The similarities between the Texas and Ohio State football programs far outweigh the differences.

In many ways, Ohio State is the northern version of Texas. Both Austin and Columbus are capital cities within football-obsessed states. Both the Longhorns and Buckeyes are the professional football teams of their cities because neither is home to an NFL franchise. 

Both play in huge stadiums, possess athletic budgets larger than the gross GDP of small nations and hold their coaches to unreal expectations. Heck, Ryan Day went from dead-man-walking after another loss to rival Michigan to national champion in less than a month last season. Look at the before and after photos of recent head coaches at Texas and those guys age faster than presidents. 

The last time Texas played at Ohio State was on Sept. 10, 2005. Head coaches Mack Brown and Jim Tressel stood at midfield prior to the game and commiserated about how similar their jobs were. It was the last time Brown could hear himself talk inside “The Horseshoe” as a then-record 105,565 watched the No. 2 Longhorns outlast the No. 4 Buckeyes, 25-22. 

“I think it is the best atmosphere that I’ve ever seen,” Brown said last week at a Texas Sports Hall of Fame luncheon with quarterback Vince Young. “We couldn’t hear. Thank goodness we did everything with signals and were no-huddle anyway because if we had to call plays that night in that stadium, we couldn’t have heard it. It was hard to just communicate on the sideline with other coaches it was so loud. It was the loudest place I’ve ever heard.” 

The Horns travel back to Columbus on Saturday night for the marquee matchup of a loaded Week 1 across college football. The similarities are again striking. Both are starting young and relatively inexperienced former five-star quarterbacks. Both lost key players to the NFL Draft. Both enter 2025 with national championship aspirations. Texas is ranked No. 1 in the nation. Ohio State, the defending national champion, is No. 3. 

Young knows what’s ahead for the new generation of Horns. There were over 30 NFL draft picks in the 2005 game. But it wasn’t just the players on the opposing sideline that made an impression. Like Brown, Young says the fans at The Shoe are in a league of their own. 

“It was horrible,” Young said. “It was very hostile. They were throwing stuff at our helmets while we were in the tunnel before the game. Very loud, booing. Very rude to our fans, including my mother. It was a hostile environment but we were ready for it.” 

Young’s Longhorns began mentally preparing for Ohio State the moment he stood on the podium after beating Michigan in the Rose Bowl at the end of the 2004 season and pronounced that his Horns would be back in Los Angeles for the national championship game the next year. The team locked into those preparations in June of 2005 when Young addressed the team and ended it with a simple message on the grease board of the team room: “If you want to beat Ohio State, meet me on the practice field at 7 p.m.”

Every player on the team showed up to practice that night. When it was over, Young called Brown and said, “We’re good; they get it.” 

Texas did get it. Drew Kelson was a true sophomore linebacker on that 2005 team. The former safety transitioned to LB under defensive coordinator Gene Chizik. The Ohio State game was not only just his second start, it was the second time he’d played linebacker in a competitive game. He remembers walking into that stadium in Ohio 20 years ago and feeling shocked by the atmosphere and energy in the crowd. He recognized the fervor and passion. He just didn’t realize it existed outside of the Lone Star State.  

“I didn’t realize there was another place outside of Texas where football was as critical to the fabric of the people in the state until we played at Ohio State,” Kelson said. “It is crazy when you go somewhere where it really matters, and it really matters at Ohio State. That’s a special place to play. The atmosphere was like nothing else. It stands out amongst all the places we played.” 

The truth of modern college football is that this matchup between Texas and Ohio State matters less than one Kelson ended up sealing by causing a fumble in the fourth quarter. The 2005 game was in the BCS era when only two teams could reach the national championship game. USC was penciled in to one spot. The winner of Texas-Ohio State in Week 2 of that year was likely the other. The loser would know the season was a disappointment before the calendar turned to October. 

“You couldn’t lose,” Brown said. “If they had beaten us, they would’ve played USC. They were that good. We knew this was a season-defining game.” 

The game on Saturday won’t be as consequential, though fans hope it is as exciting. The loser in Week 1 isn’t out of the playoff picture. In fact, Ohio State and Texas likely make the playoffs at 10-2 so the loser could suffer another loss and be fine. The Buckeyes didn’t even play for the Big Ten championship last year and still won the national title. This game between the Horns and Buckeyes is more barometer than final exam. That’s good news for two teams that will likely be better versions of themselves come November. 

Kelson says good teams love road games. It feels like the current iteration of the Longhorns would agree. They hold the longest road winning streak in college football and that includes victories at Alabama in 2023 and Michigan in 2024. The same philosophy that won Texas the game 20 years ago applies to the current Horns. Both Young and Brown agree that there are universal truths to winning on the road. Be confident enough not to do too much. Have depth. Limit mistakes. Don’t let the crowd or moment become a distraction. 

“My message before the game was that this is fun. This is what you came here for,” Brown said. “This is the stage you want to be on, and make sure it is not too big for them. If they realized how big it really was, it’d be hard. Vince spent a lot of time that week keeping the team relaxed with ping pong and movies, just ways to keep the mind off the moment as much as possible.”