On this date in Ohio State football history

Woody pulled shit like that about three times a season. Rip up yard markers, slug fans, slug photographers. When he was going 11-0 and 10-0-1, people didn't care. When he was going 7-4, all of a sudden they cared.

 

The apocryphal story my dad told me growing up was that Bauman was in the wrong place on that play and lucked into the interception and Woody knew it and was so furious that he slugged him.

 

Here's a 30th anniversary story (with quotes from Bauman) the Times-Union did last year. For some reason, the Internet coding is messed up and it's one big blob of text. (Reminds me of some raw stringer copy I've edited in the past):

http://jacksonville.com/sports/college/other_college_sports/2008-12-29/gator_bowl_30th_anniversary_punch

Key passages:

 

Very believable and as I listened to the rebroadcast after all of these years, I too felt as though they were trying to protect Woody.

 

I know the punch was quick and almost barely seen on cameras, but why do most "photos" of this game always seem to show Woody about to slug one of his own players instead?

 

It wasn't a "phantom" punch. It was a short quick swing that was hard to see because there were players around Woody and his back was to the camera. They didn't have a shot from the other side of the field or from above.
As for the shot you are talking about, I think it appears that way because his players were trying to subdue him.

 

Fair enough theory. I guess as a kid when I first saw the photos I thought it was always him trying to punch out his own player.

 

It wasn't that hard to see.

I saw it live on TV, and I said, "I don't believe it, the old motherfucker finally snapped."

Considering the years of shit OSU had let him get away with, I figured it was about 50-50 he'd get canned, but as I posted above, he was 7-3-1 that year, not 11-1, 10-0-1, etc etc. If he had been 11-0, they'd have swept it under the rug just like they did all the other shit.

 

Keith Jackson hated Woody. If he had seen it he would have wasted no time in blasting him.