List of Ohio State Buckeyes bowl games The Ohio State Buckeyes football team competes as part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA ) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision ( FBS ) , representing the Ohio State University in the Leaders Division of the Big Ten Conference . Since the establishment of the football program in 1890 , the Buckeyes have played in 43 bowl games . Included in these games are 25 appearances in the " big four " bowl games ( the Rose , Sugar , Orange , and Fiesta ) and nine appearances in the Bowl Championship Series , including one national championship victory in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl and two appearances in the BCS National Championship Game . Ohio State ' s first bowl game came during the 1920 season when , under the leadership of eighth year head coach John Wilce , the team went onto the Rose Bowl where they would be defeated by California 28 – 0 . Following their first Rose Bowl appearance , the school would not make another bowl appearance until 1949 , when head coach Wes Fesler led the Buckeyes to the Rose Bowl again , this time defeating the California Golden Bears 17 – 14 . Following Fesler , Woody Hayes took over the position of head coach at Ohio State and during his career would lead the Buckeyes to eleven bowl games and compiling a 5 – 6 record . The Buckeyes appeared in the Rose Bowl eight times during Hayes ' tenure and would go 4 – 4 in those games . Hayes would also lead the Buckeyes to one Orange Bowl , one Sugar Bowl , and one Gator Bowl appearance during his time as head coach . Earle Bruce become the head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes following Woody Hayes in 1979 . Bruce would lead the Buckeyes to the Rose Bowl in his first season , coming one point away from a national championship , losing to the USC Trojans 17 – 16 . Over Bruce ' s career , the Buckeyes would make eight bowl appearances going 5 – 3 in those games . Ohio State also made two Rose Bowl appearances under Bruce , in which the team went 0 – 2 . Following Bruce , John Cooper became the head coach of the Buckeyes and would lead the school to ten bowl appearances , including one Rose Bowl victory in 1997 , the school ' s first Rose Bowl victory since 1974 . Cooper would lead the Buckeyes to a 3 – 8 bowl record during his tenure . Cooper would also lead the Buckeyes to the Sugar Bowl in 1999 , the first Bowl Championship Series appearance for Ohio State . Jim Tressel was hired as the head coach of the Buckeyes in 2001 and would remain head coach at the university until 2010 . Under Tressel , Ohio State made a bowl appearance in all his ten seasons as head coach and made eight BCS bowl appearances for a total of nine appearances for the university , the most of any other school . Tressel would also lead the Buckeyes to the national championship game in 2002 , where the Buckeyes defeated the Miami Hurricanes 31 – 24 in double overtime for their first national championship since 1970 . Tressel compiled an overall bowl record of 5 – 4 with one vacated victory , including two appearances in the BCS National Championship Game , four appearances in the Fiesta Bowl , one in the Rose Bowl , one in the Sugar Bowl , one in the Outback Bowl , and one in the Alamo Bowl . Ohio State would also reach the Gator Bowl in 2011 under head coach Luke Fickell , which they would lose 24 – 17 to the Florida Gators bringing their official all time bowl record to 19 wins and 24 losses .