John Niyo has a great piece in the Detroit News about Woody’s oft-repeated line following the 1968 Michigan-Ohio State game. The story goes that following the game Dr. Strangehayes was asked why he attempted a meaningless two-point conversion with his Buckeyes already up 50-14. “Because I couldn’t go for three,” he says.
At least that’s how the legend goes.
As Niyo points out, there’s no evidence Hayes ever said this, at least never to a reporter, and it didn’t show up in print after the game. (The other myth, or at least misconception, is that Ohio actually made the two-pointer to make it an even 50. This is just 100% wrong–the Buckeyes failed to convert on this play. Had they made it the final would have been 52-14.)
The “couldn’t-go-for-3” myth was also debunked many years earlier in Joel Pennington’s book The Ten Year War and later in Michael Rosenberg’s War As They Knew It.
As Niyo explains a series of injuries left Woody without the proper personnel to attempt a point-after kick, so they just lined up and went for two. There was no blatant attempt to rub the score in Michigan’s face (although in fairness, there didn’t seem to be a desire to take the foot off the gas pedal either). Further, there’s no evidence that Woody delivered the line about going for three.
Here’s a look at that 1968 two-point conversion (and check out the Michigan-themed endzone in Columbus?!?), via Dr. Sap of course:
So where did the legend come from? Perhaps it was an assistant who said it at some point, or maybe it was a line delivered in a bust or speech to an alumni group. It’s not clear, but we do know Woody did not say it right after the game.
Today the story has a life of its own. Once something like that gets out there it’s very hard to unring the bell. Look at the Little Brown Jug myths that get repeated over and over again. People will be reciting and attributing that line to Woody despite news stories, blog posts, and books saying otherwise.
Fifty in Sixty One
So while the reality of the 1968 incident seems tamer than the legend, things were nastier seven years earlier. Niyo briefly mentions another time when Ohio State went for two very late in the game, specifically in the 1961 edition of The Game. Though seldom discussed, this incident is more vicious.
The gist: with the ball leading 42-20 with under a minute to go, Woody could have killed the clock. Instead, he called a string of passes and scored to go up 48-20. But he didn’t stop there. Woody sent his offense back out, converted a two-point conversion, and hung 50 on Bump Elliott’s Wolverines. Yeesh.
Who orchestrated this? Bo Schembechler was on Woody’s staff at Ohio State in 1961 and apparently it was Bo(!) who drew some of the heat for the humiliating finish. But in The Ten-Year War, Bo said that he wasn’t behind the rub-it-in-the-face attempt at a deuce. He explained, “Some people blame me for that 1961 call…[b]ut that one was all on Woody.”
Schembechler claims he had already unplugged his headset midway through the 4th quarter and was disengaged from the play-calling.
Damn you, Woody!
