Good point Go Guins, I made too general of a statement. I was trying to say that seldom had the "hands-down" better teams against the big programs, but we found a way to win. You could not be more right on that 1994 team. I remember the struggles all season & with 2 D-II games on the schedule, I knew we had to win them all.
The first game was a home game vs. Stephen F. Austin (or maybe it was SW Texas State), we struggled and were outplayed. I thought we were the better team, but we could not get our ground game going and were down by 10 late in the 4th-quarter. Tressel put in Shawn Patton who broke loose for a huge TD of 50+ yards. The Leon Jones dropped the SFA QB for loss and forced a punt while they were trying to milk the clock against us. Then we drove late & Wilkins saved us once again; but give SFA credit, they did not fold.
That was the same year we could not do anything against DII N. Alabama. Their defense shut us down completely. In the 4th-quarter, Tressel ran 3-off tackle plays & then punted and let the defense win it for us. I don't think we had more than 1 offensive series in the 4th. I remember that I sent the N. Alabama SID an email at the end of the season with YSU finishing 14-0-1 ...and North Alabama finishing 14-1-0 ...images of both teams holding Sears trophies.
I was just checking out that roster and "holy cow" ...it is a virtual list of hall-of-famers and great ones.