My Night Enjoying the Fiesta Bowl

I was one of a bunch of college football enthusiasts who didn't make the long trip to Tempe to watch only the fifth meeting between college football's two most storied football programs- Ohio State and Notre Dame, so I decided to go to the movie theatre...literally, and watch it on the big screen (no big lie) and enjoy the game with other Buckeye fans at the Arena Grand Theatre in Downtown Columbus.

It was the 3rd trip for the Buckeyes to Tempe (or as we now call it, "Columbus West") in the last four years, and the final Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, before it moves to Glendale and the new home of the Arizona Cardinals, next year for the National Championship (and another possible Buckeye return to the land of the sun).

All of the hype surrounding the game was put aside as the unusual worldwide romance between All-American Linebacker A.J. Hawk (of Ohio State) and the older sister of Notre Dame quarterback, Brady Quinn made headlines faster than all four of Ohio State's touchdowns in the game.

But could the Buckeyes make it four bowl wins in a row (meaning an eighth straight bowl of futility for the Irish), or would the "Ghosts of Clarett" (making headlines @ the most inopportune time again for the Buckeyes) take center stage in Tempe?

Both teams struck early, scoring on their first possessions. Notre Dame took it in on a run by Darius Walker, making it 7-0, two minutes in.

Then, on Ohio State's first possession, Ted Ginn got a late holiday present for QB Troy Smith- a 56-yard touchdown pass to tie it up at 7, 5 minutes in. "The war path was on", as I believe Brent Musberger said during the game.

It seemed like it was going to be a shootout, which is something that I like in teams that can move the ball down the field efficiently. Thanks to Charlie Weis, the offense improved (he brought over the exact same offensive scheme that the New England Patriots were used to, most recently), and the Irish scored a school record 427 points.

Back to the game...on the next Notre Dame drive, the Buckeyes put the Irish in check, and were forced to punt.

After the Buckeyes fumbled the ball away on the ensuing drive. The Irish were knocking on the OSU door at the Buckeye 15. The defense stopped them on the next three plays. Fourth down came along, and the Irish, who opted to go for it, had the door slammed in on them as OSU linebacker A.J. Hawk sacked Quinn.

After the OSU "tough-love" approach, on 3rd and 9, on the next OSU drive, Troy Smith threw an 18-yard pass to his former high school teammate, Ginn, and on the next play, Ginn ran an option run, and beep-beep, Ginn was making the races, "Excuse me" and goodbye, 68 yards later, it was 14-7, Ohio State. As the Fiesta Bowl's Grand Marshal, Jerry Rice said on the air, it was about to become "The Ted Ginn Show".

On the next Buckeye drive, Smith tried to connect to his favorite target once more, but disaster struck as the Buckeyes dropped the ball on the ground, and Notre Dame recovered yet another fumble.

As if the Irish weren't being tormented enough by the Scarlet & Gray, they tapped their own punt at the Ohio State 2-yard line. On 3rd down and forever, Troy Smith made a "get out of jail" run to the 15-yard line, where on the next play, he threw a bomb to another one of his favorite targets, Santonio Holmes, who outran the blue jerseys of Notre Dame and took it 85 yards to the house, where he was penalized for "celebrating too much" afterwards, and the rout was on, 21-7, Ohio State. The Bucks would get it once more before the first half concluded, and a 28-yard field goal attempt (which is usually makeable, by football standards) was blocked right before halftime.

The Scarlet and Gray Domination Ring in the Desert continued in the 3rd quarter, as Hawk once again sacked Quinn. However, the Buckeyes blocked yet another field goal attempt.

After the second blocked field goal attempt, Brady Quinn got the anemic by that time Notre Dame offense started up again, with several short, quick passes, all leading up to Walker's 2nd touchdown, from 10 yards. The Irish missed the extra point, making it 21-13, Notre Dame.

On the next Ohio State drive, Smith threw a pass to Ted Ginn, who escaped a tackle and almost disappeared like Houdini, but was forced out of bounds before he could go all the way...again. Later on that drive, OSU receiver Anthony Gonzalez fumbled the ball, which was picked up by Notre Dame's Tom Zbikowski, who ran it 89 yards the other way. The touchdown would be taken away, first by an illegal block by the Irish, and then by instant replay, as it was eventually determined that Gonzalez NEVER had clear possession of the football as he was juggling the ball before it hit the ground. The Buckeyes retained possession, and the third time was a charm for 6th year senior Josh Huston, who kicked a field goal to make it 24-13.

After the Buckeyes added another field goal, it seemed like the Notre Dame attempt for a comeback was going to fall flat, as Quinn got sacked by Mike Kudla for 15 yards. After that, the Irish regained speed as Notre Dame receiver Jeff Samardzija caught a pass to keep the drive alive. Later on the drive, the Irish put it all on the line of 4th Down (their first 4th Down conversion ended up in big negative gains), and Quinn threw a pass to Maurice Stovall to the Ohio State 8-yard line. A pass interference penalty put the Irish at the Ohio State 2, and on 3rd and Goal, a controversial one, it seemed like Darius Walker was short of the goal line. However, after an instant replay review, the ball barely crossed the plain of the goal line, and Walker's hat trick made it 27-20.

On the next Ohio State possession, it seemed like either the Bucks were trying to run it out, or trying to deliberately let Notre Dame come back into this game, but with less than two minutes to go in the game, Ohio State running back Antonio Pittman put an end to that with a 60-yard scamper with the fuel to add to the fire already burning and the dagger through the heart of Touchdown Jesus to make it 34-20, hence the final score. Ohio State had a Fiesta Bowl record of 617 yards of total offense and 27 first downs, as the OSU seniors, who almost three years to the day removed of winning a National Championship, ended their collegiate careers on the very same field, went out on a high note.