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Minnesota vs. Ohio State

Minnesota and Ohio State have 56 meetings on file, the first in 1921; officially, Ohio State leads 48–⁠7; as played, 49–⁠7 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s Ohio State 10–⁠0, and Ohio State has won the last 14. The NCAA vacated Ohio State’s win (2010); it doesn’t count officially. This page counts every game as it was played.

Scheduled 2027 at Minnesota; 2028 at Ohio State. As the programs’ Wikipedia articles list them (CC BY-SA).

Official series
Ohio State leads 48–⁠7
Minnesota wins on file
7
Ohio State wins on file
49
Ties
0
Earliest on file
1921
Longest streak
16 Ohio State
Current streak
14 Ohio State
Last 10 meetings
Ohio State 10–⁠0
Most recent
2025

The series at a glance

’0’1’2’3’4’5’6’7’8’9W–L
1920s1–⁠1
1930s1–⁠1
1940s2–⁠3
1950s0–⁠1
1960s1–⁠2
1970s0–⁠10
1980s1–⁠9
1990s0–⁠8
2000s1–⁠7
2010s0–⁠4
2020s0–⁠3
Both ranked
6 meetings: Minnesota 2, Ohio State 4
Average margin
21.1 points; 14 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
At Minnesota
4–⁠23 Minnesota’s record at home
At Ohio State
26–⁠3 Ohio State’s record at home
Shutouts
9

Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.

Games that tell the story

  1. Minnesota’s biggest win1949: Minnesota 27, Ohio State 0by 27 points
  2. Ohio State’s biggest win1983: Ohio State 69, Minnesota 18by 51 points
  3. Upset2000: Minnesota 29, Ohio State 17Minnesota had a 30% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  4. Upset1981: Minnesota 35, Ohio State 31Minnesota had a 33% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  5. Ranked showdown1949: Minnesota 27, Ohio State 0No. 5 Minnesota at No. 11 Ohio State
  6. Ranked showdown1945: Ohio State 20, Minnesota 7No. 12 Ohio State at No. 5 Minnesota
  7. Ranked showdown1940: Minnesota 13, Ohio State 7No. 7 Minnesota at No. 15 Ohio State
  8. Ranked showdown2002: Ohio State 34, Minnesota 3No. 23 Minnesota at No. 6 Ohio State

Coach against coach

YearsMinnesotaSeriesOhio State
1965–⁠1971Murray Warmath1–⁠4Woody Hayes
1972–⁠1978Cal Stoll0–⁠7Woody Hayes
1979–⁠1983Joe Salem1–⁠4Earle Bruce
1988–⁠1991John Gutekunst0–⁠4John Cooper
1992–⁠1996Jim Wacker0–⁠3John Cooper
1997–⁠2000Glen Mason1–⁠3John Cooper
2001–⁠2006Glen Mason0–⁠4Jim Tressel
2007–⁠2009Tim Brewster0–⁠3Jim Tressel
2021–⁠2025P.J. Fleck0–⁠3Ryan Day

Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from Minnesota’s side (Warmath 1–⁠4 against Hayes). A season split between coaches goes to the one credited with the game.

Both programs through the years

End-of-season Elo ratings of Minnesota and Ohio State, 1921 on130015001700190019401960198020002020

Our Elo rating at the end of each season, a measure of how strong a team was, not a forecast; 1500 is an average FBS team.

Stars of the series

Biggest days

Dwayne Haskins Ohio State33 of 44, 412 yards, 3 TD2018 Passing

Biggest days: the week’s best individual games by our big-days rule, from box scores (2004 on).

From the newspapers

  • The Grand Forks herald's story of the 1921 game: BUCKEYES WIN FROM C0PHERS Ohio Stages Strong Come back and Defeats Mime /. sofa 40

    1921 · Grand Forks herald, Grand Forks, N.D., Oct 17, 1921

  • The New-York tribune's story of the 1922 game: Michigan Downs Illinois "a to O, and Minnesota Vanquishes Ohio State

    1922 · New-York tribune, Oct 29, 1922

  • The The Daily Alaska empire's story of the 1939 game: OHIO STATE NOSES OVER MINNESOTA Fiffy-five Thousand Fans Witness Big Ten Top sy-TurvY Game

    1939 · The Daily Alaska empire, Oct 23, 1939

  • The The Daily Alaska empire's story of the 1940 game: Ohio State Loses Tit|e, Char mpion three Thousand Rain Drenehed Fans See Minnesota Win

    1940 · The Daily Alaska empire, Alaska, Oct 21, 1940

  • The Detroit evening times's story of the 1944 game: PENALTY is COSTLY

    1944 · Detroit evening times, Detroit, Mich, Oct 30, 1944

Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The earliest meetings with a story on file; each game’s page has the full text.

On television

2025NBC3.7 million viewers

Viewers: Nielsen, as compiled by nschultz7’s ratings tracker.

Every game

Oct 4, 20251Ohio State 42, Minnesota 3at Ohio State
Nov 18, 20233Ohio State 37, Minnesota 3at Ohio State
Sep 2, 20214Ohio State 45, Minnesota 31at Minnesota
Oct 13, 20183Ohio State 30, Minnesota 14at Ohio State
Nov 7, 20151Ohio State 28, Minnesota 14at Ohio State
Nov 15, 20148Ohio State 31, Minnesota 24at Minnesota
Oct 30, 201010Ohio State 52, Minnesota 10vacatedat Minnesota
Oct 24, 200918Ohio State 38, Minnesota 7at Ohio State
Sep 27, 200814Ohio State 34, Minnesota 21at Ohio State
Sep 29, 20078Ohio State 30, Minnesota 7at Minnesota
Oct 28, 20061Ohio State 44, Minnesota 0at Ohio State
Oct 29, 200512Ohio State 45, Minnesota 31at Minnesota
Nov 2, 20026Ohio State 34, 23Minnesota 3at Ohio State
Nov 3, 2001Ohio State 31, Minnesota 28at Minnesota
Oct 14, 2000Minnesota 29, 6Ohio State 17at Ohio State
Oct 23, 199922Ohio State 20, 24Minnesota 17at Minnesota
Oct 17, 19981Ohio State 45, Minnesota 15at Ohio State
Nov 8, 19977Ohio State 31, Minnesota 3at Minnesota
Nov 2, 19962Ohio State 45, Minnesota 0at Ohio State
Nov 4, 19954Ohio State 49, Minnesota 21at Minnesota
Nov 7, 199222Ohio State 17, Minnesota 0at Ohio State
Nov 9, 199119Ohio State 35, Minnesota 6at Minnesota
Oct 27, 1990Ohio State 52, Minnesota 23at Ohio State
Oct 28, 1989Ohio State 41, Minnesota 37at Minnesota
Oct 22, 1988Ohio State 13, Minnesota 6at Minnesota
Oct 24, 198716Ohio State 42, Minnesota 9at Ohio State
Oct 25, 1986Ohio State 33, Minnesota 0at Ohio State
Oct 26, 19859Ohio State 23, 20Minnesota 19at Minnesota
Sep 29, 19843Ohio State 35, Minnesota 22at Minnesota
Oct 1, 19838Ohio State 69, Minnesota 18at Ohio State
Nov 6, 1982Ohio State 35, Minnesota 10at Ohio State
Nov 7, 1981Minnesota 35, 18Ohio State 31at Minnesota
Sep 20, 19802Ohio State 47, Minnesota 0at Ohio State
Sep 15, 197915Ohio State 21, Minnesota 17at Minnesota
Sep 23, 197816Ohio State 27, Minnesota 10at Minnesota
Sep 17, 19776Ohio State 38, Minnesota 7at Ohio State
Nov 13, 19768Ohio State 9, Minnesota 3at Minnesota
Nov 15, 19751Ohio State 38, Minnesota 6at Ohio State
Sep 14, 19744Ohio State 34, Minnesota 19at Minnesota
Sep 15, 19733Ohio State 56, Minnesota 7at Ohio State
Nov 4, 19725Ohio State 27, Minnesota 19at Ohio State
Oct 30, 197110Ohio State 14, Minnesota 12at Minnesota
Oct 17, 19701Ohio State 28, Minnesota 8at Ohio State
Oct 18, 19691Ohio State 34, Minnesota 7at Minnesota
Oct 29, 1966Minnesota 17, Ohio State 7at Minnesota
Oct 30, 1965Ohio State 11, Minnesota 10at Ohio State
Oct 21, 19509Ohio State 48, Minnesota 0at Minnesota
Oct 15, 19495Minnesota 27, 11Ohio State 0at Ohio State
Oct 26, 1946Ohio State 39, Minnesota 9at Ohio State
Oct 27, 194512Ohio State 20, 5Minnesota 7at Minnesota
Oct 28, 19444Ohio State 34, Minnesota 14at Ohio State
Oct 19, 19407Minnesota 13, 15Ohio State 7at Ohio State
Oct 21, 193910Ohio State 23, Minnesota 20at Minnesota
Nov 28, 1931Minnesota 19, Ohio State 7at Minnesota
Oct 28, 1922Minnesota 9, Ohio State 0at Minnesota
Oct 15, 1921Ohio State 27, Minnesota 0at Ohio State

Every game is listed as played on the field; a win the NCAA later vacated is marked “vacated”; the official series above counts them the NCAA’s way.