Cooper said.<\/a> \u201cThere wasn\u2019t any one thing. Ohio State is obviously a great school.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\tLed by quarterback Greg Frey and a collection of talented running backs, including Carlos Snow, the 1988 Ohio State football team marked Cooper\u2019s maiden voyage with the program.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n\tCooper\u2019s first challenge with the Buckeyes came against a Syracuse program that enjoyed an outstanding 1987 season, going 11-0 before tying No. 4 Auburn in the Sugar Bowl. Syracuse finished the season as the No. 4 team in the country.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n\tSyracuse had already picked up some momentum in the 1988 season as well, capturing a season-opening 31-21 victory over Temple to waltz into Columbus with a 1-0 record. Led by the running back duo of Daryl Johnson and Robert Drummond, and the pass-catching capabilities of Rob Moore, Syracuse boasted plenty of talent to give the Buckeyes fits in Cooper\u2019s Ohio Stadium debut.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Orangemen, who had won or tied in their last 14 games, opened the scoring, marching down the field to take a 3-0 lead, thanks to a 24-yard field goal from kicker Kevin J. Greene, with 6:10 remaining in the first quarter. The Syracuse advantage held until early in the second quarter, when Ohio State\u2019s Pat O\u2019Morrow scored the Buckeyes\u2019 first points of the season with a 27-yard field goal to tie the game at three.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n\tFrom that point forward, however, it was all Ohio State. The Buckeyes tacked on touchdowns in each of their next two possessions, thanks to a 14-yard rushing touchdown from Snow and a two-yard touchdown connection from Frey to tight end Jeff Ellis.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n\tGreene added a 45-yard field goal to cut Syracuse\u2019s gap to 11 points with 2:56 remaining in the opening half, and the Buckeyes ultimately entered the locker room with a 17-6 lead over the Orangemen.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Buckeyes continued to put pressure on Syracuse during the third quarter, as a pair of O\u2019Morrow field goals extended the Ohio State lead to 23-6 entering the game\u2019s final frame.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n\tSyracuse cut the gap slightly early in the final stanza, after Greene buried a 38-yarder to cut the deficit to 14. But, O\u2019Morrow matched that score with a 30-yard field goal of his own, setting the final score at 26-9 in favor of the Buckeyes.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n\tAs the final seconds dwindled off the game clock, members of the Ohio State football team hoisted Cooper on their shoulders to celebrate their coach\u2019s maiden win.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n\tCooper\u2019s debut victory was boosted by a showing of immense discipline from his team, as the Buckeyes did not record a single penalty in the win.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n\tFrey completed 12 of 17 passes for 141 yards and a touchdown in the win.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n\tWhile Ohio State enjoyed an outstanding victory against a solid opponent in its opener, the Buckeyes’ season immediately went into a tailspin a week later. Ohio State fell 42-10 on the road against Pittsburgh, and ultimately went on to finish the season with a 4-6-1 record \u2014 including a 34-31 loss to Michigan, Cooper\u2019s first of 10 defeats to the Wolverines during his time with the Buckeyes.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tCooper would reign over the Ohio State football program until 2000, amassing a 111-43-4 record during his time with the Buckeyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 1988 season represented a changing of the guard at the helm of the Ohio State football program.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":864205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,49,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-864204","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116387831095739779","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=864204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/864205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}