Fiesta Bowl
2006
Ohio State 34
Notre Dame 20
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Troy Smith outplayed Brady Quinn and Jim Tressel
outfoxed Charlie Weis. Fourth-ranked Ohio State jumped on No. 6 Notre
Dame with big play after big play Monday night in a 34-20 Fiesta romp,
sending the Irish to their eighth consecutive bowl defeat.
``I've been hearing a lot about 'How are you guys going to beat a Notre
Dame team when you give Charlie Weis four weeks to prepare for it?' ''
Buckeyes senior linebacker A.J. Hawk said. ``That kind of upset me
because I thought, `What about giving Coach Tressel four weeks to
prepare for you?' ''
So make it four straight bowl wins for the Buckeyes, three of them at
the Fiesta.
Suspended from last year's Alamo Bowl for taking $500 from a booster,
Smith earned a measure of redemption with an offensive MVP performance,
hooking up on a pair of long touchdown passes. Santonio Holmes set a
Fiesta Bowl record with an 85-yard TD catch (video),
then said he was forgoing his senior season to enter the NFL draft. Ted
Ginn scored on a 68-yard end around (video)
and caught a 56-yard touchdown pass for the Buckeyes (10-2) (video).
Darius Walker scored all three touchdowns for Notre Dame (9-3). The
Irish fell to 13-14 overall in bowls, a disappointing end for Weis in
his first year as their coach.
Smith also sat out this year's opener but has improved steadily since
then. He completed 19 of 28 passes for a career-high 342 yards and ran
for another 66 in 13 attempts.
``As you watched Troy throughout his career, every day in practice, he
learns a little something and gets better, and he learns from every ball
game,'' Tressel said. ``He's very passionate about being a great
quarterback, and each day he's taking a step closer to it.''
The junior from Cleveland capped his performance with a pair of
third-and-long completions on the Buckeyes' final scoring drive. Antonio
Pittman, who rushed for 136 yards in 21 carries, broke free on a 60-yard
touchdown run to seal the victory with 1:46 to play (video).
``First of all, I want to let you know that sitting out of last year's
bowl, I didn't think about that as much as you probably think I did,''
Smith said. ``To me, this year's seniors, this group of guys on the
field, that's what it was about. I don't like taking a lot of credit for
what goes on on the field because it takes 11 guys.''
Forget the stereotype of plodding but powerful Ohio State; the Buckeyes
won with sheer speed. Ginn caught eight passes for 167 yards. He
zigzagged into the end zone on his long run to help the Buckeyes take a
21-7 halftime en route to their third Fiesta Bowl victory in four years.
Holmes caught five passes for 124 yards. Ohio State had a Fiesta
Bowl-record 27 first downs. The Buckeyes' 617 yards were third most in
the bowl's 35-year history.
The intricate, efficient offense that Weis brought with him from the New
England Patriots sputtered early before the Irish mounted a comeback
that cut the lead to seven in the fourth quarter. Hawk, Ohio State's
Lombardi Award-winning linebacker and the game's defensive MVP, sacked
his girlfriend's brother, Quinn, twice. Hawk also ran down Quinn to stop
a third-down play early in the fourth quarter. Quinn, a third-team
All-American behind Matt Leinart and Vince Young of Texas, completed
29-of-45 for 286 yards but no touchdowns.
The teams met for only the fifth time in their storied histories, and
for the first in a bowl game. The Irish gave up 617 yards, third most in
Fiesta Bowl history, with 275 of that coming on the ground.
A crucial play came when a video replay nullified what would have been
an Ohio State turnover in the third quarter. With Notre Dame trailing
21-13 and the Buckeyes driving, Smith threw over the middle to Anthony
Gonzalez, who dropped the ball at the Irish 12. Tom Zbikowski picked it
up for Notre Dame and ran 88 yards to the end zone. An illegal block
would have brought it back to the Buckeyes' 21, but a video review of
the play determined Gonzalez juggled the ball and it was ruled an
incompletion (video).
``That was THE play,'' Weis said. ``What I said to the official on the
field is I hope your guy upstairs was right because that changed the
whole complexion of the game.''
Josh Huston kicked a 40-yard field goal and Ohio State led 24-13 with
2:20 to go in the third quarter. Huston's 26-yard field goal with 10:12
to play made it 27-13.
Notre Dame mounted its best drive, 80 yards in 13 plays, to cut the lead
to 27-20. Walker's 3-yard run was ruled a touchdown after another video
review with 5:27 left (video).
Soon, Ohio State's speed took over. Ginn took Smith's pitch on an end
around and raced for a touchdown, leaving three Notre Dame defenders
sprawled on the ground with a cutback from the sidelines 10 yards from
the end zone. The Irish led 14-7 with 14:16 left in the first half.
Later in the quarter, Ohio State took over at its own 2. No matter.
Smith scrambled from the 6 to the 15, then connected with Holmes for an
85-yard scoring play. The previous record for longest pass in the Fiesta
Bowl was 79 yards from Tennessee's Tee Martin to Peerless Price against
Florida State in 1999 and Oregon's Joey Harrington to Samie Parker
against Colorado in 2002.
It was the final Fiesta Bowl in Sun Devil Stadium. The game moves to the
Arizona Cardinals' new stadium in the west Phoenix suburb of Glendale
next year.
``There are two ways you can go after a loss,'' Weis said. ``One way is
you sit there and feel sorry for yourselves. The other way is to take
that bitter taste in your mouth and say 'I don't want to have that taste
a year from now.' ''
Ginn grabs touchdown pass.
Pittman scores on 60 yard run.
Fiesta aside, an outstanding season for ND and Quinn.
Attendance: 76,196
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
ND- Walker 20 yd run
(Fitzpatrick kick)
OSU- Ginn, Jr. 56 yd pass from Smith (Huston kick)
Second Quarter
OSU- Ginn, Jr. 68 yd run (Huston kick)
OSU- Holmes 85 yd pass from Smith (Huston kick)
Third Quarter
ND- Walker 10 yd run (Fitzpatrick kick failed)
OSU- FG Huston 40
Fourth Quarter
OSU- FG Huston 26
ND- Walker 3 yd run (Fitzpatrick kick)
OSU- Pittman 60 yd run (Huston kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing
OSU- Pittman 21-138, Ginn, Jr. 2-73, Smith 13-82
ND- Walker16 93 3
Passing
OSU- Smith 28-19-342
ND- Quinn- 45-29-286
Receiving
OSU- Ginn, Jr. 8-167, Holmes 5-124
ND- Walker 7-37, Stovall 9-126, Samardzija 6-59
