Ohio State's only meeting vs. Georgia was another SEC bowl game win

Dec. 28—Following the 2010 regular season, Ohio State had never beaten a team from the Southeastern Conference in a bowl game.

Then the Buckeyes beat Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl to end nine straight losses to the SEC in the postseason.

Then it didn't count.

Following the tattoo scandal that rocked Ohio State's football program and eventually cost former coach Jim Tressel his job, the win over the Razorbacks was vacated.

Four years later, OSU got a win over an SEC opponent that finally stuck, and it was the biggest of them all. In 2014, the No. 4-seed Buckeyes stunned No. 1 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, and then beat Oregon to win the national championship and the first-ever College Football Playoff.

The Buckeyes again have a shot in an underdog role as the No. 4 seed going up against top seed and defending national champion Georgia. The teams play in a semifinal game in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta on New Year's Eve.

It's just the second meeting all-time between the programs. Thirty years ago, they met in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1, 1993. The stakes weren't nearly as a great. But there was plenty of star power, and the SEC again got the best of the Buckeyes.

Most notably for Ohio State was running back and Euclid grad Robert Smith, who was the first Ohio high school football player to win the Mr. Football award twice.

Smith's time in Columbus was interesting, to say the least. He arrived as one of the nation's top recruits in 1990, and did not disappoint. He ran for 1,126 yards — at the time a freshman record at Ohio State.

The next year, he had a disagreement with an assistant coach, made national headlines when he decided not to play football in 1991 and switched his scholarship to track and field. Smith ran a personal-best 10.24 seconds in the 100-meter dash, while reportedly considering a transfer to Stanford or USC

Former OSU football coach John Cooper mended the differences between Smith and the coaching staff, and Smith returned to play football for OSU in 1992.

It was an odd season for the Buckeyes. They opened the season 2-0 with wins against Louisville and Bowling Green but weren't impressive then shocked No. 8 Syracuse, 35-12, on the road.

With Buckeye Nation thinking of a Big Ten championship and a spot in the Rose Bowl, OSU opened the Big Ten season 0-2. Cooper, always on the hot seat, was really feeling the heat. The Buckeyes then won five straight before their annual showdown with Michigan, which entered 9-0-2.

The Wolverines had to settle for another tie as the 1992 version of The Game ended 13-13. Former Ohio State president Gordon Gee famously called the result one of "our greatest victories."

At 8-2-1 and runner-up in the Big Ten, the Buckeyes got a Jan. 1 matchup with 9-2 Georgia in the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla.

The game featured a dream matchup at running back with Smith (819 yards, 10 TDs) vs. Georgia's Garrison Hearst, who rushed for 1,547 yards in 1992 and scored 21 touchdowns. They were eventually first-round picks in 1993 NFL draft and were two of the league's top running backs throughout the 1990s.

They played like that in the Citrus Bowl, a game won by the Bulldogs, 21-14. It went back and forth and wasn't decided until 4 minutes to play. Before that, Smith and Hearst traded touchdowns through the first three quarters as it was 14-14.

Smith finished with 112 yards on 25 carries and two TDs. Hearst was the game's MVP with 163 yards on 28 carries and two scores.

Following the game, Smith said he was undecided on his football future but eventually declared for the NFL draft. He was selected No. 21 overall, and in eight seasons was a two-time Pro Bowler, an NFL rushing champ, and finished with 6,818 yards and 39 total touchdowns.

The 1993 Citrus Bowl featured other notables. The Buckeyes' starter at QB was Kirk Herbstreit — now one of the most recognizable faces and voices in football. Herbstreit is a longtime college football analyst for ESPN and also calls NFL games on Amazon Prime with Al Michaels on Thursday nights. He will call the OSU-Georgia playoff game on ESPN with Chris Fowler.

On the other side from the 1993 Citrus Bowl, Georgia starting QB Eric Zeier played his rookie season with the Browns in 1995 and started four games.

Zeier was 21 of 31 in the Citrus Bowl for 242 yards. Herbstreit struggled throwing against the Bulldogs. He was just 8 of 24 for 110 yard and an interception. Nearly half of those yards came on a 45-yard screen to Smith.

Other notables in the game included backup running backs Eddie George and Raymont Harris for OSU.

George went on the huge stardom as OSU's 1995 Heisman Trophy winner and most notably in the NFL with the Tennessee Titans. Harris' lone season as the Buckeyes' starter came the next season in 1993, when he ran for 1,344 yards and 12 touchdowns. His 253 yards against BYU in the Holiday Bowl is an OSU bowl game record. At now-closed Admiral King High School, Harris was one of the best running backs to come out of Lorain County. In a 1988 game against crosstown rival Lorain High, he ran for 332 yards and five touchdowns.

Also of note was Hearst's backup Terrelle Davis, who was a late-round pick of the Broncos and became a two-time Super Bowl champ, NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP for Denver.

Defensively, the 1992 Buckeyes produced defensive tackle Dan Wilkinson — the No. 1 overall selection in the 1994 draft — and linebacker Steve Tovar, who played in the NFL and starred at Elyria West High, where he won the Lorain County Golden Helmet award as a linebacker.

Without the Arkansas result in the Sugar Bowl — now vacated — the Buckeyes are 1-10 against the SEC in bowl games.

OSU vs. SEC in bowl games

1977: Alabama L, 35-6 (Sugar)

1989: Auburn L, 31-14 (Hall of Fame)

1992: Georgia L, 21-14 (Citrus)

1994: Alabama L, 24-17 (Citrus)

1995: Tennessee L, 20-14 (Citrus)

2000: South Carolina L, 24-7 (Outback)

2001: South Carolina L, 31-28 (Outback)

2006: Florida L, 41-14 (BCS Championship)

2007: LSU L, 38-24 (BCS Championship)

2010: Arkansas W, 31-26-v (Sugar)

2014: Alabama W, 42-35-p (Sugar)

2020: Alabama L, 52-24-c

v-win vacated

p-College Football Playoff semifinal

c-CFP National Championship