Fandom of the Week: Ohio State Buckeyes. Ohio Has No NFL Team. It Has the Buckeyes. In November, That’s Enough.
Ohio is Buckeye Country in a way that no other state is the property of a single college program. There is no NFL team in Columbus. No NBA franchise. No professional sports organization with a century of history and a rivalry that divides families at Thanksgiving. There is Ohio State football. And then, in late November, there is The Game. Everything in between is just the calendar filling up.
Nick Saban once called Ohio State fans “psychotic” before a Michigan game. He did not mean it as a complaint. He meant it as an observation about what happens to a fan base when an entire state has exactly one team and exactly one rivalry that defines the year. Ohio Stadium holds 102,780 people. The upper decks trap the crowd noise and reflect it directly downward onto the field. When 102,780 people who have been waiting all year for this moment start making noise simultaneously, the engineers who designed the building in 1922 could not have imagined what they were creating.
This is the second article in the Fandom of the Week series. Every week during the college football season, Sideline covers one fan community: who they are, what they do on Saturdays, and what their team means to the place it comes from. This week: Ohio State.
——— THE COMMUNITY ———
Ohio State Buckeye Fans: Who They Are and Why Ohio Is Different
The Ohio State Buckeyes fan base is the largest in the Big Ten and one of the largest in college football. It is also, in a specific structural way, unlike most other major fan bases: the state of Ohio has no NFL team, no NBA team, and no other major professional sports franchise with the kind of century-long history that generates deep identity. The Cleveland Browns have been to the Super Bowl zero times. The Cincinnati Bengals have won zero Super Bowls. For Ohio sports fans, the most consistent source of national relevance, sustained excellence, and genuine pride has been the Ohio State Buckeyes.
This creates a fan base with a specific character. Ohio State fans are not divided between professional sports loyalty and college allegiance the way fans in markets with strong NFL or NBA teams often are. In Columbus, the Buckeyes are the primary sports identity for an entire city of 900,000 people. Outside Columbus, in the small cities and rural towns that make up most of the state, the Buckeyes are often the only professional-caliber sports organization anyone has ever had a rooting interest in. The license plates, the yard flags, the car decals, the children dressed in scarlet and gray at age two: they are not performance. They are declaration.
The fan base extends well beyond Ohio. Ohio State has one of the largest alumni networks of any American university, with graduates spread across every major city. In New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Columbus, the Buckeye fan communities organize watch parties, charity events, and season-long gatherings. In Columbus itself, the population of the city roughly doubles on home game days as fans from across the state and the Midwest converge on Ohio Stadium for what amounts to the largest recurring public event in Ohio history. The Horseshoe does not feel like a stadium when it is full. It feels like a city that has temporarily decided to occupy one building.
——— THE RITUAL ———
Ohio State Game Day: What Buckeye Fans Do Before, During, and After the Horseshoe
The Ohio State game day experience begins hours before kickoff and extends well beyond the final whistle. The campus and surrounding neighborhoods in Columbus transform on football Saturdays in a way that requires experiencing to understand. Restaurants along High Street fill by 9 AM. The tailgates on the Oval and in the parking lots surrounding the stadium produce a specific smell — grills, beer, autumn in Ohio — that Ohio State alumni have described as one of the most immediately recognizable sensory triggers in their lives.
Before every home game, the Ohio State Marching Band performs the Skull Session at St. John Arena, a separate pregame concert that has become its own event. Fans pack the arena to watch the band rehearse before they march to the stadium. The Ramp Entrance — the marching band entering the field through the tunnel and spelling out Ohio on the field — has been performed at every home game since 1928. Script Ohio, the formation of the word Ohio in flowing cursive, follows. The dot of the lowercase “i” by a sousaphone player is among the most coveted honors in the Ohio State program.
In 2025, Ohio State launched “Tradition Evolved,” a comprehensive redesign of the in-stadium gameday experience. The Victory Bell, traditionally rung by Alpha Phi Omega members after wins, now also rings before kickoff, with a distinguished Buckeye figure as the designated ringer each week. Archie Griffin — the only two-time Heisman Trophy winner in college football history — rang it first, against Texas on August 30. The stadium introduced THE Towel, a scarlet and gray rally towel distributed to fans, and a Buckeye Leaf tracker on the video board that awards a virtual leaf to the crowd each time the opposing offense commits a false start or calls a timeout due to crowd noise. The band moved back to the north end zone, its traditional location before a 2001 renovation, after acoustic testing showed the change made performances significantly louder across the stadium.
“Tradition at Ohio State is our North Star. As this process unfolded, we wanted to protect and honor our tradition while also evolving it with purpose, passion, and with Buckeye Nation at the heart of it.”
Ross Bjork, Ohio State Athletic Director · 247Sports · August 2025 ·
——— THE IDENTITY ———
Ohio State Buckeyes Fan Identity: The Game, the Gold Pants, and What November Actually Means
The defining event of the Ohio State fan identity is not the College Football Playoff, not the national championship, not any single game against a ranked opponent in October. It is The Game. The annual matchup against Michigan, played on the last Saturday of the regular season, has decided Big Ten Conference championships, College Football Playoff berths, and coaching jobs for over a century. ESPN voted Ohio State vs. Michigan the greatest rivalry in all of sports in 1999, ahead of Ali-Frazier, Duke-North Carolina, and the Canadiens-Maple Leafs. That ranking has not meaningfully changed.
The Gold Pants tradition illustrates what The Game means at a level below the scoreboard. In 1934, Ohio State head coach Francis Schmidt made a dismissive comment about Michigan’s uniforms, saying the Wolverines “put their pants on one leg at a time just like everyone else.” A Columbus business group responded by commissioning small gold lapel pins shaped like football pants, to be awarded to every Ohio State player who beat Michigan that year. Ohio State won. The Gold Pants Club has been issuing them ever since. Players who went on to NFL careers and Hall of Fame inductions still wear their Gold Pants at public appearances. The pin is worth nothing financially. It is the most coveted thing an Ohio State player can own.
The week before The Game has its own rituals. On the Tuesday before the Michigan game every year, thousands of Ohio State students jump into Mirror Lake on campus, regardless of the temperature. In November in Columbus, the temperature is rarely above 40 degrees. The jump happens anyway. It has happened for decades. It is the specific kind of tradition that cannot be manufactured: it started because students wanted to do something collectively insane before the most important game of the year, and it became the thing you do because it has always been the thing you do. In 2024, Michigan upset Ohio State 13-10 in Columbus as a heavy underdog. A roommate pushed a dresser against his bedroom door and refused to talk to anyone for the rest of the night. That is the range of the Ohio State fan experience: from the Mirror Lake jump to the barricaded bedroom door.
“Ohio isn’t just a state, it’s Buckeye Country. It’s where kids throw around footballs in their backyard, dreaming of the day they’ll get to wear the scarlet and gray. Being a Buckeye fan is also about local pride. The love for the team started here in Ohio and has only grown over the years.”
Sportsepreneur · The Power of Ohio State Football on Alumni, Engagement & Fans ·
——— THE GLOSSARY ———
Ohio State Buckeyes Fan Glossary: Eight Terms Every New Fan Needs to Know
Every Buckeye fan knows these. Every new fan needs to.
The Game
The annual Ohio State vs. Michigan game, always played the last Saturday of the regular season. Not referred to as the Michigan game in Columbus. Just The Game. Ohio State fans do not say the word “Michigan” if they can avoid it. The opposing school is referred to as “That School Up North.”
The Horseshoe
Ohio Stadium. Built in 1922 in the shape of a horseshoe, which gives it its name and its acoustic properties: the upper decks trap crowd noise and focus it downward onto the field. Capacity: 102,780. One of the five largest stadiums in the world.
Buckeye Nation
The collective name for the Ohio State fan base, extending far beyond Ohio. Organized alumni chapters exist in every major American city and internationally. On home game Saturdays, Buckeye Nation effectively relocates to Columbus.
Script Ohio
The Ohio State Marching Band’s signature formation: the word “Ohio” in flowing cursive script, performed on the field at every home game since 1936. Ends with a sousaphone player dotting the lowercase “i.” The band is formally known as The Best Damn Band in the Land.
Gold Pants
The small gold lapel pins shaped like football pants awarded to every Ohio State player who beats Michigan. Given out since 1934. Worth nothing financially. Among the most coveted items in the Ohio State program. Former NFL players wear them at public appearances decades later.
Skull Session
The Ohio State Marching Band’s pregame performance at St. John Arena before every home game. Fans pack the arena to watch the band rehearse before the march to the stadium. Considered a full event in its own right, separate from the game itself.
The Mirror Lake Jump
The tradition of Ohio State students jumping into Mirror Lake on the Tuesday before The Game against Michigan, regardless of weather or temperature. It is cold. The jump happens anyway. Has occurred for decades. Cannot be explained to outsiders in a way that fully conveys why it happens. It happens because it happens.
Hang On Sloopy
The Ohio State fight song, performed by the marching band between the third and fourth quarters at every home game. Originally recorded in 1964. Adopted by Ohio State in 1965. Designated the Official State Rock Song of Ohio in 1985. When 102,000 people sing it simultaneously in the Horseshoe, the building does not feel like a building anymore.
Ohio has no NFL team. No NBA team. No professional sports franchise with a century of unbroken history. It has the Buckeyes. It has the Horseshoe. It has Script Ohio and the Skull Session and the Gold Pants and the Mirror Lake jump. And every late November, it has The Game. Everything else in the calendar is just what happens before November.
Buckeye Country. That’s not a slogan. It’s a geographic description.
RELATED ON SIDELINE SPORTS
→ Fandom of the Week: College Football Fan Culture Explained — Culture Clash
→ College Football Traditions: The 15 Rituals Every New Fan Needs to Know — Culture Clash
→ MLS vs Liga MX: What’s Actually the Difference and Why It Matters — Stories
→ Wimbledon Traditions Explained for American Fans — Culture Clash
