Ohio State is poised to have a wider audience for this year's spring football game with the move to network television.

But the annual intrasquad scrimmage has long been a magnet for eyeballs as hordes of fans to nestle into Ohio Stadium each April for a sneak peek of the Buckeyes.

At the height of former coach Urban Meyer’s tenure, they set national attendance records, and last year’s spring game brought the largest crowd for the annual scrimmage at the Horseshoe in over a half-decade.

With another Scarlet and Gray game on the horizon, here are Ohio State’s most attended spring games:

2016 — 100,189

It was eight years ago when Meyer made a push for the Buckeyes to draw a crowd in the six digits for their spring game, an appeal that was met when 100,189 packed Ohio Stadium, resetting the national record for the second straight year. It left quarterback J.T. Barrett amazed at the feat. "That's crazy how many people come to watch a practice,” Barrett said, “a very basic practice at that."

2015 — 99,391

After winning the national championship in the previous season Ohio State returned a star-studded cast of players that included defensive end Joey Bosa and running back Ezekiel Elliott and featured an offseason quarterback competition between Barrett and Cardale Jones. It led to the Buckeyes having nearly 100,000 fans in attendance to see the scrimmage and a halftime throwing contest.

2009 — 95,722

The Buckeyes first set the national record for attendance at a spring game 15 years ago as they topped the crowd of 92,138 that filled Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium to see Nick Saban’s debut with the Crimson Tide in 2007. The spike came with temperatures in the 80s, along with a chance to see Terrelle Pryor in place as Ohio State’s starting quarterback.

2012 — 81,112

The weather was not terribly inviting with thick clouds and temperatures in the 40s, but the scarlet-and-gray-clad fans got their first look at a new era. The scrimmage marked the first spring game for Meyer, who had been hired five months earlier to take over for Luke Fickell, who had led the Buckeyes as the interim coach the previous season.

2017 — 80,134

After approaching the stadium’s capacity for the spring games in 2016 and 2015, some sort of a dip was inevitable, though attendance remained the highest in the nation for the year. Those in the stands saw duel between Joe Burrow and Dwayne Haskins Jr. Each threw three touchdowns as Barrett, who returned as a senior, played only a quarter.

Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch and can be reached at jkaufman@dispatch.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football's five highest-attended spring games