Oregon vs. Ohio State ... In Other Ways

Whether the Oregon Ducks or Ohio State Buckeyes win the national championship of college football is of minute importance to me.  I don't have any direct relatives or pals that call Eugene or Columbus their home or pride-and-joy.  It would be neat to see Oregon claim their school's first title in football, but if Ohio State wins, that's cool, I suppose.

So often fan bases get into less-than-justified arguments over which team is "better."  Usually this argues starts and stops with the play on the field for that team in that season.  The game on Monday night features two teams that are really good.  Rather that debate which team is going to win and why, I think I'll just watch the game, maybe even use this cool and simple link for background knowledge.  Let's for a moment take a bigger, broader look at the Ducks and Bucks.  There are many reasons why universities and athletic programs are great so I thought it must be useful to see which athletic department and school stacked-up better against each other in a variety of areas.

Let's compare athletic programs dating back to 1960 (I wasn't confident the readers of this article were from the graduating classes of 1959 and earlier.)  The rankings and tuition figures will be as up-to-date as possible.  Other criteria include  conference championships and national titles, professional and famous athletes and coaches, mascots as well as academic reputation, tuition, and applications received.

Oregon

Oregon is home to 18 varsity athletic programs, two of which are "Acrobats and Tumbling" and Sand Volleyball.  Be advised only 12 teams in the NCAA house Acrobats and Tumbling, so the Ducks' 4 national titles will not be counted towards their success rate or their programs of stature.  Neither will the Sand Volleyball, which have recently found a 41st NCAA participant.  From the NCAA website: "When the total number of institutions sponsoring sand volleyball reaches 40, which it has as of Jan. 2014, the NCAA will begin the transition from an emerging sport status to a championship sport. After the transition is complete, which could take two years, the NCAA will sponsor the national championship."

The Ducks have 23 NCAA Championships since 1962 and EVERY ONE OF THEM is in either track and field or cross country.  Of these 23 titles, 11 have come since 2007, which no other university can claim as many titles in that span.  Therefore, if you eliminate track and field, cross country, acrobats and sand volleyball, the remaining 14 programs have not won any national championships with the exception of the men's basketball Ducks in 1939.

Their Pac-10 / Pac-12 Championships are very respectable.  The number of team conference championships since 1960 are indicated below (not including individual champions that you might find in sports like swimming, track, tennis, cross-country, golf or wrestling) with their most recent title in parenthesis:

Men's Basketball - 3, all in tournament play, most recently in 2013

Men's Cross Country - 16 (2008)

Football - 6 (2014)

Men's Golf - 2 (1977)

Men's Track - 16 (every year from 2007-2014)

Women's Basketball - 2 (2000)

Women's Cross Country - 9 (2014)

Softball - 2 (2013, 2014)

Women's Track - 8 (every year from 2009-2014)

Total since 1960 = 64

Oregon has some very proud history with their athletic programs.  It's easy to forget just how difficult it can be for a school like Oregon to break to dominance of traditional West Coast powerhouses that claimed the athletics landscape ... see UCLA, USC and Stanford more often than not.  If you click on this link, you'll visit a very cool timeline of some of the highlights of Oregon athletics.  And you know how sometimes we get caught-up in saying something is the "greatest" right now when you should account for multiple eras of performance.  Well Marcus Mariota won the first Heisman Trophy for the University of Oregon on December 13, 2014.

Before today, I never knew the name of the mascot for Oregon was "Donald" and  now has no name.  If wikipedia doesn't give you the information you are looking for, you can click HERE.  Most universities have difficulty deciding the tipping point for their popularity or effectiveness of a program.  Usually it comes in the form of a great recruiting class, an improbable championship run, a string of dominant performances or a track record of successful professionals.  Is it possible that it came to Eugene when they decided to go crazy with their uniforms?

Oregon's famous alumni is impressive.  Athletically, Oregon doesn't have the professional pedigree that Ohio State boasts, but there are a number of famous figureheads that have Eugene roots.  One of them is Mark Few, currently head basketball coach at Gonzaga.  Few's resume is tremendous, especially when considering resources and opportunities presented in other locations that can potentially lure him away from the Northwest.

On the football side, I can still remember Akili Smith on the cover of Sports Illustrated ... needless to say that didn't work out so well.  Dennis Dixon and Kellen Clemens and Joey Harrington also were very talented Ducks that made little-to-no impact on the NFL landscape.  Did you know Ahmad Rashad went to Oregon?  Or Gary Zimmerman?  Or Patrick Chung (I know you knew, Mark.)  But the most famous could be Dan Fouts.  Fouts is a Hall of Famer on the field and still active in the broadcast booth.  Coaches include Mike Nolan, John Robinson and Norv Turner.

If you are looking to apply and attend Oregon, you have a solid chance of doing so.  Of the nearly 25,000 applications received from freshman and transfer students, roughly 73% were accepted by the admissions department with just over 5,000 students accepting their admission and enrolling in classes.  Oregon is a state school, and will cost roughly $10,000 per year if you live in Oregon, compared to $34,000 if you become a Duck live outside of the state.

If you guessed that Oregon is environmentally friendly and the campus would reflect those values, you would be correct.  From petersons.com: "Green is more than just a school color for Oregon's students and faculty, who enjoy a university that is environmentally conscious, socially active, and alive with opportunities for outdoor recreation."  Additionally, niche.com uses a variety of rankings, measurements and information to encapsulate the University of Oregon.  It was very helpful to see some of the criteria students and families use to determine what college is right for them.  The University of Oregon received an overall grade of A- for 2015.  Check out their rankings and note their highest, for some reason, falls under "Campus Food" and "Athletics."  

Ohio State

Even without including fencing, pistol, rifle, synchronized swimming or the spirit program, Ohio State can still lay claim to an astonishing 28 varsity programs for its men and women.  Since this conversation began with football, let start the Buckeye journey with a glimpse into their football history over the last five and half decades.  Ohio State has won the National Championship in 1961, 1968, 1970 and 2002.  It's taken the Big 10 title 24 times since 1961, most recently this season.  It boasts 4 Heisman Trophy winners including Archie Griffin on two occasions is 1974 and 1975, Eddie George in 1995 and Troy Smith in 2006.

Compared to the 10 titles won from 1959 and earlier, there are only 13 titles won by the Buckeyes in the last 55 years.  I say ONLY because I truly thought with so many teams on one campus, the Buckeyes would be earning at least one title every two or three years and there sports that claimed these titles.  Three are in fencing and 3 are in gymnastics and 2 are in rowing (very deserving, I'm sure ... just less popular.) That leaves one of them from the 1960 men's basketball team, one from the 1962 swimming team, one from the 1966 baseball team, one from the 1979 golf team and one from the 2011 volleyball team.

The respect of Ohio State mainly derives from their Big 10 Champions.  The list is below, along with the total and the year of the most recent champions:
Baseball: 10 (2009)
Men's Basketball: 15 (2012)

Football: 24 (2014)
Men's Golf: 19 (2004)
Men's Hockey (CCHA): 2 (2004)
Men's Gymnastics: 13(2008)
Men's Indoor Track: 1 (1993)
Men's Outdoor Track: 2 (1992 & 1993)
Men's Soccer: 3 (2009)
Men's Swimming and Diving: 1 (2010)
Men's Tennis: 6 (2009)
Men's Volleyball: 21 (2011)
Women's Basketball: 12 (2009)
Field Hockey: 1 (2006)
Golf: 11 (2005)
Women's Gymnastics: 5 (1987)
Women's Rowing: 4 (2013)
Women's Soccer: 1 (2010)
Softball: 2 (2007)
Women's Indoor Track: 1 (2011)
Women's Outdoor Track: 1 (2011)
Women's Swimming and Diving: 5 (1986)
Women's Volleyball: 3 (1994)
Total Big 10 Championships since 1960 = 163

That's 99 more conference titles than Oregon.  Comparing apples to apples, that's incredibly impressive.  It would be argued, though, that most of the time, the athletic department's success is generated by the success of the football program.  Buckeye Football has been successful for a very long time and that has paved the way for outstanding opportunities for all of the other programs listed above.

It's amazing how much information is available about mascots.  Brutus the Buckeye leads the charge for the Scarlet and Gray.  The most informative link can be found HERE.  Yes, there is a Mascot Hall of Fame and Brutus is part of it.  

Of the thousands of alumni that proudly attended Ohio State, none of them had more significance for me than Dick LeBeau.  Today, LeBeau announced that he will not be returning to the Steelers next season.  He's been nothing short of a class act and legendary coordinator for our city.  And from wikipedia: George Steinbrenner, former owner of the New York Yankees and won seven World Series with the team,earned his Master's degree from Ohio State. One of the founders of Wikipedia, Larry Sanger,and Steve May, Chief Technology Officer at Pixar both graduated from Ohio State.  Jack Nicklaus has been called "the greatest golfer in history" while Jesse Owens has been called "the greatest Olympian in history."  You can also click HERE for the covers of Sports Illustrated with Ohio State ties.

From the admissions' side, Ohio State accepts roughly 55% of all applicants that apply to the school. It's mean scores for ACT and SAT are higher than Oregon with the in-state and out-of-state tuition being comparable ($10,000 in state, $26,500 out-of-state.)  If girl-to-guy ratios are important to you, 53% of Ohio State students are male, compared to 53% of Oregon students being female.  

Niche.com gives Ohio State an overall rating of A+.  Wow!  This must be the greatest piece of land in the history of Eden!  Take a look at what happens to be ranked in the A+ category.  But no matter your opinion of the campus, the colors, their success or their mascots, the university offers an abundance of courses, majors, masters and doctoral programs.  It's not easy to enter the gates of Columbus, but once you do, it appears you are a Buckeye for life.  US News ranks Ohio State #54 overall with Oregon at #106.

Enjoy the game on Monday night between these two very popular, very successful and very talented institutions.  Success breeds success and the bar is certainly high for both schools.  No matter where your alliances lie, you can't go wrong with either pedigree.