Ohio State

1.  Ohio University and Miami of Ohio are two of the oldest and best public universities in the country, but they are both in the southern part of the state -- which turned out not to be very convenient once the largest city in Ohio ended up on the shores of Lake Erie.  So while the Ohio State University is only the ninth oldest university in the State -- it wasn't formed until 1870 -- its central location and comprehensive curriculum allowed it to become a dominant force in the state.  It also meant that Ohio -- unlike Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan -- has only ever had one member of the Big 10.  And that meant that Ohio State will always get the lion's share of football players in one of the most talent-laden states in America.

2.  It took a long while for Ohio State to really get going.  Up until the 1930's, the three great college football powerhouses in the Midwest were Michigan, Notre Dame, and Chicago.  OSU didn't have a really good team until 1935, when the Buckeyes went 7-1.  In 1942, however, Paul Brown -- yes, that Paul Brown -- took the Buckeyes all the way to their first National Championship.  But he left for another job, and the war messed everything up.  By 1951, Michigan led the all-time series against OSU with a record of 32-12-4.

3.  Then, in 1951, Woody Hayes became the head coach, and everything changed.  Hayes made the Buckeyes the best program in the Midwest, with the possible exception of Notre Dame.  He went 16-11-1 against Michigan, he won the National Championship in 1954 and 1968, and he ruined a lot of my Saturday afternoons in the 1970's with really boring wins against hapless Big 10 competition.

4.  Ohio State wasn't the same for a long time after Woody Hayes left.  For one thing, Ohio -- which had been an extremely important and powerful state from the Civil War until the 1950's -- was slowly turning into the Rust Belt.  For another, Southern schools had started to use African American players, which dramatically changed the playing field in college football.  OSU spent most of the 1980's and 1990's longing for a return to the glory years.

5.  They finally got there in 2002, when they beat Miami of Florida to win the National Championship in what has to be one of the most violent college football games ever played.  Under Jim Tressell, the Buckeyes were always good -- he finished with a record of 106-22, even though he never won another national title.  In each of his last six seasons, OSU finished in the top 10.

6.  Tressell departed in the wake of a scandal, but by 2012 the Bucks had plugged in Urban Meyer.  He was even better than Tressell, leading OSU to its fifth national title in 2014 and putting up a record of 83-9.  Of his seven teams at Ohio State, five finished in the AP top five.  He won a Sugar Bowl, a Fiesta Bowl, a Cotton Bowl, and a Rose Bowl.  He went 54-4 in the Big 10, and never lost to Michigan.  (Now OSU trails by only 51-58-6 in that series).  I think he's the best coach they ever had, with the possible exception of Paul Brown.

7.  Now Meyer is gone, and the job falls to Ryan Day, who was the offensive coordinator last year.  He has some big shoes to fill.  But he's in a very good place for a football coach.