ESPN College Football

Editor's Note: ESPN Insider has teamed with Blue Ribbon College Football Yearbook to provide a comprehensive look at all 119 Division I-A teams. To order the complete 2005 edition of Blue Ribbon College Football Yearbook, visit www.blueribbonyearbook.com or call 1-866-805-BALL (2255).

(All information as of July 1, 2005)

The 2004 season had unforeseen obstacles beyond the Buckeyes' first 0-3 Big Ten start since 1988.

In November, Maurice Clarett accused boosters of providing players with cars, money and jobs that overpaid. Three former Ohio State players -- Drew Carter, Fred Pagat Jr. and Jack Tucker -- supported Clarett's claim, and it's important to note that Pagat's father was a Buckeyes assistant for nearly two decades.

Athletic director Andy Geiger claimed Clarett was an unreliable source who was attacking the university, but the NCAA saw fit to reopen an investigation into some of Clarett's allegations a year earlier.

Then, days after leading the Buckeyes to an upset of Michigan, quarterback Troy Smith admitted to taking $500 from a booster. Smith was held out of the bowl game, and the NCAA subsequently ruled that he must sit out the 2005 season opener as well.

To continue reading this article you must be an Insider