first national championship in 1942. Following World War II, with three separate coaches Ohio State saw sparse success on the football field and in 1951 hired Woody Hayes to coach the team. Ohio State won over 200 games, under Hayes, 13 Big Ten championships and 5 national championships (1954, 1957, 1961, 1968, and 1970), and had four Rose Bowl wins in eight appearances. In 1978, following Hayes’ dismissal, Earle Bruce and later John Cooper coached the team to a combined 7 conference championships between them. As head coach in 2001 , Jim Tressel was hired and led Ohio State to its seventh national championship in 2002. Under Tressel, Ohio State won seven Big Ten championships and appeared in eight Bowl Championship Series (BCS) games, winning five of them. Urban Meyer became head coach in November 2011. The team went 12–0 under Meyer, in his first season and set a school record with 24 consecutive victories, won three Big Ten championships (2014, 2017, and 2018), andin 2014, won the first College Football Playoff National Championship.
