1955 Ohio State Buckeyes football team

American college football season

1955 Ohio State Buckeyes football

Big Ten champion
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 5
AP	No. 5
Record	7–2 (6–0 Big Ten)
Head coach	Woody Hayes (5th season)
MVP	Howard Cassady
Captain	Fran Machinsky, Ken Vargo
Home stadium	Ohio Stadium
Seasons ← 1954 1956 →

1955 Big Ten Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 5 Ohio State $	6	–	0	–	0	7	–	2	–	0
No. 2 Michigan State	5	–	1	–	0	9	–	1	–	0
No. 12 Michigan	5	–	2	–	0	7	–	2	–	0
Purdue	4	–	2	–	1	5	–	3	–	1
Illinois	3	–	3	–	1	5	–	3	–	1
Wisconsin	3	–	4	–	0	4	–	5	–	0
Iowa	2	–	3	–	1	3	–	5	–	1
Minnesota	2	–	5	–	0	3	–	6	–	0
Indiana	1	–	5	–	0	3	–	6	–	0
Northwestern	0	–	6	–	1	0	–	8	–	1

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1955 Ohio State Buckeyes football team represented the Ohio State University in the 1955 Big Ten Conference football season. The Buckeyes compiled a 7–2 record.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 24	Nebraska*	No. 6	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	W 28–20	80,171
October 1	at Stanford*	No. 8	Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA	L 0–6	28,000
October 8	Illinois		Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH (Illibuck Trophy)	W 27–12	82,407
October 15	No. 11 Duke*	No. 14	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	L 14–20	82,254	^[1]
October 22	at No. 15 Wisconsin		Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	W 26–16	53,529
October 29	Northwestern	No. 15	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	W 49–0	82,214
November 5	Indiana	No. 11	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	W 20–13	80,730
November 12	No. 20 Iowa	No. 10	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	W 20–10	82,701
November 19	at No. 6 Michigan	No. 9	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI (rivalry)	W 17–0	97,369
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Game summaries

Nebraska

Team Statistics
Statistic	Ohio State	Nebraska
Pass Atts.	3	26
Pass Comps.	1	11
Pass Yards	17	189
Yds./Pass	17.0	17.2

Rush Atts.	61	36
Rush Yards	321	138
Yds./Rush	5.3	3.8

Total Yards	338	327

Fumbles Lost	1	3
Interceptions	0	1
Total Turnovers	1	4

^[2]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Nebraska	6	7	7	0	20
• Ohio State	7	7	14	0	28

Date: September 24
Location: Ohio Stadium
Game attendance: 80,171
Game weather: 72 °F (22 °C)

Scoring summary

Q1	OSU	Cassady 14 yard rush (Kriss kick)	OSU 7–0

Q1	NEB	Erway 9 yard rush (Erway kick failed)	OSU 7–6

Q2	OSU	Cassady 10 yard rush (Kriss kick)	OSU 14–6

Q2	NEB	Edwards 87 yard int. return (Erway kick)	OSU 14–13

Q3	OSU	Cassady 1 yard rush (Kriss kick)	OSU 21–13

Q3	NEB	Williams 11 yard pass from Erway (Plum kick)	OSU 21–20

Q3	OSU	Ellwood 1 yard rush (Kriss kick)	OSU 28–20

Stanford

Team Statistics
Statistic	Stanford	Ohio State
Pass Atts.	13	12
Pass Comps.	6	5
Pass Yards	66	41
Yds./Pass	11.0	8.2

Rush Atts.	41	57
Rush Yards	152	187
Yds./Rush	3.7	3.3

Total Yards	218	228

Fumbles Lost	1	1
Interceptions	0	1
Total Turnovers	1	2

^[3]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Ohio State	0	0	0	0	0
• Stanford	6	0	0	0	6

Date: October 1
Location: Stanford Stadium
Game attendance: 28,000
Game weather: Fair

Scoring summary

Q4		STAN	Cameka 1 yard pass from Gustafson (Raftery kick failed)	STAN 6–0

Illinois

Team Statistics
Statistic	Ohio State	Illinois
Pass Atts.	9	15
Pass Comps.	4	7
Pass Yards	17	175
Yds./Pass	4.3	25.0

Rush Atts.	55	51
Rush Yards	334	196
Yds./Rush	6.1	3.8

Total Yards	351	371

Fumbles Lost	0	2
Interceptions	0	1
Total Turnovers	0	3

^[4]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Illinois	6	0	0	6	12
• Ohio State	13	0	7	7	27

Date: October 8
Location: Ohio Stadium
Game attendance: 82,407
Game weather: 65 °F (18 °C)

Scoring summary

Q1	ILL	Lindbeck 1 yard rush (kick failed)	ILL 0–6

Q1	OSU	Cassady 18 yard rush (Kriss kick failed)	tie 6–6

Q1	OSU	Michael 15 yard pass from Ellwood (Kriss kick)	OSU 13–6

Q3	OSU	Ellwood 3 yard rush (Kriss kick)	OSU 20–6

Q4	OSU	Cassady 4 yard rush (Kriss kick)	OSU 27–6

Q4	ILL	Stout 1 yard run (kick failed)	OSU 27–12

Duke

Team Statistics
Statistic	Ohio State	Duke
Pass Atts.	10	13
Pass Comps.	2	9
Pass Yards	27	125
Yds./Pass	13.5	13.9

Rush Atts.	34	65
Rush Yards	138	218
Yds./Rush	4.1	3.4

Total Yards	165	343

Fumbles Lost	4	3
Interceptions	2	1
Total Turnovers	6	4

^[5]

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Duke	0	7	7	6	20
Ohio State	7	7	0	0	14

Location: Ohio Stadium
Elapsed time: October 15
Game attendance: 82,254
Game weather: 68 °F (20 °C)

Scoring summary

Q1	OSU	Roseboro 45 yard rush (Kriss kick)	OSU 7–0

Q2	DUKE	Blaney 5 yard pass from Pascal (Nelson kick)	tie 7–7

Q2	OSU	Cassady 38 yard punt return (Kriss kick)	OSU 14–7

Q3	DUKE	Pascal 1 yard rush (Nelson kick)	tie 14–14

Q4	DUKE	Jurgenson 1 yard run (kick failed)	DUKE 14–20

Wisconsin

Team Statistics
Statistic	Wisconsin	Ohio State
Pass Atts.	18	4
Pass Comps.	7	2
Pass Yards	94	32
Yds./Pass	13.4	16.0

Rush Atts.	50	59
Rush Yards	284	272
Yds./Rush	5.7	4.6

Total Yards	378	304

Fumbles Lost	2	1
Interceptions	1	0
Total Turnovers	3	1

^[6] ^[7]

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Ohio State	0	12	0	14	26
Wisconsin	0	14	0	2	16

Date: October 22
Location: Camp Randall Stadium
Game attendance: 53,529
Game weather: 56 °F (13 °C), Partly Cloudy

Scoring summary

Q2	WISC	Levenhagen 4 yard rush (Peters kick)	WISC 0–7

Q2	WISC	Thomas 2 yard rush (Shwaiko kick)	WISC 0–14

Q2	OSU	Ellwood 1 yard rush (Kriss kick failed)	WISC 6–14

Q2	OSU	Ellwood 3 yard rush (Kriss kick failed)	WISC 12–14

Q4	OSU	Ellwood 1 yard rush (Cannavino kick)	OSU 19–14

Q4	OSU	Cassady 13 yard rush (Kriss kick)	OSU 26–14

Q4	WISC	Safety	OSU 26–16

Northwestern

Team Statistics
Statistic	Ohio State	Northwestern
Pass Atts.	5	19
Pass Comps.	2	8
Pass Yards	24	75
Yds./Pass	12.0	9.4

Rush Atts.	65	46
Rush Yards	395	166
Yds./Rush	6.1	3.6

Total Yards	419	241

Fumbles Lost	0	1
Interceptions	0	5
Total Turnovers	0	6

^[8]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Northwestern	0	0	0	0	0
• Ohio State	14	14	7	14	49

Date: October 29
Location: Ohio Stadium
Game attendance: 82,214
Game weather: 52 °F (11 °C), Windy

Scoring summary

Q1	OSU	Cassady 30 yard rush (Kriss kick)	OSU 7–0

Q1	OSU	Roseboro 1 yard rush (Kriss kick)	OSU 14–0

Q2	OSU	Parker 42 yard fumble return (Kriss kick)	OSU 21–0

Q2	OSU	Cassady 3 yard rush (Kriss kick)	OSU 28–0

Q3	OSU	Brown 2 yard pass from Ellwood (Kriss kick)	OSU 35–0

Q4	OSU	Cannavino 4 yard rush (Kriss kick)	OSU 42–0

Q4	OSU	Williams 5 yard run (Sutherin kick)	OSU 49–0

Indiana

Team Statistics
Statistic	Ohio State	Indiana
Pass Atts.	2	18
Pass Comps.	0	11
Pass Yards	0	142
Yds./Pass	0.0	12.9

Rush Atts.	52	47
Rush Yards	251	159
Yds./Rush	4.8	3.4

Total Yards	251	301

Fumbles Lost	2	1
Interceptions	0	0
Total Turnovers	2	1

^[9]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Indiana	0	6	0	7	13
• Ohio State	0	14	0	6	20

Date: November 5
Location: Ohio Stadium
Game attendance: 80,730
Game weather: 47 °F (8 °C), Clear

Scoring summary

Q2	OSU	Cassady 1 yard rush (Kriss kick)	OSU 7–0

Q2	IU	Campbell 1 yard rush (Hall kick failed)	OSU 7–6

Q2	OSU	Cassady 2 yard rush (Kriss kick)	OSU 14–6

Q4	OSU	Harkrader 3 yard rush (Kriss kick failed)	OSU 20–7

Q4	IU	Bomba 4 yard pass from Cichowski (Hall kick)	OSU 20–14

Iowa

Team Statistics
Statistic	Ohio State	Iowa
Pass Atts.	3	14
Pass Comps.	0	9
Pass Yards	0	101
Yds./Pass	0.0	11.2

Rush Atts.	53	45
Rush Yards	274	171
Yds./Rush	5.2	3.8

Total Yards	273	272

Fumbles Lost	0	1
Interceptions	0	1
Total Turnovers	0	2

^[10]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Iowa	3	7	0	0	10
• Ohio State	7	6	0	7	20

Date: November 12
Location: Ohio Stadium
Game attendance: 82,701
Game weather: 55 °F (13 °C), Cloudy

Scoring summary

Q1	IOWA	Freeman 15 yard field goal	IOWA 0–3

Q1	OSU	Cassady 45 yard rush (Kriss kick)	OSU 7–3

Q2	OSU	Cassady 10 yard rush (Kriss kick failed)	OSU 13–3

Q2	IOWA	Freeman 5 yard pass from Reichow (Freeman kick)	OSU 13–10

Q4	OSU	Cassady 3 yard run (Kriss kick)	OSU 20–10

Michigan

Team Statistics
Statistic	Michigan	Ohio State
Pass Atts.	9	3
Pass Comps.	3	1
Pass Yards	14	4
Yds./Pass	4.7	4.0

Rush Atts.	31	72
Rush Yards	95	333
Yds./Rush	3.1	4.6

Total Yards	109	337

Fumbles Lost	0	2
Interceptions	2	0
Total Turnovers	2	2

^[11]

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Ohio State	0	3	0	14	17
Michigan	0	0	0	0	0

Date: November 19
Location: Michigan Stadium
Game attendance: 97,369
Game weather: Fair

Scoring summary

Q2	OSU	Kriss 17 yard field goal	OSU 3–0

Q4	OSU	Cassady 2 yard rush (Sutherin kick failed)	OSU 9–0

Q4	OSU	Vicic 1 yard rush (Sutherin kick failed)	OSU 15–0

Q4	OSU	Safety	OSU 17–0

Coaching staff

Woody Hayes - Head Coach - 5th year

Awards and honors

Howard Cassady, Heisman Trophy^[12]

Trivia

The November 12 game against Iowa was mentioned in the movie Back to the Future Part II. A radio announcer telling the scores of the day's games mentions that Ohio State beat Iowa 20-10.

1956 NFL draftees

Player	Round	Pick	Position	NFL club
Howard Cassady	1	3	Halfback	Detroit Lions
Fran Machinsky	4	41	Tackle	Washington Redskins
Ken Vargo	9	106	Center	Chicago Bears
Jerry Harkrader	22	261	Back	New York Giants

References

^ "Ohio State beaten by Duke, 20–14, Bucks blow lead". The Cincinnati Enquirer. October 16, 1955. Retrieved January 5, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 22, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 22, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 22, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 23, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "Blast from the Past: No. 15 Wisconsin 10/22/1955". October 22, 2016.
^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "Heisman.com - Heisman Trophy". Archived from the original on September 16, 2009. Retrieved November 23, 2007.

v t e Ohio State Buckeyes football
Venues	Recreation Park (1890–1897) Ohio Field (1898–1921) Ohio Stadium (1922–present) Woody Hayes Athletic Center (practice)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Illinois: Illibuck Trophy Michigan (The Ten Year War) Penn State
Culture & lore	History Block O Brutus Buckeye "Across the Field" "Buckeye Battle Cry" "Carmen Ohio" "Hang On Sloopy" Marching band Neutron Man The Ten Year War Snow Bowl (1950) 1969 Michigan game 1973 Michigan game The Kick Holy Buckeye 2005 Texas game 2006 Michigan game 2016 Penn State game
Media	WBNS-TV WBNS WBNS-FM Ohio State Sports Network
People	Head coaches All-Century Team NFL draftees Statistical leaders Retired numbers
Seasons	1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold

v t e Big Ten Conference football champions
Western Conference	Wisconsin (1896) Wisconsin (1897) Michigan (1898) Chicago (1899) Iowa & Minnesota (1900) Michigan & Wisconsin (1901) Michigan (1902) Michigan, Minnesota, & Northwestern (1903) Michigan & Minnesota (1904) Chicago (1905) Michigan, Minnesota, & Wisconsin (1906) Chicago (1907) Chicago (1908) Minnesota (1909) Illinois & Minnesota (1910) Minnesota (1911) Wisconsin (1912) Chicago (1913) Illinois (1914) Illinois & Minnesota (1915) Ohio State (1916)
Big Ten	Ohio State (1917) Illinois, Michigan, & Purdue (1918) Illinois (1919) Ohio State (1920) Iowa (1921) Chicago, Iowa, & Michigan (1922) Illinois & Michigan (1923) Chicago (1924) Michigan (1925) Michigan & Northwestern (1926) Illinois & Minnesota (1927) Illinois (1928) Purdue (1929) Michigan & Northwestern (1930) Purdue, Michigan & Northwestern (1931) Michigan & Purdue (1932) Michigan & Minnesota (1933) Minnesota (1934) Minnesota & Ohio State (1935) Northwestern (1936) Minnesota (1937) Minnesota (1938) Ohio State (1939) Minnesota (1940) Minnesota (1941) Ohio State (1942) Michigan & Purdue (1943) Ohio State (1944) Indiana (1945)
Big Nine	Illinois (1946) Michigan (1947) Michigan (1948) Michigan & Ohio State (1949)
Big Ten	Michigan (1950) Illinois (1951) Purdue & Wisconsin (1952) Illinois & Michigan State (1953) Ohio State (1954) Ohio State (1955) Iowa (1956) Ohio State (1957) Iowa (1958) Wisconsin (1959) Minnesota & Iowa (1960) Ohio State (1961) Wisconsin (1962) Illinois (1963) Michigan (1964) Michigan State (1965) Michigan State (1966) Indiana, Minnesota, Purdue (1967) Ohio State (1968) Michigan & Ohio State (1969) Ohio State (1970) Michigan (1971) Michigan & Ohio State (1972) Michigan & Ohio State (1973) Michigan & Ohio State (1974) Ohio State (1975) Michigan & Ohio State (1976) Michigan & Ohio State (1977) Michigan & Michigan State (1978) Ohio State (1979) Michigan (1980) Iowa & Ohio State (1981) Michigan (1982) Illinois (1983) Ohio State (1984) Iowa (1985) Michigan & Ohio State (1986) Michigan State (1987) Michigan (1988) Michigan (1989) Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, & Michigan State (1990) Michigan (1991) Michigan (1992) Ohio State & Wisconsin (1993) Penn State (1994) Northwestern (1995) Ohio State & Northwestern (1996) Michigan (1997) Michigan, Ohio State, & Wisconsin (1998) Wisconsin (1999) Michigan, Northwestern, & Purdue (2000) Illinois (2001) Ohio State & Iowa (2002) Michigan (2003) Iowa & Michigan (2004) Ohio State & Penn State (2005) Ohio State (2006) Ohio State (2007) Ohio State & Penn State (2008) Ohio State (2009) Michigan State & Wisconsin (2010) Wisconsin (2011) Wisconsin (2012) Michigan State (2013) Ohio State (2014) Michigan State (2015) Penn State (2016) Ohio State (2017) Ohio State (2018) Ohio State (2019) Ohio State (2020) Michigan (2021) Michigan (2022) Michigan (2023)
National championships in bold