Ohio State cornerback Ashton Youboty (26) breaks up a pass in the end zone intended for Texas receiver Ramonce Taylor (11) in the first quarter. Texas faced Ohio State at Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday, September 10, 2005. Credit: Louis DeLuca/Dallas Morning News via TNS
Bobby Carpenter still remembers looking out the window of the Blackwell Inn on the afternoon of Sept. 10, 2005.
The Horseshoe was just down the street, but what caught his eye was everything outside it — thousands of people crowding Lane Avenue, tens of thousands more filling up parking lots and sidewalks. The type of atmosphere that only comes with a marquee matchup.
“It was like the State Fair effect,” Carpenter said. “You had 100,000 people going to the game, and another 100,000 who just wanted to be there. That’s when you knew it wasn’t just another Saturday.”
That night, No. 4 Ohio State and No. 2 Texas collided in one of the most anticipated nonconference games of the BCS era. On Saturday, the two programs will meet again with similar stakes. Both teams are ranked within the top five and have championship or bust expectations.
This Saturday, the Buckeyes will look to win back-to-back games against the Longhorns, following their 28-14 victory in the 2025 Cotton Bowl, which ended Texas’ season and springboarded the Buckeyes to the national championship, which they went on to win.
But rewind 20 years, and the buildup wasn’t all that different.
The Buckeyes’ defense — Carpenter, A.J. Hawk, Donte Whitner, and a front seven full of NFL talent — faced a Texas team on the rise, led by quarterback Vince Young.
Carpenter said the Buckeyes spent all offseason preparing for Texas — and for Young in particular. Then Young walked on the field.
“He’s all of 6-5, 240 pounds,” Carpenter said. “You look at him and think, holy crap — this dude looks like a defensive end. And then he’s running, and he’s such a long strider that he outruns your angles. You don’t realize how much ground he’s covering until it’s too late.”
What followed was a bruising, back-and-forth contest that still lives in the memory of everyone who played in it. Texas escaped with a 25-22 win, riding Young’s late touchdown pass to Limas Sweed. The Longhorns would go on to have an undefeated season that ended in a national championship. The Buckeyes would end the season 10-2.
For Carpenter, the game remains unforgettable. He remembers how the energy fed into the game itself — especially on defense.
“If you want the crowd to be in it, you’ve got to give them something to cheer about,” he said. “You make plays, they’ll feed off you. And then you feed off them. It becomes symbiotic. That’s when the ‘Shoe is at its absolute best.”
Despite the buildup and the chaos of the night, Carpenter said head coach Jim Tressel kept his team grounded.
“People always ask about his big pregame speeches,” Carpenter said. “But that wasn’t his deal. He was the same guy every week. That’s what we respected about him.”
Looking back, Carpenter said games like that reveal more than just the score.
“One team was going to win, one team was going to lose. That’s football,” he said. “But what a game like that reveals is who you are and what you need to improve. And then you’ve got three months to get better. That’s the beauty of it.”
Now, 20 years later, the stage is set again.
No. 3 Ohio State will host No. 1 Texas at Ohio Stadium, and once again, the college football world will have its sights set on Columbus.
It will be the first time the Buckeyes have played a No. 1 team at home since 1985, when Ohio State defeated No. 1 Iowa 22-13, and it’s a matchup that could shape the College Football Playoff picture before the calendar even flips to September.
This time, it’s Julian Sayin and the Buckeyes’ loaded offense against a Texas defense that many believe is the best in the country. It’s Arch Manning, making his first trip to Columbus as the Longhorns’ starter, carrying the weight of sky-high expectations. And it’s Ryan Day and Steve Sarkisian trying to prove their programs belong at the very top of the sport.
“These are two of the most talented teams in college football,” Carpenter said. “Both have young quarterbacks. Both have first-time starters figuring things out. And games like this — early, high stakes — they show you what you’re really made of.”
Carpenter will be in the stands Saturday, still chasing the adrenaline he felt as a player that night in 2005.
“You ride the wave with them, good or bad,” he said. “The hard part is, as a former player, you can’t impact it anymore. You want to. But you can’t. So you just sit there and feel it.
James Laurinaitis, then a freshman and now Ohio State’s linebackers coach, said the legacy of that game is exactly why this weekend’s matchup matters so much.
“The pageantry around it is why college football is so beautiful,” Laurinaitis said. “Like amidst everything — it’s Texas, it’s Ohio State, it’s the history, it’s the burnt orange, it’s the scarlet and gray — and you’re like, what else do you want?”
