Ohio State puts an end to the nearly 100-year-old drought in the Cincinnati match

The last time Ohio State and Cincinnati clashed in the regular season, it was in 1921.

Cincinnati won this unmarked match 33-17.

The last time they played in Cincinnati, it was the previous season with a 35-13 win for the Buckeyes.

Since then, the two 108.9-km schools have avoided each other for a multitude of reasons, ranging from the emotions felt after NCAA championship games in 1961 and 1962 to the theory that Ohio State feared losing face internal threats such as Cincinnati, Xavier and Dayton. .

On Wednesday, November 7, Chris Holtmann, the coach of the Ohio State, finally found himself face to face.

"We would not have played this game if it was a good program and if we had not recently been a good program," Holtmann said. "I do not know if it's an advantage for us to play a team that fights."

The Bearcats – who have just finished a 31-5 season – have accessed the NCAA Tournament in eight consecutive seasons and enter the 2018-19 season as regular season champions and American Conference tournaments. ;Athletics.

"(Head Coach Mick Cronin) has done a remarkable job with this program," said Holtmann. "I have a lot of respect for him, his schedule, his players and the way these guys are competing."

Holtmann said that the idea of ​​programming Cincinnati for the first game of the season had been brought up when the Ohio State Sports Director, Gene Smith, had met him for the first time about ways to "energize the program". Holtmann was not necessarily enthused by the idea that he had other ideas in mind at first.

"I thought we might think of other ways to energize," Holtmann said. "The donut, let's see what it's doing right now."

Neither team is considered an outsider in Wednesday night's game, as both teams have just finished their season that ended in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Holtmann said the recent success of both teams over the last 15 years had played a major role in why planning for the match had become so easy.

"No question," said Holtmann. "It would be logical to do otherwise."