1955 Ohio State Buckeyes football team

1955 Ohio State Buckeyes football
Howard "Hopalong" Cassady
Big Ten champion
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 5
APNo. 5
Record7–2 (6–0 Big Ten)
Head coach
MVPHoward Cassady
Captains
  • Fran Machinsky
  • Ken Vargo
Home stadiumOhio Stadium
1955 Big Ten Conference football standings
Conf. Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 5 $ 6 – 0 – 0 7 – 2 – 0
No. 2 Michigan State 5 – 1 – 0 9 – 1 – 0
No. 12 Michigan 5 – 2 – 0 7 – 2 – 0
Purdue 4 – 2 – 1 5 – 3 – 1
Illinois 3 – 3 – 1 5 – 3 – 1
Wisconsin 3 – 4 – 0 4 – 5 – 0
Iowa 2 – 3 – 1 3 – 5 – 1
Minnesota 2 – 5 – 0 3 – 6 – 0
Indiana 1 – 5 – 0 3 – 6 – 0
Northwestern 0 – 6 – 1 0 – 8 – 1
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1955 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 1955 Big Ten season. In their fifth year under head coach Woody Hayes, the Buckeyes compiled a 7–2 record (6–0 in conference games), won the Big Ten championship, and outscored opponents by a total of 201 to 97. In games against ranked opponents, they lost to No. 11 Duke (14-20) and defeated No. 15 Wisconsin (26-16), No 20 Iowa (20-13), and No. 6 Michigan (17–0). They were ranked No. 5 in the final AP poll.[1]

Halfback Howard "Hopalong" Cassady led the team with 958 rushing yards (6.0 yards per carry) and 14 touchdowns.[2] He won the Heisman Trophy,[3] the Maxwell Award,[4] and the Chicago Tribune Silver Football.[5] Cassady was also a consensus All-American.[6] Guard Jim Parker also received first-team All-America honors from the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), Central Press (CP), and Jet magazine. Cassady and Parker were both later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Quarterback Frank Ellwood led the team in passing with only nine completed passes for 60 passing yards.[2]

Four Ohio State playes received first team honors on the 1955 All-Big Ten Conference football team: Cassady (AP-1, UP-1, INS-1); Parker (AP-1, UP-1); center Ken Vargo (AP-1, UP-1, INS-1); and lineman Francis Machinsky (AP-2, UP-1).[7][8][9]

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

Schedule

DateOpponentRankSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 24Nebraska*No. 6
W 28–2080,171
October 1at Stanford*No. 8
L 0–628,000
October 8Illinois
W 27–1282,407
October 15No. 11 Duke*No. 14
  • Ohio Stadium
  • Columbus, OH
L 14–2082,254[10]
October 22at No. 15 Wisconsin
W 26–1653,529
October 29NorthwesternNo. 15
  • Ohio Stadium
  • Columbus, OH
W 49–082,214
November 5IndianaNo. 11
  • Ohio Stadium
  • Columbus, OH
W 20–1380,730
November 12No. 20 IowaNo. 10
  • Ohio Stadium
  • Columbus, OH
W 20–1082,701
November 19at No. 6 MichiganNo. 9
W 17–097,369
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Game summaries

Nebraska

Stanford

Illinois

Duke

Wisconsin

Northwestern

Indiana

Iowa

Michigan

Coaching staff

Awards and honors

The November 12 game against Iowa was mentioned in the movie Back to the Future Part II. A radio announcer telling the scores of the day's games mentions that Ohio State beat Iowa 20–10.

1956 NFL draftees

Player Round Pick Position NFL club
Howard Cassady 1 3 Halfback Detroit Lions
Fran Machinsky 4 41 Tackle Washington Redskins
Ken Vargo 9 106 Center Chicago Bears
Jerry Harkrader 22 261 Back New York Giants

References

  1. ^ "1955 Ohio State Buckeyes Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 29, 2025.
  2. ^ a b "1955 Ohio State Buckeyes Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 29, 2025.
  3. ^ "Hoppy Gets His Heisman Trophy". Dayton Daily News. December 9, 1955. p. 32 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Cassady Receives Maxwell Award". The Daily Sentinel-Tribune. December 1, 1955. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Cassady Captures Award as Big 10's Most Valuable". The Plain Dealer. December 18, 1955. p. 7C – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Football Award Winners" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2016. p. 9. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
  7. ^ "Five Boilermaker Gridders Gain Recognition on AP's All-Big Ten". Journal and Courier. November 22, 1955 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Krupa Named All-Big Ten: Dawson, Lundey, Murley, Murakowski Cited by UP". Journal and Courier. November 23, 1955. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Two Hawks On All-Big 10". The Des Moines Tribune. November 22, 1955. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Ohio State beaten by Duke, 20–14, Bucks blow lead". The Cincinnati Enquirer. October 16, 1955. Retrieved January 5, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 22, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 22, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 22, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 23, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. ^ "Blast from the Past: No. 15 Wisconsin 10/22/1955". October 22, 2016.
  17. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  18. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  19. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  20. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  21. ^ "Heisman.com - Heisman Trophy". Archived from the original on September 16, 2009. Retrieved November 23, 2007.
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