Saturday morning started early. Hawkeyes Bryon woke me up at 7:00 am ready for game day. We checked out of the Red Roof Inn, parked our car at the Renaissance downtown, grabbed breakfast and headed over to Ohio Stadium.

Pre Game Dining
We arrived at the Original Varsity Club at 8:45 am. However, the Varsity Club was not opened even though their website stated they were opening at 8:00 am. Instead we walked next door to Thirsty “I”. Thirsty “I” had a patio where we could ask scalpers how much tickets were. One guy said $200 to “get in” and a second guy said $150.

After about an hour there we headed back to the Varsity Club and grabbed a table until it was time to buy tickets.

Obtaining Tickets
It was not the easiest scalping market and I ended up paying $130 for a $63 ticket. However, rather than sit in my seat in section 37A, I was able to sneak into the club level of Ohio Stadium and eventually into one of the luxury boxes. As was the case with the FOX Soccer Channel’s luxury suite at the Home Depot Center where I attended some games, this box had multiple sets of people in it who did not know each. Thus, I could stand in it for part of the game.

However, I decided I should leave the luxury box at halftime rather than be caught without a ticket (I was checked for my luxury suite ticket when attending the CONCACAF semifinals this past summer in a luxury box at Soldier Field).

The Game
During the second half of the game, I sat directly at the 50 yard line in the platinum section of Ohio St.’s Club Seat Program. One seat for each season costs $3300 which equates to $471.43 per game based on Ohio St.’s seven home games this season.

Ohio St. won the Big Ten title by defeating Iowa 27-24 after one period of overtime. The fourth quarter was by far the most exciting of the game as Ohio St. scored two touchdowns to take the lead 24-10 and Iowa matched coming back with two touchdowns of their own to send the game to overtime at 24-24 (one touchdown coming on a 99-yard kickoff return – the fourth longest in Iowa history).

However, Iowa could not perform in the overtime session as they threw an incompletion on first down, lost 6 yards on second down and was sacked for a 10-yard loss on third down which took Iowa out of field goal range. Rather than kicking a field goal, Iowa QB James Vandenberg, threw an interception on fourth down. This gave Ohio St. the perfect chance to win the game and they took advantage, kicking a 39-yard field goal to win 27-24.

As the kick went through the uprights, I decided to run on the field at Ohio Stadium with the Ohio St. fans. Not too often will you be able to storm the field at Ohio Stadium.