‘TIME FOR THAT TO STOP’
Buckeyes legend Griffin steamed by 0-3 streak against Michigan
The Mount Rushmore of Ohio State football surely would include the late Woody Hayes and Archie Griffin. Good luck debating the other two.
A hillside stone likeness of Hayes’ face would point north, staring down the archrival.
Griffin, in the flesh, actually took up the beat-michigan mantle at a recent Pro Football Hall of Fame luncheon in Canton.
“We’ve got to get that thing back on track,” Griffin said. “It’s time for that to stop. Right now.”
Starting with Jim Tressel’s first year as head coach, Ohio State beat Michigan 17 times in 19 years. Michigan has won the past three games.
This crowd at the luncheon was old enough to remember Griffin’s four seasons as an Ohio State running back, 197275.
His record against Michigan was 30-1.
Griffin recalled Hayes’ obsession with “that team.” He recalls Michigan mats laid in the locker room for wiping with muddy cleats. Buckeye legends would pop in to work the squad into a lather.
“My freshman year, one of the former players was saying very forcefully, ‘This is not a game. This is a war!’ “Griffin said. “I thought, ‘Oh, my … what have I gotten myself into?’ “
He explained how he got there. He starred at Eastmoor High School but seemed too small to make it at Ohio State. The Buckeyes didn’t recruit him at first.
One older brother, Larry, was a Louisville fullback. Another, Daryle, was a Kent State cornerback.
The Griffins would drive to Kent to watch Daryle play Saturday afternoons; then they would drive from Kent to Louisville to see Larry on Saturday nights.
Archie was about to become the third brother playing college football at the same time, thinking he would land at Northwestern.
“Dad worked three jobs, but he took off work to take me to the airport for my visit to Northwestern,” Griffin said. “When he dropped me off, he leaned over and said, ‘We’d like to be able to see you play.’
“I knew exactly what he as saying. I took the visit, but when he said that, I knew I wasn’t going to Northwestern.”
The NCAA didn’t allow freshmen to play until 1972. Griffin played in the ‘72 opener, late in a 21-0 win over Iowa. On his first snap, he took his eye off the ball, fumbled a pitch, and got yanked.
“I told my dad, ‘I don’t know that I’ll get another chance,’ “he recalled.
He was surprised early in the next game when coaches yelled for him to go in.
“I was so worked up I started to run out and forgot to take my helmet with me,” he said.
He never forgot running for an Ohio State-record 239 yards against North Carolina.
“I asked the Lord the night before, if I play, may I play to the best of my ability,” he said. “I count it as a miracle.”
With Griffin starring the next three seasons, the Buckeyes flirted with national championships.
He ran for 1,428 yards in 1973. The team was 9-0 and ranked No. 1 prior to a 10-10 tie at Michigan. The Buckeyes destroyed Southern California 42-17 in the Rose Bowl and finished No. 2 to Notre Dame.
He ran for 1,620 yards in 1974. The team was 8-0 and ranked No. 1 before falling 16-13 at Michigan State. After a 12-10 win over No. 3 Michigan, Griffin won his first Heisman Trophy.
Nothing underscores a modern reality − quarterbacks are king − more than Heisman balloting. The top seven vote getters in 2022, including third-place C.J. Stroud of Ohio State, were quarterbacks.
In 2023, Ohio State receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. was the only non-quarterback in the top six. Seven of the past eight Heisman winners were quarterbacks.
Griffin’s second Heisman, in 1975, was
“Dad worked three jobs, but he took off work to take me to the airport for my visit to Northwestern. When he dropped me off, he leaned over and said, ‘We’d like to be able to see you play.’ “I knew exactly what he as saying. I took the visit, but when he said that, I knew I wasn’t going to Northwestern.”
Archie Griffin
OSU 2-time Heisman winner
debatable at the time and is in retrospect. The only quarterbacks in the top 10 were UCLA’S John Sciarra, seventh, and Toledo’s Gene Swick, 10th.
The top four, all running backs, were Griffin with 454 first-place votes; California’s Chuck Muncie with 145, USC’S Ricky Bell with 70 and Pittsburgh’s Tony Dorsett with 66.
Their rushing yards/average/touchdowns production was 1,357/5.5/4 for Griffin, 1,460/6.4/13 for Muncie, 1,875/ 5.3/13 for Bell and 1,544/6.8/11 for Dorsett.
But Griffin was a top-flight player for a long time. Plus, the Heisman Trophy is based on the regular season.
The 1975 Buckeyes were 11-0 and ranked No. 1 after a 21-14 win at No. 4 Michigan. The national championship got away in a 23-10 Rose Bowl loss to UCLA, which had lost 41-20 to Ohio State early in the season.
Griffin went to Cincinnati as a No. 24 overall NFL draft pick in 1976. He ran 13 times for 139 yards against the Kansas City Chiefs as a rookie, but he had went an unspectacular career that lasted seven years, all in Cincinnati. He was near the end when he got one carry in a Super Bowl loss to the 49ers on Jan. 24, 1982.
At the luncheon, he touched on a few NFL moments. One time after a vicious hit, Dallas linebacker Hollywood Henderson roared, “I knocked a Heisman Trophy out of each hand.”
Then there was Pittsburgh linebacker Jack Lambert.
“We were getting ready to play the Steelers,” Griffin said. “Lambert had blood all over him. Where did that come from?”
Griffin, 69, spent 30 years working Ohio State in the athletic department and alumni office. In recent years, he has maintained residences in Westerville and Florida.
Asked about his heroes, he named Hayes, recalling the coach loading as many players as would fit in a Chevy El Camino after practice, then taking goodwill rides to a children’s hospital.
“Woody,” he added, “had a way of working on you all week. On game day, you were ready to break the door down.”
He named his parents, who realized their dream of seeing all eight of their children earn college degrees.
He named a junior high guidance counselor named Oscar, who taught him “the three Ds,” desire, dedication and determination.”
“The three Ds became my secret sauce,” he said.