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No. 8 Ohio State meets No. 9 Tennessee in the first round of the 12-team College Football Playoff on Saturday in the second meeting between the schools.
This offers another chance for the Buckeyes to break a trend against SEC schools in the postseason. Ohio State has lost bowl games to SEC schools each of the last two seasons.
Ohio State (10-2) is coming off a disappointing loss to Michigan in the regular-season finale, and a similar theme preceded the last meeting with Tennessee in the 1996 Citrus Bowl. The Buckeyes lost to the Wolverines 31-23 before losing to the Vols 20-14 in a game that featured Peyton Manning and Eddie George.
Will history repeat itself?
Ohio State’s history against the SEC has not been kind, but there is one memorable victory that still stands out.
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Ohio State record vs. SEC in bowl games
Ohio State is 5-14 against the SEC all time, but that record drops to 2-13 in bowl games.
The Buckeyes’ first bowl game against a SEC opponent was the 1978 Sugar Bowl, a top-10 showdown between No. 9 Ohio State and No. 3 Alabama that featured legendary coaches Woody Hayes and Bear Bryant. The Crimson Tide won, 35-6.
Ohio State also had a rough stretch against SEC opponents in bowl games in the 1990s before the Bowl Championship Series. John Cooper was on the losing end of all four bowl games against top-10 SEC teams.
| DATE | BOWL | RESULT |
| Jan. 1, 1990 | Hal of Fame | No. 9 Auburn 31, No. 21 Ohio State 14 |
| Jan. 1, 1993 | Citrus | No. 8 Georgia 21, No. 15 Ohio State 14 |
| Jan. 2, 1995 | Citrus | No. 6 Alabama 24, No. 13 Ohio State 17 |
| Jan. 1, 1996 | Citrus | No. 4 Tennessee 20, No. 4 Ohio State 14 |
Ohio State vs. SEC in BCS era
The Buckeyes had seven more bowl matchups against SEC opponents in the BCS era, which began in 1998. That started with back-to-back Outback Bowl losses against South Carolina in 2001-02.
No. 14 South Carolina beat No. 22 Ohio State 24-7 on Jan. 1, 2001, which was Cooper’s last game as the Buckeyes’ coach. The following season, No. 14 South Carolina beat No. 22 Ohio State 31-28 in Jim Tressel’s first bowl game.
Tressel would lead Ohio State to back-to-back BCS championship appearances in 2006 and 2007. The Buckeyes were ranked No. 1 both times, but they were rough losses. Florida – led by future Ohio State coach Urban Meyer – beat Ohio State 41-14 in the first one, and LSU beat the Buckeyes 38-24 the following season.
No. 6 Ohio State finally broke the curse against No. 8 Arkansas with a 31-26 victory in the Sugar Bowl on Nov. 4, 2011, but that win was later vacated because of NCAA violations. The following season, Florida beat Ohio State 24-17 in the Gator Bowl.
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Ohio State vs. SEC in College Football Playoff
It took a former SEC coach to break the SEC curse. Meyer, who took over at Ohio State in the 2012 season, led the Buckeyes to their first bowl victory against a SEC opponent on the biggest stage possible.
No. 4 Ohio State met No. 1 Alabama in the first year of the College Football Playoff in the Sugar Bowl semifinal. Ezekiel Elliott’s 85-yard touchdown run helped seal a 42-35 victory, and the Buckeyes won the national championship with a 42-20 victory in the CFP championship game.
The Crimson Tide met Ohio State in a rematch in the 2020 season in the CFP championship in a COVID-19 impacted season. That was Ryan Day’s second season as a head coach, and Alabama routed Ohio State 52-20.
Ryan Day vs. SEC schools
Day is 0-2 against SEC schools in bowl games.
No. 1 Georgia and No. 4 Ohio State played in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Dec. 32, 2022. The Bulldogs won a thrilling 42-41 shootout. Georgia erased a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter to pull out the victory.
No. 9 Missouri beat No. 7 Ohio State 14-3 in the Cotton Bowl Classic on Dec. 29, 2023 in the other bowl matchup. The Buckeyes managed just 203 total yards in the loss.
Now, the matchup with No. 9 Tennessee is Day’s third meeting with a SEC school. Ohio State is a 7.5-point favorite, so it should break the trend in this year’s College Football Playoff.