The 1991 Ohio State Buckeyes

Carlos Snow, Butler B’ynote’, and Raymont Harris. I can’t find a game photo of Scottie Graham, but here he his now, along with his new gig.

Season Recap: 3rd place in the big 10 with an 8-4 record. Ranked in the top 25 the entire season (between 11 and #25) until losing to Syracuse in the bowl game. So, we finished unranked. We beat all the un-ranked teams and lost to all the ranked teams we played: Illinois, Iowa (close losses), Michigan (they blew us out 31-3), and then the bowl loss.

Quick aside for something really bad:

Per Jack Park’s The Official Ohio State Football Encyclopedia – The Iowa game was almost cancelled because on the Friday before the game, an Iowa grad student shot and killed 5 people in a campus building before killing himself. From Wikipedia, the shooter had already received his doctorate in physics and astronomy. He didn’t win top prize for his dissertation, which came with a monetary prize, so he killed those on the dissertation committee, including Christoph Goertz, “one of America’s leading theoretical space plasma physicists.” The Iowa killer liked that in America anyone could get a gun and level out perceived injustices. At least in 2021 you have to pass, like, a super-comprehensive background check. Glad we’ve tightened that up in the last 30 years.

So… anyway. Offensively the Bucks were 48th in the country in at only 23 points per game. Defensively – pretty good! 17th nationally in points allowed at 15.6.

Michigan: Again – they blew us the fuck out. The Michigan game was the “Desmond Howard Somehow Doesn’t Throw Out A Hip Popping and Locking the Heisman Pose Game.” The Wolverines lost 2 games that year, to #1 Florida State and then #2 Washington in the Rose Bowl. So, I mean, they were solid.

Bowl Game: A loss to Syracuse. 24-17. Just kind of a rough end to the season.

• All Big 10 – Alonzo Spellman, Carlos Snow, Allan Kline (OT), Jason Simmons (DL), Greg Smith (DL),
• All American – Tovar.

Quarterbacks: Listen, the passing game in 1991 was rough. Kent Graham, Notre Dame transfer, threw for about 1000 yards and our buddy Herbie threw for about 500. Between the 2 of them: 5TD’s and 9INT’s. 5TD’s!!! They ran for a combined 3 TD’s. 117 total completions between them. In 12 games! That’s less than 10 per game, if you’re scoring at home. Like I said, rough. Lots of running.

Against Wisconsin, Herbstreit, according to Park’s aforementioned encyclopedia, on 4th and 7, made a bonkers play. “…Herbstreit rolled left to pass, avoided two tacklers, then took off for the other side of the field and eventually hurdled a defender at the goal line for a touchdown.” What! You may not know this, but Kirk was known as the Ezekiel Elliott of 1991. The Najee Harris. I was getting all stoked to talk shit about Najee Harris but then I clicked that link and now I like him and I’m mad. The Trey Sermon. I can’t find the Herbie hurdling video on YouTube, but here’s a 72-yard run from Herbie on an option play against Minnesota that same year. I love the giant pads. The hip pads sticking out. Perfect. He’s been sitting in front of a desk for so long we forgot he could move.

Running Backs: About 2200 yards rushing between 4 solid running backs – Carlos Snow (828 yds), Butler B’ynote’ (648), Raymont Harris (323), and Scottie Graham (374) 21 TD’s between them. (Robert Smith TOOK THE YEAR OFF AND RAN TRACK, which, I mean, what the hell?).

WR/TE: Weirdly identical 381 yard seasons from Bernard Edwards and Brian Stablein. The best receiver on the team was probably freshman Joey Galloway, with 255 yards on only 15 catches. But… doesn’t look like we had much luck throwing the ball.

Other Offense – none whatsoever

Defensive Line: Alonzo Spellman and a freshman named Big Daddy Wilkinson!

LB/DB: Steve Tovar!

Drafted:

• Alonzo Spellman, 22nd overall to Da Bears. Spellman was a pretty good player for a few years, playing in 123 games with the Bears, Cowboys, and Lions. Over 200 tackles, 43 sacks and 8 interceptions. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, likely the cause of several incidents including a manic episode on a flight causing an emergency landing. He spent 18 months in federal prison for “interfering with a flight crew” even though doctors confirmed he had bipolar disorder. The legal term for that is “fucking bullshit,” I think. Spellman also spent time jail after a police chase in 2008 and a traffic stop in 2015. It’s fucked up the only public knowledge about his life aside from football are the consequences of a rich society that still has no clue how to handle mental illness. I’m not sure where he is now, but I hope he’s well.
• Scottie Graham, 188th overall to Da Steelers. 1200 yards and 7 TD’s over 6 seasons, mostly with the Vikings. Scottie worked at the NFL Players Association and, as of fall 2020, he’s a Sr Associate Athletic Director at Arizona State. But wait – according to my twitter machine from today, 1/4/2021, he’s now the running backs coach at Arizona. Presumably this means he’s no longer with the ASU Athletic Dept. Congrats Scottie!
• Kent Graham, 211th overall to the New York Football Giants. A 9-year career with the Giants, Cardinals, Steelers, and DC Football. 81 games, 38 starts. 7800 yards, 39 TD’s, 33 INT’s. That’s a pretty good career for the 211 th pick! I’m not sure exactly what he’s doing now. According to his Linked In, from 2004-2010 he was a managing member at Asymmetric Bond Markets. If you can’t sleep, just google Asymmetric Bond Markets and start clicking on some monetary policy or sovereign bond market links.

OK that’s it. Happy New Year, etc. I enjoyed the Bucks thrashing of the Fighting Dabos and will be firing off another missive post haste!

1990 1992

-Eric