2004 Ohio State Buckeyes football team

2004 Ohio State Buckeyes football
2004 Ohio State Buckeyes football
Alamo Bowl champion
Alamo Bowl, W 33–7 vs. Oklahoma State
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 19
AP	No. 20
Record	8–4 (4–4 Big Ten)
Head coach	Jim Tressel (4th season);
Offensive coordinator	Jim Bollman (4th season)
Offensive scheme	Multiple
Defensive coordinator	Mark Snyder (1st; 4th overall season)
Co-defensive coordinator	Mel Tucker (1st; 4th overall season)
Base defense	4–3
MVP	Mike Nugent
Captains	Dustin Fox; Simon Fraser; Mike Nugent; Andrew Schulte;
Home stadium	Ohio Stadium
	Seasons ← 2003 2005 →

2004 Big Ten Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 14 Michigan $+	7	–	1	9	–	3
No. 8 Iowa +	7	–	1	10	–	2
No. 17 Wisconsin	6	–	2	9	–	3
Northwestern	5	–	3	6	–	6
No. 20 Ohio State	4	–	4	8	–	4
Purdue	4	–	4	7	–	5
Michigan State	4	–	4	5	–	7
Minnesota	3	–	5	7	–	5
Penn State	2	–	6	4	–	7
Illinois	1	–	7	3	–	8
Indiana	1	–	7	3	–	8

$ – BCS representative as conference champion + – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

The 2004 Ohio State Buckeyes football team was an American football team that represented the Ohio State University as a member of the Big Ten Conference during the 2004 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their fourth year under head coach Jim Tressel, the Buckeyes compiled an 8–4 record (4–4 in conference games), finished in a three-way tie for fifth place in the Big Ten, and outscored opponents by a total of 290 to 219. Against ranked opponents, the Buckeyes lost to No. 15 Wisconsin and defeated No. 7 Michigan. The Buckeyes also lost to unranked Northwestern, Iowa, and Purdue. They concluded the season with a 33–7 victory over unranked Oklahoma State in the 2004 Alamo Bowl. The Buckeyes were ranked No. 19 and 20 in the final Coaches and AP polls, respectiely.^[1]

The Buckeyes gained an average of 145.4 rushing yards and 175.4 passing yards per game. On defense, they gave up 130.4 rushing yards and 201.6 passing yards per game.^[2] Quarterback duties were split between Justin Zwick (1,209 passing yards, 52.4%) and Troy Smith (896 passing yards, 55.7% completion percentage). The team's other statistical leaders included running back Lydell Ross (476 rushing yards, 4.1 yards per carry), wide receiver Santonio Holmes (55 receptions for 769 yards), and kicker Mike Nugent (102 points scored, 30 of 30 extra points, 24 of 27 field goals).^[2] Nugent and linebacker A. J. Hawk were consensus first-team All-Americans.^[3] Nugent and Hawk also received first-team honors on the 2004 All-Big Ten Conference football team.^[4]

The team played its home games at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 4	12:00 p.m.	Cincinnati*	No. 9	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	ESPN Plus	W 27–6	104,604
September 11	3:30 p.m.	Marshall*	No. 9	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	ABC	W 24–21	104,622
September 18	3:30 p.m.	at NC State*	No. 9	Carter–Finley Stadium Raleigh, NC	ABC	W 22–14	56,800
October 2	9:00 p.m.	at Northwestern	No. 7	Ryan Field Evanston, IL	ESPN2	L 27–33 ^OT	47,130
October 9	3:30 p.m.	No. 15 Wisconsin	No. 18	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	ABC	L 13–24	105,090
October 16	3:30 p.m.	at Iowa	No. 25	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA	ABC	L 7–33	70,397
October 23	12:00 p.m.	Indiana		Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	ESPN Plus	W 30–7	104,538
October 30	12:00 p.m.	Penn State		Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH (rivalry)	ABC	W 21–10	104,947
November 6	12:00 p.m.	at Michigan State		Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI	ESPN	W 32–19	72,222
November 13	3:30 p.m.	at Purdue		Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN	ESPN	L 17–24	64,639
November 20	1:00 p.m.	No. 7 Michigan		Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH (rivalry)	ABC	W 37–21	105,456
December 29	8:00 p.m.	vs. Oklahoma State*	No. 24	Alamodome San Antonio, TX (Alamo Bowl)	ESPN	W 33–7	65,265
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

^[5]

Roster

2004 Ohio State Buckeyes football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
OT	`74`	Kirk Barton	Fr
QB	`17`	Todd Boeckman	Fr
WR	`3`	Bam Childress	Sr
G	`50`	Doug Datish	So
WR	`11`	Anthony Gonzalez	Fr
WR	`8`	Roy Hall	So
WR	`4`	Santonio Holmes	Jr
FB	`49`	Dionte Johnson	Fr
C	`55`	Nick Mangold	Jr
RB	`25`	Antonio Pittman	Fr
OT	`77`	Rob Sims	Jr
QB	`10`	Troy Smith	So
RB	`30`	Lydell Ross	Sr
QB	`12`	Justin Zwick	So

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
LB	`42`	Bobby Carpenter	Jr
SS	`6`	Tyler Everett	Jr
CB	`37`	Dustin Fox	Sr
DE	`75`	Simon Fraser	Sr
LB	`17`	Marcus Freeman	Fr
DE	`50`	Vernon Gholston	Fr
CB/WR	`7`	Ted Ginn Jr.	Fr
DT	`94`	Marcus Green	Jr
SS	`34`	Rob Harley	Sr
LB	`47`	A. J. Hawk	Jr
FS	`32`	Brandon Mitchell	So
DT	`97`	David Patterson	So
DT	`90`	Quinn Pitcock	So
DE	`99`	Jay Richardson	So
FS	`21`	Nate Salley	Jr
LB	`51`	Anthony Schlegel	Jr
FS	`14`	Antonio Smith	So
CB	`19`	Brandon Underwood	Fr
CB	`2`	E.J. Underwood	Jr
SS	`9`	Donte Whitner	So
CB	`26`	Ashton Youboty	So

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
K	`23`	Josh Huston	Sr
K	`85`	Mike Nugent	Sr
K	`32`	Ryan Pretorius	Fr
P	`15`	A.J. Trapasso	Fr

Head coach

Jim Tressel

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Roster

Coaching staff

Jim Tressel – head oach (4th year)
Jim Bollman – offensive line/offensive coordinator (4th year)
Joe Daniels – quarterbacks / passing game coordinator (4th year)
Ryan Smith- co-quarterbacks (1st year)
Luke Fickell – defensive linebackers (4th year)
Darrell Hazell – wide receivers (1st year)
Jim Heacock – defensive line (9th year)
Mark Snyder – defensive coordinator (4th year)
Dick Tressel – running backs (4th year)
Mel Tucker – co-defensive coordinator / defensive facks (4th year)
Bob Tucker – director of football operations (10th year)
Todd Goebbel - defensive quality control coach (1st year)^{[citation needed]}

Depth chart

Defense

FS
21 Nate Salley
32 Brandon Mitchell

WLB	MLB	SLB
47 A. J. Hawk	51 Anthony Schlegel	42 Bobby Carpenter
1 Thomas Matthews	5 Mike D'Andrea	17 Marcus Freeman

SS
6 Tyler Everett
9 Donte Whitner

CB
37 Dustin Fox
13 Harlen Jacobs

DE	DT	DT	DE
57 Mike Kudla	90 Quinn Pitcock	94 Marcus Green	75 Simon Fraser
84 Marcel Frost	98 Joel Penton	97 David Patterson	99 Jay Richardson

CB
26 Ashton Youboty
2 E.J. Underwood

Offense

SE
7 Ted Ginn Jr.
8 Roy Hall

LT	LG	C	RG	RT
77 Rob Sims	50 Doug Datish	55 Nick Mangold	64 Mike Knee	74 Kirk Barton
⋅	72 T.J. Downing	73 Steve Winner	66 R.J. Coleman	⋅

TE
80 Ryan Hamby
88 Rory Nicol

FL
4 Santonio Holmes
11 Anthony Gonzalez

QB
10 Troy Smith
12 Justin Zwick

Key reserves
25 Antonio Pittman (TB)
3 Bam Childress (WR)
30 Sirjo Welch (FS)

FB
38 Branden Joe
36 Brandon Schnittker

Special teams
PK 87 Mike Nugent
P 86 Kyle Turano

RB
30 Lydell Ross
28 Maurice Hall

^[6]

2005 NFL draftees

Player	Round	Pick	Position	NFL club
Mike Nugent	2	47	Kicker	New York Jets
Dustin Fox	3	80	Defensive Back	Minnesota Vikings
Maurice Clarett	3	101	Running Back	Denver Broncos

^[7]

Game summaries

Cincinnati

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Cincinnati	0	3	3	0	6
• Ohio State	0	10	7	10	27

Date: September 4
Location: Ohio Stadium, Columbus, OH
Game start: 12:00 p.m. EST
TV announcers (ESPN+): Mike Gleason (Play-by-play) & John Cooper (Color)

^[8]

Marshall

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Marshall	7	7	0	7	21
• Ohio State	14	7	0	3	24

Date: September 11
Location: Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
Game start: 3:30 p.m. EST
TV announcers (ABC): Mike Tirico (Play-by-play), Tim Brant (Color), Terry Bowden (Color) & Sam Ryan (Sideline)

^[9]

Michigan

Michigan at Ohio State

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Michigan	14	0	0	7	21
• Ohio State	7	13	14	3	37

Date: November 20
Location: Ohio Stadium, Columbus, OH
Game start: 1:00 p.m. EST
Game attendance: 105,456
TV announcers (ABC): Brent Musburger (Play-by-play), Gary Danielson (Color) & Jack Arute (Sideline)

Source: [1]

Alamo Bowl

Ohio State vs. Oklahoma State

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Oklahoma State	0	0	0	7	7
• Ohio State	13	10	7	3	33

Date: December 29 ^[10]
Location: Alamodome, San Antonio, TX
Game start: 8:00 p.m. EST
Game attendance: 65,265
TV announcers (ESPN): Mike Tirico (Play-by-play), Lee Corso (Color), Kirk Herbstreit (Color) & Jill Arrington (Sideline)

Source: [2]

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	9	9	9	7	7	18	25	—	—	—	—	—	—	25	24	20
Coaches Poll	9	9	7	6	6	15	23	—	—	—	—	—	—	22	22	19
BCS	Not released							—	—	—	—	—	—	25	25	Not released

References

^ "2004 Ohio State Buckeyes Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved August 5, 2025.
^ ^a ^b "2004 Ohio State Buckeyes Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved August 5, 2025.
^ "Football Award Winners" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2016. pp. 3, 15. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
^ "Big Ten Announces 2004 Football All-Conference Teams And Individual Honors". Big Ten Conference. November 23, 2004. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
^ "Team Game-by-Game Statistics". The Ohio State University Department of Athletics. Archived from the original on May 11, 2012. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
^ 1986 Ohio State Football Media Guide
^ "Ohio St. Drafted Players/Alumni". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
^ "Ohio State Relies on Defense to Tackle Bearcats". ESPN. September 4, 2004. Retrieved October 11, 2014.^{[dead link]}
^ "Ohio State Survives on Last-Second Field Goal". ESPN. September 11, 2004. Retrieved October 11, 2014.^{[dead link]}
^ "Game Notes From The MasterCard Alamo Bowl". Ohio State Buckeyes Athletics. December 30, 2004. Retrieved December 11, 2024.

[1] "2004 Ohio State Buckeyes Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved August 5, 2025.

[stat-2] "2004 Ohio State Buckeyes Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved August 5, 2025.

[3] "Football Award Winners" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2016. pp. 3, 15. Retrieved December 11, 2017.

[B10-4] "Big Ten Announces 2004 Football All-Conference Teams And Individual Honors". Big Ten Conference. November 23, 2004. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved March 4, 2015.

[statistics-5] "Team Game-by-Game Statistics". The Ohio State University Department of Athletics. Archived from the original on May 11, 2012. Retrieved September 15, 2011.

[RecordBook-6] 1986 Ohio State Football Media Guide

[7] "Ohio St. Drafted Players/Alumni". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved December 4, 2024.

[8] "Ohio State Relies on Defense to Tackle Bearcats". ESPN. September 4, 2004. Retrieved October 11, 2014.^{[dead link]}

[9] "Ohio State Survives on Last-Second Field Goal". ESPN. September 11, 2004. Retrieved October 11, 2014.^{[dead link]}

[c596-10] "Game Notes From The MasterCard Alamo Bowl". Ohio State Buckeyes Athletics. December 30, 2004. Retrieved December 11, 2024.

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[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]


2	14:54	CIN	Kevin Lovell 27-yard field goal	Cincinnati 3–0

2	10:15	OHST	Mike Nugent 27-yard field goal	Tie 3–3

2	1:11	OHST	Ryan Hamby 17-yard pass from Justin Zwick (Mike Nugent kick)	Ohio State 10–3

3	6:16	CIN	Kevin Lovell 25-yard field goal	Ohio State 10–6

3	2:27	OHST	Lydell Ross 1-yard run (Mike Nugent kick)	Ohio State 17–6

4	5:54	OHST	Santonio Holmes 23-yard pass from Troy Smith (Mike Nugent kick)	Ohio State 24–6

4	1:51	OHST	Mike Nugent 23-yard field goal	Ohio State 27–6


1	9:52	OHST	Santonio Holmes 80-yard pass from Justin Zwick (Mike Nugent kick)	Ohio State 7–0

1	5:31	MRSH	Earl Charles 2-yard run (Ian O'Connor kick)	Tie 7–7

1	:18	OHST	Santonio Holmes 47-yard pass from Justin Zwick (Mike Nugent kick)	Ohio State 14–7

2	5:36	MRSH	Jonathan Goddard 27-yard fumble return (Ian O'Connor kick)	Tie 14–14

2	3:13	OHST	Roy Hall 20-yard pass from Justin Zwick (Mike Nugent kick)	Ohio State 21–14

4	8:40	MRSH	Brad Bates 23-yard pass from Stan Hill (Ian O'Connor kick)	Tie 21–21

4	:00	OHST	Mike Nugent 55-yard field goal	Ohio State 24–21


1	13:47	OSU	Anthony Gonzalez 68-yard pass from Troy Smith (Mike Nugent kick)	OSU 7–0

1	10:25	MICH	Jason Avant 4-yard pass from Chad Henne (Garrett Rivas kick)	Tied 7–7

1	6:03	MICH	Mike Hart 1-yard run (Garrett Rivas kick)	MICH 14–7

2	13:16	OSU	Troy Smith 2-yard run (Mike Nugent kick)	Tied 14–14

2	2:16	OSU	Mike Nugent 21-yard field goal	OSU 17–14

2	0:00	OSU	Mike Nugent 42-yard field goal	OSU 20–14

3	9:56	OSU	Ted Ginn Jr. 82-yard punt return (Mike Nugent kick)	OSU 27–14

3	1:53	OSU	Santonio Holmes 12-yard pass from Troy Smith (Mike Nugent kick)	OSU 34–14

4	10:56	MICH	Braylon Edwards 38-yard pass from Chad Henne (Garrett Rivas kick)	OSU 34–21

4	7:15	OSU	Mike Nugent 48-yard field goal	OSU 37–21


1	12:02	OHST	Anthony Gonzalez 23-yard pass from Justin Zwick (Mike Nugent kick)	OHST 7–0

1	9:53	OHST	Mike Nugent 37-yard field goal	OHST 10–0

1	5:55	OHST	Mike Nugent 35-yard field goal	OHST 13–0

2	10:26	OHST	Lydell Ross 1-yard run (Mike Nugent kick)	OHST 20–0

2	4:19	OHST	Mike Nugent 41-yard field goal	OHST 23–0

3	8:13	OHST	Ted Ginn Jr. 5-yard run (Mike Nugent kick)	OHST 30–0

4	10:44	OHST	Mike Nugent 36-yard field goal	OHST 33–0

4	7:29	OKST	Shawn Willis 4-yard run (Jason Ricks kick)	OHST 33–7

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