Ohio State vs TCU: Showdown in Dallas

Wells Fargo Research Team Wells Fargo

Week 3 Should Reveal Who the Contenders Truly Are

Saturday night’s showdown between the number three-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes and 15th-ranked Texas Christian University Horned Frogs will be one of the highlights of this week’s matchups. Both schools are rich in football history, with Ohio State’s program dating back nearly 130 years and TCU playing football for more than 120 years. Ohio State is a perennial powerhouse, winning eight national titles, the most recent in 2014. The Buckeyes rank as the 3rd greatest Division I program of all time, according to the Associated Press (AP). TCU won National Championships in 1935 and 1938 and has enjoyed considerable success recently, winning 10 or more games in 12 seasons since 2000, including a 13-0 season and win over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl in 2010 and a 12-1 season and number three finish in 2014. TCU is the AP’s 28th greatest alltime Division I football program and fourth best among private schools behind Notre Dame, USC and Miami.

Ohio State and TCU’s locations in the heart of football country have certainly aided their success. Ohio was settled shortly after the revolutionary war as the Northwest Territory. The allure of the West drew migrants in search of flatter land more suitable for agriculture. Growth accelerated substantially over the next century, as parts of Ohio rapidly industrialized and played a key role in the development of the U.S. steel, chemical, oil, automotive and tire industries. Ohio reached its height of industrial prowess during the post-war era and saw overall growth moderate afterward, as industries restructured to compete with global competitors. Ohioans still yearn to go west, particularly to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, which hosts the champions from the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences in years it is not hosting a National Championship playoff game.

With its assortment of large and mid-sized metros and profusion of smaller towns, rich with their blue collar and agrarian work ethics, Ohio remains one of the most fertile college football recruiting grounds. Ohio State tends to get first dibs on the state’s top recruits, facing only modest challenges from the state’s seven other Division I FBS football schools. An older and more slowly growing population has required Ohio State to supplement this talent with recruits from other areas.

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Wells Fargo Research Team

Wells Fargo

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