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1971 Ohio State

6–⁠4 (5–⁠3 Big Ten), coached by Woody Hayes.

Schedule and results

Ohio State in 1971, game by game: won vs. Iowa 52–21; lost vs. No. 10 Colorado 14–20; won vs. California 35–3; won at Illinois 24–10; won at Indiana 27–7; won vs. Wisconsin 31–6; won at Minnesota 14–12; lost vs. Michigan State 10–17; lost vs. Northwestern 10–14; lost at No. 3 Michigan 7–10+32−7Won 52–21 vs. Iowa+31IowaLost 14–20 vs. No. 10 Colorado-6No. 10 ColoradoWon 35–3 vs. California+32CaliforniaWon 24–10 at Illinois+14IllinoisWon 27–7 at Indiana+20IndianaWon 31–6 vs. Wisconsin+25WisconsinWon 14–12 at Minnesota+2MinnesotaLost 10–17 vs. Michigan State-7Michigan StateLost 10–14 vs. Northwestern-4NorthwesternLost 7–10 at No. 3 Michigan-3No. 3 Michigan
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 11vsIowaW 52–⁠2181%
Sep 25vs10ColoradoL 14–⁠2062%
Oct 2vsCaliforniaW 35–⁠369%
Oct 9atIllinoisW 24–⁠1084%
Oct 16atIndianaW 27–⁠783%
Oct 23vsWisconsinW 31–⁠681%
Oct 30atMinnesotaW 14–⁠1274%
Nov 6vsMichigan StateL 10–⁠1777%
Nov 13vsNorthwesternL 10–⁠1474%
Nov 20at3MichiganL 7–⁠1028%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Michigan 10–⁠7; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 3rd in the Big Ten.

In program history: The 71st-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 128 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 1: 11
  2. Wk 2: 5
  3. Wk 3: 6
  4. Wk 4: 14
  5. Wk 5: 15
  6. Wk 6: 13
  7. Wk 7: 12
  8. Wk 8: 10
  9. Wk 9: 9
  10. Wk 10: 16

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1971.

Record
6–⁠4
Conference
5–⁠3 tied for 3rd in Big Ten
AP final
Unranked peak No. 5
Points
224–⁠120
Coach
Woody Hayes
Elo
1619 −29 this season
SP+ rating
14.2 No. 21 of 120; offense No. 44, defense No. 10
SRS
17.2 No. 17 of 128 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Defensive coordinator
George Hill
Captains
Tom DeLeone and Harry Howard
Most valuable player
Tom DeLeone

Drafted in 1972

The 1972 draft
Rd 5Tom DeLeone CCincinnati Bengals

All-Big Ten

5 first team, 2 second team

First team

Second team

  • Tom CampanaDBUPI-2
  • Harry HowardDBUPI-2

From Wikipedia’s 1971 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1971 Big Ten standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Michigan8–⁠011–⁠16
Northwestern6–⁠37–⁠4
Ohio State5–⁠36–⁠4
Michigan State5–⁠36–⁠5
Illinois5–⁠35–⁠6
Wisconsin3–⁠54–⁠6–⁠1
Minnesota3–⁠54–⁠7
Purdue3–⁠53–⁠7
Indiana2–⁠63–⁠8
Iowa1–⁠81–⁠10

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.