1978 Ohio State Buckeyes football team

The 1978 Ohio State Buckeyes football team represented the Ohio State University in the 1978 Big Ten Conference football season. The Buckeyes compiled a 741 record, including the 1978 Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida, where they lost, 1715, to the Clemson Tigers. This would be Woody Hayes' last season as head coach of the team, as he was fired following an incident in the game in which he punched Clemson defender Charlie Bauman.

1978 Ohio State Buckeyes football
Gator Bowl, L 1517 vs. Clemson
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Record741 (62 Big Ten)
Head coach
MVPTom Cousineau
Captains
Home stadiumOhio Stadium
(Capacity: 83,112)
1978 Big Ten Conference football standings
ConfOverall
TeamW L TW L T
No. 5 Michigan + 7 1 010 2 0
No. 12 Michigan State + 7 1 08 3 0
No. 13 Purdue 6 1 19 2 1
Ohio State 6 2 07 4 1
Minnesota 4 4 05 6 0
Wisconsin 3 4 25 4 2
Indiana 3 5 04 7 0
Iowa 2 6 02 9 0
Illinois 0 6 21 8 2
Northwestern 0 8 10 10 1
  • + Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 161:30 p.m.No. 5 Penn State*No. 6ABCL 0–1988,203
September 232:30 p.m.at MinnesotaNo. 16W 27–1055,200
September 301:30 p.m.Baylor*No. 13
  • Ohio Stadium
  • Columbus, OH
W 34–2887,998
October 71:30 p.m.SMU*No. 14
  • Ohio Stadium
  • Columbus, OH
T 35–3587,721
October 142:30 p.m.at PurdueNo. 16L 16–2769,465
October 211:30 p.m.Iowa
  • Ohio Stadium
  • Columbus, OH
W 31–787,326
October 281:30 p.m.Northwestern
  • Ohio Stadium
  • Columbus, OH
W 63–2087,296
November 42:00 p.m.at WisconsinW 49–1479,940
November 111:30 p.m.Illinois
W 45–787,819
November 181:30 p.m.at IndianaNo. 19W 21–1847,560
November 2512:30 p.m.No. 6 MichiganNo. 16
ABCL 3–1488,358
December 299:00 p.m.vs. No. 7 Clemson*No. 20ABCL 15–1772,011
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Eastern time

Personnel

1978 Ohio State Buckeyes football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
OL Ernie Andria
TE Ron Barwig
RB Cliff Belmer
OL Tim Brown
RB Paul Campbell
QB Greg Castignola
WR 47 Doug Donley So
OL Keith Ferguson
G 56 Ken Fritz Jr
WR 8 Rod Gerald Sr
RB Ty Hicks
WR Chuck Hunter
RB 21 Ricky Johnson
TE Jimmy Moore
RB Calvin Murray
RB Joel Payton
OL Joe Robinson
OL Jim Savoca
QB 10 Art Schlichter Fr
RB Ron Springs (C)
QB Mike Strahine
OL Tim Vogler
RB Ricardo Volley
OL Tom Waugh
Defense
Pos.#NameClass
CB 25 Todd Bell So
DL Byron Cato
LB 36 Tom Cousineau (C) Sr
LB Kelton Dansler
DL Gary Dunn
CB 27 Ray Ellis So
LB 65 Keith Ferguson So
DB Mike Guess
DL Luther Henson
LB 5 Jim Laughlin Jr
LB Paul Ross
DB Vince Skillings
DL Mark Sullivan
LB Al Washington
Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
K Bob Atha
K 13 Vlade Janakievski Jr
P 19 Tom Orosz So
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured Injured
  • Redshirt Redshirt

Roster

Depth chart

[1]

Game summaries

Penn State

1 234Total
Penn St 3 079 19
Ohio St 0 000 0
  • Date: September 18
  • Location: Ohio Stadium
  • Game start: 1:00 p.m. EST
  • Elapsed time: 2:48
  • Game attendance: 88,202
  • Game weather: Cloudy; 80 °F (27 °C); wind 10 mph (16 km/h) SW
  • Television network: ABC

Art Schlichter started the game at quarterback while Rod Gerald, the starter for the two previous seasons, opened the game at split end.[2]

Minnesota

Ohio State Buckeyes (0–1) at Minnesota Golden Gophers
Period 1 2 34Total
Ohio St 7 14 0627
Minnesota 0 0 077

at Memorial StadiumMinneapolis, Minnesota

  • Date: September 23
  • Game time: 1:30 p.m.
  • Game weather: Sunny • 71 °F (22 °C) • Wind SW 20 miles per hour (32 km/h; 17 kn)
  • Game attendance: 55,200
  • Referee: R. McVay
  • Ohio State Football Archives
Game information

[3]

Wisconsin

1 234Total
Ohio State 7 141414 49
Wisconsin 0 707 14

[4]

Illinois

1 234Total
Illinois 0 700 7
Ohio St 7 71021 45

[5]

At Indiana

Ohio State Buckeyes (6–2–1) at Indiana Hoosiers (4–5)
Period 1 2 34Total
Ohio St 7 0 7721
Indiana 7 3 0818

at Memorial Stadium, Bloomington, Indiana

  • Date: November 18, 1978
  • Game weather: Overcast • 41 °F (5 °C) • Wind 8 miles per hour (13 km/h; 7.0 kn) to 10 miles per hour (16 km/h; 8.7 kn)
  • Game attendance: 47,540
  • Box Score
Game information
  • Ricky Johnson played in place of the injured Ron Springs and Calvin Murray
  • Woody Hayes' last victory as Ohio State's head coach

Michigan

Michigan Wolverines at Ohio State Buckeyes
Period 1 2 34Total
Michigan 7 0 7014
Ohio St 3 0 003

at Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

  • Date: November 25, 1978
  • Game time: 12:56 p.m.
  • Game weather: Overcast, 40 °F (4 °C)
  • Game attendance: 88,358
  • TV: ABC
  • Box Score
Game information

Gator Bowl (vs. Clemson)

Gator Bowl: #7 Clemson Tigers (10–1) vs. #20 Ohio State Buckeyes (7–3–1)
Period 1 2 34Total
Ohio St 0 9 0615
Clemson 0 10 7017

at Gator Bowl, Jacksonville, Florida

  • Date: December 29, 1978
  • Game time: 9:00 p.m. EST
  • Game attendance: 72,011
  • Referee: Jim Artley
  • TV: ABC
  • Box Score
Game information

1979 NFL draftees

PlayerRoundPickPositionNFL club
Tom Cousineau11LinebackerBuffalo Bills
Ron Springs5136Running BackDallas Cowboys
Jimmy Moore6150GuardBaltimore Colts
Joe Robinson9229TackleKansas City Chiefs

References

  1. 1979 Ohio State Football Media Guide
  2. Ohio State Official Athletic Site - Football - Archives Archived 2015-06-21 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2015-Jun-21.
  3. "Buckeyes win by run." Eugene Register-Guard. 1978 Sept 24.
  4. "Buckeyes' Defense Overcomes Badgers." Palm Beach Post. 1978 Nov 5.
  5. Palm Beach Post November 12, 1978
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