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By Jack Magruder
| Tuesday, January 6, 2009, 01:52 AM
Ohio State had a much better showing in the Fiesta Bowl than in its previous two BCS bowl games, national championship losses to Florida and LSU, but that did not mean much to the Buckeyes’ players.
“It’s a loss. We can’t be proud of close games,” freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor said.
“These are the type of games you have to take over and win. Hanging in there is not good enough.”
Pryor said he had absolutely no sense that the game was over when the Buckeyes took a 21-17 lead with 2:05 remaining on Dan Herron’s 21-yard touchdown run.
“We have a great defense, but they have a guy who was a top candidate for the Heisman” Trophy, Pryor said of Longhorns quarterback Colt McCoy.
“He’s going to make plays, whether we like it or not. He’s a Heisman quarterback. He’s going to match them downfield.”
Pryor and Todd Boeckman were on the field for the first play of the game, with Boeckman at quarterback and Pryor at wide receiver, and were on the field together for maybe a dozen plays or more.
“I was cool with it,” Pryor said of the formation. “I could be used as somewhat of a decoy, and then get the ball, too.”
Pryor made his first college catch mean something - his five-yard touchdown reception from Boeckman with 7:31 remaining brought the Buckeyes within two, 17-15.
“Nothing special,” Pryor said.
Boeckman did not see it that way.
Pryor, used as a decoy when he lined up at receiver most of the night, was the primary receiver on the touchdown pass.
“We’d been practicing that the last couple of weeks, to let him go up and get it,” Boeckman said.
“When you are 6-foot-5 and that athletic… let him go up for the rebound. He’s a heck of a player. He is going to be making so many plays in years to come. I’m excited where’s he at.
“Being that young and that poised on a big stage, he’s special. He’s a smart player. He is only going to get better.”
Beanie Wells had his eighth 100-yard rushing game of the season, gaining 106, but he missed most of the second half after suffering a concussion in the third quarter.
“My guys fought out there, and I am proud of them for that,” Wells said.
“Unfortunately, I couldn’t be out there to help my team whey they needed me most.
Regarding a possible move to the NFL, “I haven’t even thought it,” he said.
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By Jack Magruder
| Tuesday, January 6, 2009, 01:28 AM
Ohio State just left Colt McCoy a little too much time at the end of the Fiesta Bowl, but what was Dan Herron supposed to do, not score on his 15-yard run with 2:05 remaining?
When Texas got the ball with 1:58 and two timeouts remaining left, McCoy did not have to force the ball deep and deviate from his quick-strike attack. The Longhorns did not even need to use a timeout on their winning drive, converting a 26-yard pass from McCoy to Quan Cosby for a 24-21 victory.
While the Buckeyes took no solace from coming close, the tightness of the game should keep Texas from being considered for the AP half of the national championship. That leaves Florida and Oklahoma to play for both No. 1 rankings in the BCS title game Thursday.
Other keys to the Fiesta Bowl:
Texas’ precision passing attack. Longhorns quarterback McCoy tried maybe three deep balls among his Fiesta Bowl-record 59 pass attempts, instead opting for short out routes or slant routes to his group of quick, sure-handed receivers. McCoy’s ability to dink and dunk the ball up the field enabled the Longhorns to remain in an offensive flow despite the fact that they got only 72 yards rushing and never showed much push off the line of scrimmage.
Beanie Wells’ concussion. Wells had 53 yards rushing in the first quarter and 96 in the first half, but he suffered a concussion early in the third quarter and had only four carries in the second half, two of those coming on the Buckeyes’ first two scrimmage plays of the third quarter. Wells gives the Buckeyes a power/speed option that makes him a top candidate to leave for the NFL, although after the game he again said he has not made a decision.
Fourth down success. Texas converted two fourth-down plays on the opening driving of the third quarter. Facing fourth-and-two from the Ohio State 47-yard line, the Longhorns lined up in punt formation, but upback Rashad Bobino took a direct snap and rammed over right guard for just barely the two yards he needed. Four plays later, on fourth-and-one from the 36, Cody Johnson gained two yards over the left side. McCoy scrambled around right end three plays later on a 14-yard touchdown run, giving the Longhorns their first lead, 10-6. “We had plenty of chances to get them off the field,” safety Kurt Coleman said. “They got that yard when they needed to.”
Settling for three. The Buckeyes controlled the first half — rushing for 140 yards and controlling the ball for four minutes, 38 seconds longer than Texas — but could not convert long drives into touchdowns. They reached the Texas 25-yard line on their second series but settled for a 51-yard field goal; the Texas 34 before missing a field goal, and the Texas 7 before a false start penalty and an incompletion forced a 30-yard field goal. It was 6-3 at half; it could have been 14-3, even 17-3.
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By Jack Magruder
| Monday, January 5, 2009, 08:14 PM
The Blind Boys of Alabama just sang the national anthem.
They should mandatory at every major sporting event.
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By Jack Magruder
| Monday, January 5, 2009, 08:12 PM
At kickoff here, it is a pleasant 55 degrees, even warmer inside the University of Phoenix Stadium with the retractable roof shut.
Only the scalpers were miserable.
One scalper was selling five tickets, faced value $150, for $20 apiece … really. And no one was buying.
“You can’t give them away,” said Mike from the Bay Area. “Get ‘em while they’re cold.”
This is at the same venue where Ohio State-Florida tickets at the same face value were bringing $1,000 a pop, with no shortage of customers.
Tickets for the Ohio State-Miami game here at Sun Devil Stadium after the 2002 season went for the game price.
“I was watching people shell out thousand dollar bills back then,” said Steve from Mentor, Ohio, who has been to the four Ohio State bowl games here.
“I’m just trying to get face value here, but I can’t get $50.”
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By Jack Magruder
| Monday, January 5, 2009, 07:53 PM
Troy Graham mingled with Buckeye fans outside University of Phoenix Stadium 90 minutes before tonight’s Fiesta Bowl, traveling the 1,599 miles thanks to his brother-in-law and the Daily News.
Lewis, who lives in Topeka, Kan., won the Daily News’ online contest and received two free tickets to the game against Texas.
When Lewis could not use them, he called Graham, who lives in Dayton and was more than pleased to take the tickets off his hands.
“The paper Fed Exed the tickets to me, and we got out here yesterday,” said Graham, who brought Robert Jackson with him.
“We came out for the weekend. It’s great.”
A Buckeye fan, Graham watches the game on TV but has attended only one previous game in person, against Northwestern two years ago.
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By Jack Magruder
| Monday, January 5, 2009, 04:02 PM
Ohio State’s seniors enter their final game with chance to make school history.
The Buckeyes have won 43 games since 2005, tied for the most in any four-year period with the 2002-05 and 1995-98 teams.
“We want to break that record,” said Huber Heights’ Marcus Freeman, whose career has spanned the two most recent 43-game winners after a knee injury forced him to redshirt in 2005.
“You want to be known as one of the most successful classes of Ohio State football. I don’t think this game is going to define the senior class, because I think we have accomplished so many different things over the past four years that no one game can define us.
“At the same time, this will be the last game and we want to go out on a positive note.”
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By Jack Magruder
| Monday, January 5, 2009, 02:42 PM
With the Fiesta Bowl less than six hours away, the talk has turned to split national championships, a subject Ohio State knows a thing or two about.
The Buckeyes finished No. 1 in the 1954 AP poll and in the 1957 United Press International poll but were second in the other poll those years, to UCLA (1954, UPI), Auburn (1957, AP).
If things break just right in the final two major bowls, the thinking goes, Texas could win the AP share of the 2008 national championship.
The BCS side already has been decided - the winner of the Oklahoma-Florida game automatically is its No. 1.
According to the theorists, Texas would have a chance to sway the writers who vote in the AP poll if:
—- the Longhorns overwhelm Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl, which is far from likely, and;
—- the BCS title game Jan. 8 is sloppy, low-scoring and close.
If Florida beats Oklahoma by a field goal or less, Texas and Florida would have one loss apiece, and the Longhorns could get votes because they beat the Sooners more decisively (45-35 on Oct. 11).
If Oklahoma just slips past Florida, both Texas and Oklahoma would have one loss - and, again, Texas did beat Oklahoma.
“Monday’s our national championship game,” Texas senior cornerback Ryan Palmer said.
“It’s a crazy scenario. You can’t control what BCS does. You can only control what you do. On Monday, we can control everything we do. If the writers consider us the national champion, that would be great, but we can win another bowl game and have a 12-win season. Everything that we want to do is still intact. We just have to go out and perform well.”
As Longhorns running back Chris Ogbonnaya said: “We can’t talk about being in the national championship picture without having a victory” today.
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OSU has been living in a dream world for a few years now. Beating teams in the not so-big 10 isn’t