Big Ten and Instate Dominance: Is Ohio State the Nation’s Best Head Coaching Job?

Photo courtesy of Ohio State athletics

There are many universities that can claim that their head coaching job is the best one in college football — from Alabama, which claims 18 national championships, to Texas, which can leave a dump truck of cash at your door.

Ohio State is often a popular choice in this debate. In this piece, we’ll give you a few facts on why someone should always take the Ohio State job.

We all know that Ohio State can offer money, give you prestige, tradition, and all that good stuff. But the fact is when you take over at Ohio State, you are taking over a machine that is a winner and one that the nearby geographic foes just cannot conquer.

Big Ten Dominance

Below is a look at the last time each Big Ten Team defeated Ohio State in consecutive tries:

  • Maryland: Never
  • Nebraska: Never
  • Rutgers: Never
  • Minnesota: 1922 and 1931
  • Iowa: 1959 and 1960
  • Purdue: 1960 and 1967
  • Northwestern: 1962 and 1963
  • Penn State: 1978 and 1980
  • Indiana: 1987 and 1988
  • Illinois: 1991 and 1992
  • Michigan State: 1998 and 1999
  • Michigan: 1999 and 2000
  • Wisconsin: 2003 and 2004

No one is going to say the Big Ten is a weak conference, but this stat alone speaks volumes about Ohio State. The Buckeyes are consistently superior to the majority of their conference. We are approaching the 20-year mark of the last time that a fellow Big Ten team beat them in consecutive tries.

When one gets the head coaching job at Ohio State, he is basically given keys to a Jaguar and asked not to screw it up. At this point, the machine is just running itself, as no conference opponent can consistently challenge Ohio State.

Ohio State’s 44-Game Winning Streak vs. Instate Opponents

The Buckeyes have gone more than 100 years without losing to an instate opponent and it stretches over 44 games. The last team in Ohio to beat the Buckeyes was Oberlin College in 1921.

While Cincinnati is building something special right now, we can’t accurately say what its future looks like. If no one in your conference or state can consistently stop you, who can?

Leave us a comment below. How would you rank the Ohio State job amongst all the others in college football?