COLUMBUS — As Ohio State rolled through the Big Ten in the back half of the 2000s, the Buckeyes were looking over their shoulder. Or at least OSU fans began to do it.
In the six seasons between 2005 and 2010, the Buckeyes won or shared the Big Ten title each year. Overall, the Buckeyes lost five conference games in those six years.
Penn State lost 15 — three times as many.
Wisconsin lost 16, Michigan lost 24, Iowa and Michigan State lost 25.
There was no Oregon, no Nebraska, no USC, no upstart Indiana. There was nothing in Ohio State’s backyard, nothing right in front of the Buckeyes, to threaten them. There were one-off losses— Illinois in 2007, Purdue in 2009, Wisconsin in 2010 — that came as a shock. But nothing familiar was consistently a threat.
So Ohio State fans, I believe, started searching for what was out there. They looked over their shoulder. They sought out what they knew to be looming. For good reason.