Oregon and Ohio State will battle in the college football championship game as two of the most dominant programs in college football. But it wasn't that long ago when Oregon was mediocre and Ohio State was moving in the wrong direction.
In 2008, Ohio State's football program ranked second with $68.2 million in revenue while Oregon ranked just 36th at $24.8 million. Three years later, Ohio State had fallen to $58.1 million as the program was placed on probation and Oregon rose all the way up to $51.9 million.
Oregon's big leap came in the first year after their appearance in the BCS Championship game, a season that showed the program was on the rise and here to stay. A year later, Ohio State hired Urban Meyer to be their head coach, going 12-0 in his first season, and reversing the downward trend of the program's bottom line.
BusinessInsider.com