Deace has it correct. Columbus with approx. 2 million people living in the area just happened to prosper and grow later than Pittsburg to the east, Cleveland to the north, Indianapolis to the west, and Cincinnati to the south. This is why Columbus has no major league sports up until recently with the NHL.....thus their tradition rich college football program is the main event. Demographically it is a young population as well as young as a city in its growth cycle vs. surrounding more mature blue collar cities.
So 2 million people, one of the largest alumni bases, and a rich business climate (heavily white collar) all feed the pressure to win and perhaps look the other way at times.
Our family found it to be a good place to live for 10 years. Our daughter graduated from the Business School at OSU and we made many friends in our stay including quite a few Columbus Hawkeyes.