The 1957 Ohio State Buckeyes football team represented the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

in the 1957 Big Ten Conference football season. The team was led by captains Galen Cisco and Leo Brown. They were the third national title team in Ohio State football history. They were coached by Hall of Fame coach

Woody Hayes Wayne Woodrow Hayes (February 14, 1913 – March 12, 1987) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Denison University (1946–1948), Miami University in Oxford, Ohio (1949–1950), and Ohio State University (1951 ...

. The Buckeyes were awarded the title by the

UPI United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...

Coaches Poll The Coaches Poll is a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football, Division I college basketball, and Division I college baseball teams. The football version of the poll has been known officially ...

and represented the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

in the Rose Bowl. The Buckeyes finished the 1956 season with a two shut-out losses to

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

and

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. Going into the 1957 season fans had a feeling of rebuilding. The feeling was made stronger with an opening loss to unranked TCU. To make matters worse,

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, Michigan and Iowa were all ranked in the Top 6 of the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

Rankings while Ohio State would not be ranked until late October. Coach Hayes rallied the team every week and made them better following this loss. The Buckeyes came back with a big win at

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

and victories over Illinois, Wisconsin and Purdue, along with crushing victories over Indiana and Northwestern. A shocking Purdue upset over #2 Michigan State, a tie between Michigan and Iowa, and Minnesota’s unraveling season after a loss to Illinois continued to help the Buckeyes. It was a late star performance by sophomore fullback Bob White against unbeaten Iowa that pushed the team even further. Trailing 13–10 and on their own 32-yard line, White ran on six of the eight plays for 66 out of the 68 yards, capped off by a 5-yard touchdown run. A victory over Michigan moved the Bucks up to #2 in the AP, behind

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

. However, the UPI Coaches' poll voted OSU #1 and Auburn #2. The Bucks were also declared #1 by the

Football Writers Association The Football Writers' Association (FWA) is an association of football journalists and correspondents writing for English newspapers and agencies. It presents the Footballer of the Year Award, the oldest and most distinguished award given in the d ...

Poll. Since Auburn was on probation during their 1957 season and did not participate in a bowl game as a result, and the fact that Ohio State played in the Rose Bowl, Ohio State is named national champions for this season by most writers. In a hard fought

Rose Bowl game The Rose Bowl Game is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 (New Year's Day) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2. The Rose ...

, a late field goal by

Don Sutherin Don Paul "Suds" Sutherin (February 29, 1936 – January 11, 2022) was a Canadian Football League (CFL) and National Football League (NFL) defensive back and placekicker. He is a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame (1992). Playing care ...

in the fourth quarter sealed the victory over the Oregon Webfoots. The Buckeyes finished the season 9–1 and named national champions.

Schedule

Roster

Game summaries

TCU

at Washington

Illinois

Indiana

at Wisconsin

Northwestern

Purdue

Iowa

at Michigan

Ohio State played without halfback Don Clark, who was sidelined with a groin injury.

vs. Oregon (Rose Bowl)

All-Americans

Aurealius Thomas, G

All-Big Ten

Aurealius Thomas, G
Leo Brown, E

MVP

Bill Jobko, G

1958 NFL draftees

References

;General * {{Big Ten Conference football champions

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

Ohio State Buckeyes football seasons College football national champions Big Ten Conference football champion seasons Rose Bowl champion seasons

Ohio State Buckeyes football The Ohio State Buckeyes football team competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, representing Ohio State University in the East Division of the Big Ten Conference. Ohio State has played their home games at Ohio Stadium in ...