It was first down No. 27 for Ohio State, carry No. 21 for Antonio Pittman and heartbreak too great to quantify for Notre Dame.
The Irish came into Monday’s Fiesta Bowl against the Buckeyes with a new coach, a new attitude, and, they hoped, a new outcome. But in the end, it was the same old story for Notre Dame–an eighth straight bowl defeat.
The Irish played on, of course, even after Pittman crossed the goal line with 1 minute 46 seconds left in the game. But that touchdown, which made the score 34-20, effectively ended any possibility of a late Notre Dame comeback.
And it left the Irish, who had improved by such leaps and bounds this season, with something to prove.
“We’re going to regroup come the off-season, bust our butts, keep training, train hard with one thing in mind, that’s the national championship–ending up back here,” Irish safety Tom Zbikowski said.
The Irish may indeed return to the Fiesta Bowl, site of the 2007 Bowl Championship Series title game. But they have plenty of work to do between now and then.
Notre Dame took it to Ohio State early. The Irish didn’t just score on the game’s opening drive–a six-play, 72-yard march that took just over two minutes–they dominated. Running back Darius Walker amassed 36 yards on his three carries, including his 20-yard scoring run. And this came against a defense that entered the game boasting the best run defense in the country, giving up an average of 74.5 yards per game.
That early success, though, proved to be ephemeral. Although Walker finished the game with a respectable 90 yards on 16 carries, five Ohio State sacks helped knock Notre Dame’s final rushing numbers down to just 62 net yards on 28 carries.
“We knew Notre Dame was coming out to make plays,” said Buckeyes linebacker A.J. Hawk, who finished with a team-high 12 tackles, 3 1/2 for a loss, and two sacks. “They have a ton of talent.”
So, too, do the Buckeyes, starting with quarterback Troy Smith, who lived up to his twin reputations as a cannon-armed quarterback and a jackrabbit-fast runner.
Smith showcased both his arm and his feet on the Buckeyes’ first drive of the game.
On third-and-9 at the Ohio State 19-yard line, Smith scampered 15 yards to keep the drive alive. Four plays later, on first-and-10 from the Ohio State 44, he launched a pass that traveled more than 60 yards through the air before sophomore receiver Ted Ginn Jr. grabbed it at the 3-yard line and ambled into the end zone to tie the game at 7-7. Notre Dame never led again.
Smith was 19 of 28 for 342 yards passing, and Ginn caught eight passes for 167 yards.
The Buckeyes finished with 617 total yards, averaging 9.6 yards per play and 7.6 yards per rush. Notre Dame’s numbers: 348 yards, 4.8 yards per play and 2.2 yards per rush.
Despite those deficits, Notre Dame looked to have the opportunity to tie the game late in the third quarter when a ball seemingly fumbled by Buckeyes tight end Anthony Gonzalez at the Irish 11-yard line was picked up by Zbikowski and returned 89 yards, which would have cut the Buckeyes’ lead to 21-19.
But a flag for an illegal block in the back first brought the play back. A lengthy video replay then overturned the fumble, ruling that Gonzalez never had possession of the pass in the first place, and returned possession to the Buckeyes, who kicked a field goal to increase their lead to 24-13.
“It was obviously a big play,” Irish coach Charlie Weis said.
Bigger for the Irish than the Buckeyes.
“We had 617 yards, so there were some other important plays,” Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said.
And that, in the end, was the problem. Ohio State had too many big plays, Notre Dame too few.
Quinn finished with 286 passing yards, but it wasn’t enough. The Irish, down 21-7 at halftime, made a game of it, but they couldn’t do enough. And though the Irish exceeded all expectations in finishing the year 9-3, playing in a BCS game wasn’t nearly enough.
“I really don’t think that we came out and played our best game of the year like we wanted to,” Walker said. “We started out a little flat and it seemed like we played tight. And the best team won.”
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apatel@tribune.com
