Ohio State defends the belt, 28–9, at home over Washington.
AP poll, week 1: Washington No. 17 at Ohio State No. 2 · No. 1 that week: Maryland. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
Ohio State came in 239 days into reign #254, which began with a win over Miami, with no defenses yet; this was its first defense. Ohio State went on to defend it 4 more times before Wisconsin took it on October 11, 2003, 281 days after the reign began.
For Washington this was its 19th shot at the belt; it had held the belt 10 times before.
It was the 2nd of 3 belt games between the two; going in, Ohio State led the belt series 1–0; all-time Ohio State leads 3–0. Every meeting →
About this game
Ohio State defeated Washington 28-9 on August 30, 2003, in a Week 2 regular season matchup. As the belt's defending holder, Ohio State retained the championship with the victory.
Written by Claude, strictly from this site’s own record of the game — the score and what it meant for the belt. CFBD doesn’t have a box score for games this old, so nothing here is invented beyond what’s verifiably on file.
Key plays
CFBD play-by-play| When | Team | Yards | Play |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 8:36 | Ohio State | +2 yd | Maurice Hall (OSU) rushed up the middle for a 2 yard touchdown. |
| Q1 10:00 | Ohio State | +37 yd | Craig Krenzel (OSU) pass across the middle complete to Drew Carter (OSU) for 37 yards. |
| Q1 8:36 | Ohio State | +0 yd | Extra point by Mike Nugent (OSU) is good. |
| Q1 8:31 | Ohio State | +29 yd | Kickoff returned by Sonny Shackelford (UW) for 29 yards. |
| Q1 3:30 | Ohio State | +23 yd | Craig Krenzel (OSU) rushed up the middle for a 23 yard touchdown. |
| Q1 3:30 | Ohio State | +0 yd | Extra point by Mike Nugent (OSU) is good. |
| Q1 4:50 | Ohio State | +23 yd | Craig Krenzel (OSU) pass left side complete to Michael Jenkins (OSU) for 23 yards. |
| Q1 0:37 | Washington | +22 yd | Cody Pickett (UW) pass right side complete to Reggie Williams (UW) for 22 yards. |
| Q2 0:22 | Ohio State | +0 yd | Extra point by Mike Nugent (OSU) is good. |
| Q2 0:22 | Ohio State | +11 yd | Craig Krenzel (OSU) rushed right side for a 11 yard touchdown. |
| Q3 13:36 | Washington | +46 yd | 46 yard field goal by Evan Knudson (UW) is good. |
| Q3 12:40 | Ohio State | +21 yd | Craig Krenzel (OSU) pass left side complete to Ryan Hamby (OSU) for 21 yards. |
| Q3 7:47 | Ohio State | +0 yd | Buckeyes fumble by Michael Jenkins (OSU), recovered by Michael Jenkins (OSU), advanced for no gain. |
| Q3 6:38 | Ohio State | +15 yd | Lydell Ross (OSU) rushed up the middle for a 15 yard touchdown. |
| Q3 6:38 | Ohio State | +0 yd | Extra point by Mike Nugent (OSU) is good. |
| Q4 10:49 | Ohio State | +0 yd | Buckeyes fumble by Santonio Holmes (OSU), recovered by Scott White (UW), returned for no gain. |
| Q4 10:49 | Washington | +21 yd | Cody Pickett (UW) pass right side complete to Rich Alexis (UW) for 21 yards. |
| Q4 6:58 | Washington | +0 yd | Huskies 35 yard field goal attempt blocked, recovered by Robert Reynolds (OSU). |
| Q4 5:08 | Washington | +33 yd | Cody Pickett (UW) pass left side complete to Charles Frederick (UW) for 33 yards. |
| Q4 3:30 | Washington | +2 yd | Cody Pickett (UW) rushed right side for a 2 yard touchdown. |
| Q4 3:27 | Ohio State | +0 yd | Buckeyes fumble by Roshawn Parker (OSU), recovered by Jimmy Newell (UW), returned for no gain. |
| Q4 1:00 | Washington | +31 yd | Cody Pickett (UW) pass left side complete to Reggie Williams (UW) for 31 yards. |
Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).
Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 232420194) · This game in the downloadable dataset