It’s been almost 700 days since the Ohio State football team last lost a game, but who’s counting?

Apparently Marcus Otte, a second-year in exercise science and the man behind @LastTimeOSULost, a new trending Twitter account that emphasizes the amount of time the Buckeyes have gone undefeated.

The team’s most recent loss was Jan. 2, 2012, against Florida in the Gator Bowl. OSU lost, 24-17.

Otte opened the account leading up to this year’s game against Pennsylvania State University Oct. 26. After about three weeks and more than 70 tweets, the page has gained more than 8,900 followers.

“It took one tweet — one good tweet — and then the next morning, I woke up with like a thousand followers,” Otte said.

That tweet pointed out that the last time OSU lost, Snapchat, a smartphone picture app, wasn’t popular yet. It was retweeted more than 2,500 times.

Though Snapchat was released in September 2011, it didn’t gain traction until later in 2012.

Eric Damian, a fifth-year in civil engineering, said that was the tweet that made him take notice of the account.

“I think they had roughly 50 tweets at that time and I read through every single one and I just knew I had to follow them,” Damian said. “They’ve definitely turned into my favorite follow on Twitter.”


Students aren’t the only ones following the account. @LastTimeOSULost has also gained follows from accounts such as the official Brutus Buckeye Twitter account, Otte said.

The increased popularity of the page has led to some pressure for Otte.

“All day I have to think of a tweet about something that happened back in January of 2012. It’s tough,” Otte said. “I’ll just be sitting around trying to think of some ideas some days, and then other days an idea will just pop into my head when I’m not even thinking about it.”

Out of all the tweets, Otte said he is most proud of one that chronicles the change in Miley Cyrus’s physical appearance, from a brunette with long hair to a blonde with a partially shaved head. It was retweeted more than 3,000 times.

“Miley Cyrus actually looked like a normal person the last time Ohio State lost and I had a picture of her,” Otte said. “A lot of people liked that one.”

For some students, it’s the humor of the page that keeps them hooked.

“It’s pretty witty and funny,” said Julia Jordan, a third-year in hospitality management. “It’s all in good fun.”

Though @LastTimeOSULost runs on the success of the football team, if the Buckeyes lost, Otte said he would probably tweet something along the lines of “Whoops” and continue tweeting from the account in case the Buckeyes had another winning streak.

Still, Otte said he’s confident the team will keep succeeding.

“People will say, ‘Oh, this is a jinx,’” Otte said. “But it doesn’t seem like a jinx so far.”

 

Mark Batke contributed to this article.