2005 Texas vs. Ohio State football game

Schools had become increasingly conservative in scheduling non-conference opponents of a high caliber, so a meeting of two top-five teams in the country was unusual this early in the season.

[2][3][4][5] Due to the high level of anticipation, ESPN chose the game for the location of its weekly College GameDay broadcast.

[15] They are home to nationally known traditions from the Buckeye leaf stickers and the O-H-I-O chant at Ohio State to Bevo and the Hook 'em Horns of Texas.

[21][22] The Buckeyes program has produced 164 first-team All-American players, including seven Heisman Trophy winners.

With the exception of Cedric Benson, Derrick Johnson, and Bo Scaife, Texas returned most of their key players from 2004–2005, including redshirt junior quarterback Vince Young.

[23] This created anticipation that Texas might play for the national championship if they could win their road game against Ohio State University[24] and if they could snap their five-game losing streak against the Oklahoma Sooners who started the season ranked at No.

There was preseason speculation they might win the Big Ten Conference and possibly even to have a chance at the national championship.

For instance in the 2004 game against the Michigan State Spartans, he scored three touchdowns (one rushing, one receiving, and one punt return).

[27] The only time the national champion has not been unbeaten during that stretch was in 2003 when LSU and USC claimed a share of the title as each finished with one loss.

[27][28] Ohio State tackle Kirk Barton would later say "There’ll probably be two undefeated teams at the end of the road and if you’re not one of them you’re probably not going to be playing for the championship.

[29] According to observers such as USA Today, the match-up between the Longhorns and the OSU Buckeyes was one of the most-anticipated games of the 2005 season.

[1] Due to the high level of anticipation, ESPN chose the game for the location of its weekly College GameDay broadcast.

During the 115 years the school has played football, the Buckeyes had won seven national championships, the most recent being in 2002 when they finished with a perfect 14–0 record.

[3] OSU ranked sixth all-time winning percentage and was tied with Alabama for fifth in terms of total victories.

[32] Ohio State coach Jim Tressel announced ahead of time that both Zwick and Smith would play in the game.

With 1:37 to play in the first quarter, Texas extended this lead to 10–0 with a five-yard touchdown pass from Vince Young to Billy Pittman.

Young began the drive by throwing a 36-yard pass to the Ohio State 18 yard-line and then the receiver ran out of bounds to stop the clock with 20 seconds to play.

On the next play, Young rushed for six yards and was tackled in-bounds, causing Texas to use a time out with 12 seconds on the clock.

Texas put in David Pino to complete a 37-yard kick with two seconds left, making the score 16–13 in favor of Ohio State.

[15] Ohio State also held a ceremony to honor one of their longtime coaches, Woody Hayes, by placing his name on the east side of the stadium.

On the ensuing kick-off by Richmond McGee, OSU's Ted Ginn Jr. took the ball at the one yard-line and ran it out to almost mid-field.

[37] Ohio State was unable to score and gave the ball back to Texas with 13:24 left in the game.

On the Buckeyes' next possession they drove from their own 30 to the Texas 33 before settling for a sixth field goal attempt by Huston, this one from 50 yards out.

Vince Young rushed for four yards and then threw an incomplete pass to Ramonce Taylor before taking a timeout with 4:42 left to play.

On first-and-ten and needing a score to win the game, Zwick rushed around the left side to the 35 but a fumble was forced by UT's Drew Kelson.

UT's Brian Robison recovered the fumble at the 30 and advanced it nine yards before being tackled by Vernon Gholston at the Ohio State 21.

[6][14][40] He now shares the record with Mike Nugent (at North Carolina State, September 19, 2004) and Bob Atha (vs. Indiana, October 24, 1981, in Ohio Stadium).

Their ultimate victory in the 2006 Rose Bowl against the University of Southern California Trojans for the national championship, as well as their overall season, have both been cited as standing among the greatest performances in college football history by publications such as College Football News,[20][43][44] the Atlanta Journal-Constitution,[45] Scout.com,[46] and Sports Illustrated.

[54] UT set numerous school and NCAA records, including most points scored in a season (652).

[55] Ohio State finished the season with an appearance in the 2006 Fiesta Bowl where they defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 34–20.