Ohio State claims nine national championships, won under five head coaches across 82 years. Woody Hayes has five of them, and the three most recent came in the three most recent formats: the BCS, the four team playoff and the twelve team playoff.
The Nine Claimed Titles
| Season | Coach | Record | How it was decided |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 | Paul Brown | 9, 1 | AP poll |
| 1954 | Woody Hayes | 10, 0 | AP poll, shared with UCLA |
| 1957 | Woody Hayes | 9, 1 | Coaches poll, shared with Auburn |
| 1961 | Woody Hayes | 8, 0, 1 | FWAA, shared with Alabama |
| 1968 | Woody Hayes | 10, 0 | Consensus |
| 1970 | Woody Hayes | 9, 1 | National Football Foundation |
| 2002 | Jim Tressel | 14, 0 | BCS championship game |
| 2014 | Urban Meyer | 14, 1 | College Football Playoff |
| 2024 | Ryan Day | 14, 2 | College Football Playoff |
Gold rows are undisputed titles. The others were shared with another school or awarded by a single selector.
The Three Undisputed Titles
1968. The Super Sophomores went 10 and 0, beat Michigan 50 to 14 and went for two late in that game because, as Hayes reportedly put it, he couldn’t go for three. They beat USC and O.J. Simpson in the Rose Bowl to finish it.
2002. Fourteen wins, most of them close. Ohio State beat Miami 31 to 24 in double overtime in the Fiesta Bowl, ending the Hurricanes’ 34 game winning streak. A pass interference call in the first overtime remains among the most argued decisions in the sport’s history.
2014. The first College Football Playoff. Ohio State lost its opening game to Virginia Tech, lost its starting quarterback twice, and won the title with third string quarterback Cardale Jones beating Alabama and Oregon in his second and third career starts.
2024: Four Wins in 31 Days
Ohio State lost to Michigan in the regular season finale and entered the first twelve team playoff as the No. 8 seed with no bye. They then beat Tennessee, Oregon, Texas and Notre Dame in succession, the first team to win four games in a single playoff and the first to beat five top five opponents in one season.
Our College Football Playoff results page covers every championship game.
1961: The Title Without a Bowl
The 1961 team went unbeaten, won the Big Ten, and was named national champion by the Football Writers Association. It did not play in the Rose Bowl because the Ohio State faculty council voted 28 to 25 to reject the invitation, on the grounds that football had become too prominent at the university. Students rioted. Hayes did not speak publicly about it for years.
It remains the only time a Big Ten champion has declined the Rose Bowl.
The Seven Unclaimed Titles
At least one recognised selector named Ohio State champion in seven other seasons: 1933, 1944, 1969, 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1998. The school does not claim any of them.
Three stand out. The 1944 team went 9 and 0 under Carroll Widdoes with Heisman winner Les Horvath and finished second to Army in the AP poll. The 1969 team was 8 and 0 and ranked first all season before losing to Michigan in the game that started the Ten Year War. The 1998 team was ranked first for most of the year before a November loss to Michigan State.
Claim all seven and Ohio State’s total is 16. Our page on most national championships explains why claimed and recognised counts differ.
The Coaches
| Woody Hayes | Five: 1954, 1957, 1961, 1968, 1970 |
| Paul Brown | One: 1942 |
| Jim Tressel | One: 2002 |
| Urban Meyer | One: 2014 |
| Ryan Day | One: 2024 |
Against Michigan
Ohio State has nine claimed titles to Michigan’s twelve, though Michigan’s most recent before 2023 was 1997 and Ohio State has won three since then. In the playoff era the count is Ohio State two, Michigan one. Our Michigan national championships page covers the other side.
The Bottom Line
Ohio State claims nine national championships: 1942, 1954, 1957, 1961, 1968, 1970, 2002, 2014 and 2024. Woody Hayes won five, and three of the nine were undisputed. Seven more seasons were named championships by at least one selector but are not claimed by the school, and the 1961 title came in a year the faculty refused to let the team play in the Rose Bowl.