Drive-Thru: 1982 Holiday Bowl
Ohio State’s presence in this bowl game is unique beyond that. Our older readers may remember that 1982, the first year post-Schlichter, was problematic. A 3 game losing streak to the likes of John Elway’s Stanford Cardinal, up-and-comer Florida State and, arguably the most embarrassing, a 6-nil loss to Wisconsin soured things in Columbus. All three losses were at home and their cumulative effect led to the temporary benching of starting quarterback and Schlichter successor Mike Tomczak in favor of junior QB Brent Offenbecher. The season got back on track the next week at Illinois and continued until the season finale against Michigan. The 1982 clash between Michigan and Ohio State is also worth noting. Michigan was undefeated in the Big Ten while Ohio State had the aforementioned loss to Wisconsin. Should Ohio State win, they would share the conference championship and get the bid to Pasadena, right? Wrong. Thanks to a scheduling quirk, Michigan actually played all 9 other conference teams in 1982 while Ohio State only played 8. Even if Ohio State won, Michigan would retain the overall winning percentage and thus entered the game knowing they had the Rose Bowl in hand. Ohio State, for its part, was able to take that out on the field and get bragging rights, winning 24-14. Nevertheless, Ohio State had to settle for the at-large bid to San Diego to play the WAC champion Brigham Young Cougars, led by Steve Young2.
Brigham Young moved the ball down the field with ease to begin the game, suggesting that Ohio State’s secondary — the weak link of 1981 and hence the transition from DB coach Nick Saban to Dom Capers — was simply not accustomed to seeing a team with an offensive scheme like Lavell Edwards employed in Provo. Likewise, after Brigham Young missed the field goal to end that first drive, it became clear that Brigham Young was simply not accustomed to seeing a team as overly physical as Ohio State was. Ohio State raced down the field on their first drive and got a field goal. Steve Young, probably the best player on the field that night of any team, responded by finding Neil Balholm for 6 and a 7-3 lead. 3 plays later, Tim Spencer broke free for a 61 yard touchdown. The Buckeyes never looked back. Ohio State’s offensive line dictated the tempo of the game, allowing Tim Spencer to power forward for 167 yards, 2 TDs on 21 carries en route to MVP honors. Jimmy Gayle contributed another 2 touchdowns in his 17 carry, 80 yard performance. With Brigham Young focused on stopping the run up the middle, the passing game opened up when Ohio State wanted it. Gary Williams had 5 catches for 83 yards in his final game as a Buckeye. Tomczak, so maligned in the 3 game losing streak, made no mistakes (11/19, 132 yards) and contributed a touchdown on a designed bootleg rollout. At the end of the game, Lavell Edwards said Ohio State was the most physical team he had seen in his (then) 12 years as a head coach. Meanwhile, Ohio State’s 345 yard, 47 point assault qualified as the best offensive night in Buckeye bowl history to that point. Ohio State has had games with more yards since, but the 47 points stands as most in Ohio State bowl history.
The game is below, complete with the 17pt 3rd quarter outburst that made it a rout. What you don’t see in this clip is just how violent Ohio State’s defense got with Steve Young. You’ll see the final hit the Buckeyes got on Young, where Garcia Lane and Dave Crecelius high-lowed him. There were more. Young got yards on big plays; he finished with 341 yards passing. However, for most of the game, Ohio State’s secondary were able to take away Brigham Young’s receivers and, then, it was essentially open season for the Buckeye pass rush. Marcus Marek, the all-time great linebacker for Ohio State, almost made good on his quasi-promise to hold Brigham Young to under 10 points when they were averaging almost 33 a game. There were big hits here and I may make that another video. Until then, you can see my compilation below.
Miscellany
The game was in full blown rout mode early in the 4th quarter, and with Ohio State driving. During an Ohio State huddle, the camera panned to The Best Damn Band in the Land doing something that… well… can best be described as some variation of an elephant walk to the eye of this observer.
To be honest, I… I have no idea. I’m only 25 and I don’t know if this was something that was popular in 1982. Whatever it is, I’m oddly okay if The Best Damn Band in the Land wants to bring it back in the near future… just as I’m okay with the possibility of Ohio State bringing back the INSECT ROBOT.
“our older readers”…dagnabit, you greenhorn, I’m ONLY 40 and I remember this whuppin’ of those consarned Mormons like it was yestiddy – I wore an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time…although I must admit that I’d pretty much completely forgotten the name “Brent Offenbecher” until I read it just now. Still: “older readers”…damn, that’s a bitch. Just know that it’s coming for you, too, and a lot faster than you think it is
That WAS a kind of weird year – losing to the Seminoles was kind of a WTF moment (we lost to WHO?), and the Wisky game was like death; BUT: That win over the Wolverines was one of the sweetest I’ve ever experienced. I’ve mentioned before that I grew up in NW OH around way too many Michigan fans, and whichever side each of us were on, we always took perverse pleasure in “sending them to the Rose Bowl with a black eye” whenever it happened. It can’t be reiterated enough: this is why so many of us love the Buckeyes and the rivalry so much: I bet if you polled the ’82 Wolverines and asked them what stings worse – losing to the Bruins twice or us the one time, to a man they’d choose the latter. Well, maybe not to a MAN, but you get my drift – quirk in the schedule or not, THAT was the loss that ruined their season.
Steve Young: “probably” the best player on the field? Nope. He was undoubtedly the best, by a long shot. Dude was a truly electrifying athlete at QB, as good as anybody I’ve ever seen. If it weren’t for backing up a legend in SF for as long as he was forced to, we’d be talking about him the way people talk about Favre today. Contingency is everything. All this is not to belittle – in fact, it makes it even more awesome – how badly we beat the shit out of him that night in 1982.
Another thing that always jumps out at me whenever we take these trips in the wayback machine is the amazing list of coaches that have plied their trade in Columbus. I mean, that’s not a secret to any of us who make it our business to dip deep into Buckeye lore, but I’m always a little miffed that “national” CFB writers never seem to take a minute’s break from polishing the knobs of the Holtzes and Meyers and Pelinis, etc., of this world and acknowledge where EXACTLY it was that they learned how to do their jobs.
Thanks for the upload, Vico. I have very vague memories of this game, so I’m glad to see some of these archeological artifacts retrieved for the common good. The “older readers” comment is pretty funny. Assuming I make it to mid-March, my number is 59; so “older readers” is a delicate way of putting it for some of us.
However, I do remember in general, not specific games, listening to players such as Tom Matte, Bob Ferguson, Billy Anders, Ike Kelly, etc. make plays and defending our honor. See (rocking back and spitting in the general direction of my spitoon), back then we had a contraption called the ‘radio’, which was way before that newfangled Youtube-O-Vision thingy. Kids these days.
I was at that game. I’ll never forget how short the lines were for beer and the restroom. That was a fun team . I was really disappointed that Tim Spencer didn’t have a better career in the NFL. He wasted too much time in the USFL with the Chicago Blitz. He was a big back with a tremendous burst. And Mike Tomczak? Who would have figured that between him and Art Schlichter, that Tomczak would be the one with the 15 year career in the NFL?
Not that this is on point but the best game that I ever saw in the ‘Shoe was the 1984 game with Keith Byers against the Fighting Illini — down 24 – 0 on the way to half time and the old girdirons were shaking as Keith was baking — throwing shoes and taking names! anyone else as old as I am?
azbuckeye: “anyone else as old as I am?”
possibly.
Awesome, Chevy Chase is on the OSU Sideline at the 6:42 mark.