Ohio State defends the belt, 20–0, at home over Northwestern.
AP poll, week 6: Northwestern unranked at Ohio State No. 4 · No. 1 that week: Iowa. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
Ohio State came in 267 days into reign #254, which began with a win over Miami, with 4 defenses already behind it; this was its 5th defense. It was the last defense: Wisconsin took the belt in the very next belt game, on October 11, 2003.
For Northwestern this was its 10th shot at the belt; it had held the belt once before.
It was the 4th of 7 belt games between the two; going in, Ohio State led the belt series 2–1; all-time Ohio State leads 6–1. Every meeting →
About this game
Ohio State, holding the belt, defeated visiting Northwestern 20-0 on September 27, 2003 in week 6 of the regular season. The shutout victory allowed Ohio State to retain the championship belt.
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 9:30 | Ohio State | +0 yd | Extra point by Mike Nugent (OSU) is good. |
| Q1 11:25 | Ohio State | +0 yd | Buckeyes fumble by Maurice Hall (OSU), recovered by Scott McMullen (OSU), advanced for no gain. |
| Q1 9:30 | Ohio State | +12 yd | Lydell Ross (OSU) rushed left side for a 12 yard touchdown. |
| Q1 7:25 | Northwestern | +4 yd | Wildcats fumble by Ashton Aikens (NU), recovered by Robert Reynolds (OSU), 4 yard return. |
| Q1 4:28 | Ohio State | +32 yd | 32 yard field goal by Mike Nugent (OSU) is good. |
| Q2 7:30 | Northwestern | +35 yd | 35 yard field goal by Slade Larscheid (NU) is no good. |
| Q2 4:57 | Northwestern | +0 yd | Wildcats fumble by Kunle Patrick (NU), recovered by Kunle Patrick (NU), advanced for no gain. |
| Q2 1:45 | Ohio State | +4 yd | Scott McMullen (OSU) pass right side intercepted by Bryan Heinz (NU). Returned for 4 yards. |
| Q3 8:45 | Ohio State | +1 yd | Scott McMullen (OSU) pass left side complete to Ryan Hamby (OSU) for a 1 yard touchdown. |
| Q3 8:45 | Ohio State | +0 yd | Extra point by Mike Nugent (OSU) is good. |
| Q3 3:53 | Northwestern | +47 yd | 47 yard field goal by Slade Larscheid (NU) is no good. |
| Q3 7:20 | Northwestern | +21 yd | Jason Wright (NU) rushed right side for 21 yards. |
| Q4 9:45 | Ohio State | +42 yd | 42 yard field goal by Mike Nugent (OSU) is good. |
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 232700194) · This game in the downloadable dataset