Ohio
For better or worse, which Ohio State lineups have contributed late in recent games?
Video: Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton, Felix Okpara after Michigan loss
Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton and Felix Okpara talk with reporters after a loss at Michigan on Jan. 15, 2024.
The first crack in the Ohio State armor was delivered by Saturday’s opponent.
Riding high at 8-1 overall and on the cusp of climbing into the Associated Press top 25, the Buckeyes led by 18 points at Penn State with 15:31 to play only to stumble their way to an 83-80 loss. It was a gradual surrender by the Buckeyes, who would use 10 different lineup combinations in the final 15 minutes in a futile effort to stave off the Penn State comeback.
The loss showed that Ohio State wasn’t past occasionally getting burned when playing with fire, and that lesson has been hammered home again during the last two weeks. When the Buckeyes host the Nittany Lions in the rematch, they’ll do so on a three-game losing streak that has seen them again falter late. But unlike in the Penn State game, or the Jan. 10 home loss to No. 15 Wisconsin, Ohio State rallied late after falling behind by double digits only to fall short.
Down by 10 at Indiana with 3:34 to play, Ohio State made it a 67-65 game with 1:44 remaining but couldn’t get another stop and score to tie the game or take the lead in a 71-65 loss on Jan. 6. Nine days later against Michigan, the Buckeyes turned a 12-point deficit into a four-point lead with a 16-0 run around the midpoint of the second half but couldn’t hold on from there in a 73-65 loss inside the Crisler Center.
In examining the lineups used by coach Chris Holtmann in both games, there is no real overlap between the players who led the temporary comebacks – or the ones who allowed the deficits to grow.
At Indiana, Bruce Thornton, Roddy Gayle Jr., Jamison Battle and Felix Okpara were on the court for the entirety of the late-game comeback as Scotty Middleton and Evan Mahaffey rotated in and out of the lineup. As Indiana turned Ohio State’s 50-49 lead into a 66-56 Hoosier advantage during a span of 7:36, Ohio State’s starting lineup (Thornton, Gayle, Battle, Mahaffey and Okpara) was outscored 4-0 in 2:37. Then, in 21 seconds as the Buckeyes were rallying late, the starters outscored the Hoosiers 2-0.
Against Michigan, though, the Buckeyes rallied by using three different lineups that had three players in common, two of whom haven’t made much of a statistical impact in recent weeks.
While Ohio State rotated Thornton, Gayle and Middleton through those lineups, the constants were Dale Bonner, Zed Key and Okpara. It was the most success the Buckeyes have had playing Key and Okpara together all season, and from 12:00 until 4:53 Ohio State outscored Michigan 16-8 with Bonner, Key and Okpara together.
The heart of that run came with Gayle and Middleton in the backcourt, allowing the Buckeyes to outscore Michigan 6-0 in 1:55 before Thornton returned with 8:09 to play and the lead at 56-55.
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“In particular, thought our bench gave us a lift,” Holtmann said after the game. “Dale was great in that second-half stretch. Playing big helped us. Obviously we’ve got to finish games and close out games better but I thought there were really some positives we can take into this week.”
With 4:53 left and the Ohio State lead at two points, Holtmann went back to his starters and rode them until the final seconds. They were outscored, 12-6, in the next 4:29 to finish the game at minus-4 (36 points scored, 40 allowed) in 20:47.
Against Penn State, Ohio State’s starters were plus-3 (31 points scored, 28 allowed) in 12:10. Against Indiana, they were minus-6 (17 points scored, 23 allowed) in 14:03. The 20:47 of playing time at Michigan was the most for an Ohio State lineup in a game this season.
“When our body’s hurting in the last 2-3 minutes of the game, we’ve got to take that next step,” Okpara said. “We do it in practice every day. We’ve got to keep going hard when we’re tired.”
Bonner’s play at Michigan, and Key’s ability to play alongside Okpara, could help with that. The Penn State rematch will be the next chance to find out.
ajardy@dispatch.com
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Thirty former Ohio State football players, including some former NFL players, have agreed to join a federal lawsuit against the university over the sexual abuse of student athletes decades ago by a team doctor, a lawyer in the case said Thursday.
The lawyer, Rocky Ratliff, said in an interview that the men came forward some eight years after the first lawsuit was filed because they needed to overcome the shame of revealing that they’d been sexually abused by another man and the fear of taking on the university publicly.
They are “tearful and living with it,” Ratliff said. “But as this case progresses on, they see how Ohio State’s treating athletes from the university and I think they want people to know it’s OK, even if it is male to male (sexual abuse), to come forward.”
Ohio State has fought lawsuits in federal court since 2018 brought by former student athletes against the university over its failure to stop abuse by Dr. Richard Strauss. Hundreds say they were abused by Strauss, who worked at the school from 1978 to 1998. He died in 2005.
The men have signed letters of agreement to join a lawsuit filed by other student-athletes who say they are victims of Strauss, Ratliff said.
Of the 30, only three have agreed to make their identities public, Ratliff said. They are Al Washington, Ray Ellis and Keith Ferguson, he said. All were members of the 1980 Rose Bowl team and were recruited by and played for legendary coach Woody Hayes.
Some other former football players have settled with the school in sealed agreements that kept their names a secret, Ratliff said.
In a statement, Ohio State said it has “sincerely and persistently tried to reconcile with survivors, including former football student-athletes, through monetary and non-monetary means, including settlements, counseling services and other medical treatment.”
As of April 15, the university has settled with 317 survivors for more than $61 million, and is remains actively engaged in mediation, the school said.
In an interview, Washington said it was hard to talk about the abuse he suffered and recalled being subjected to “unlawful” physical exams by Strauss when he was 18 or 19. He and the other players tried to make light of it with each other and joke about it.
“But it was really uncomfortable,” said Washington, now 67.
He didn’t discuss it with others over the decades, but watching the 2025 documentary film “Surviving Ohio State” put it back into his thoughts.
“As a matter of fact, I couldn’t make it through that movie,” Washington said. “The pain and anguish that I saw, I just couldn’t take it.”
Strauss was on the faculty and medical staff and Ohio State. He retired in 1998 with emeritus status. School trustees revoked that mark of honor three years ago.
Washington was drafted in 1981 by the New York Jets and played one season for the team. Ellis, a former defensive back, had a seven-year NFL career from 1981 to 1987, playing with the Philadelphia Eagles and Cleveland Browns. Ferguson, a former defensive end, played in the NFL from 1981 to 1990, including stints with the San Diego Chargers and the Detroit Lions.
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