Football
Sims Hopes to Add to Buckeye Legacy in Last Fiesta Appearance
By John Porentas
The city of Phoenix and the Fiesta Bowl have played a huge role in the life of OSU offensive lineman Rob Sims over a four year span.
Sims' first trip to the Valley of the Sun came in 2002, when as a snot-nosed 18 year old freshman, Sims was called upon to start in the biggest game in Ohio State football in the previous 30-some years.
Sims started and played in the national championship game against Miami of Florida, a game hailed as one of the greatest college football games ever played, and when the Buckeyes won the game, Sims was marked for life as a special person in Buckeye lore.
"I was a freshman, so I was extremely nervous, but it was an exciting game," said Sims.
"The way that game worked out, it was so crazy. It was over in the snap of the fingers even though there were three overtimes. It was a great game. It was indescribable really," said Sims.
Sims performed remarkably well in the game, but a mistake late in the contest still haunts him despite the Buckeye win.
"I gave up a sack in double overtime," said Sims when asked to name the single most memorable moment for him of that game in January 2003.
"I can't remember his name, but I know it was number 55.
"Every time I go to sleep I see it.
"It's crazy. I've given up sacks my entire career, but I can't let that one go," said Sims.
The Miami player was Jamaal Green, and when Green sacked Craig Krenzel, Sims saw his young life flash before him. Sims said that still happens to this day.
"At that moment, I was so young I felt like I had lost the game.
"You look back on it now, and you wonder what if that thing didn't turn around, what if that (the final outcome of the game) had gone the other way, I wouldn't be sitting here saying I started in that first one, Rob Sims that started the national championship game. I'd be Rob Sims the freshman that started the national championship game who ruined it," said Sims of his worst nightmare.
Fortunately for Sims, the Buckeyes did turn that game around, and instead of the goat, Sims will forever be remembered as a key contributor on a magical night in the desert in Buckeye history.
"It's a great feeling to know that you were part of something so special.
That game is one of the fond memories that I have of being a Buckeye. I see it on instant classic, and I can't even believe it's me out there. It's indescribable It's great to still have those memories," said Sims.
Sims is able to look back now and see the significance of the accomplishment that night, but as it was happening, he had no idea of the magnitude of the moment.
"We were so drained and tired. We were excited for a little bit, but I was exhausted.
"We kind of didn't realize what had happened. It didn't really hit us until we got home and everybody was acting the way they were back home, everybody was real excited.
"Here, it was kind of like any other game. It was over, we celebrated a little bit, had some hats that were cool, then took a shower, got on the bus and headed back to the Princess (Hotel). The seniors were all running around happy, but I was 18-years old. It was time to go to bed for me," said Sims of his actual recollection of that night in 2003.
Sims returned to the desert and the Fiesta Bowl in 2004, and will make his last appearance in the classic this January. For most people it would be hard to imagine that any game could top the first one, but according to Sims, this one has the potential to be just as special for him as that game in 2002.
Sims and the rest of the senior class have the opportunity to tie the OSU record for wins in a four-year career with a win over the Irish in the Fiesta Bow. Sims said that for him, that accomplishment would be the equal of his first accomplishment in the Fiesta Bowl four years ago.
"I think they both rank up there, because that game was going to make us legendary, and this game could make us legendary," said Sims.
"If we get this one, look at the people who I can call part of the Buckeye nation, Archie Griffin, Orlando Pace, John Hicks, Dick Schafrath, I know all these guys, I've met them all, they're all part of the Ohio State family, I could say that I'm part of the elite of them as far as classes go.
"It's really crazy for me to think about something like that.
"It's very big for me. I think my guys deserve it, we all deserve it. We've worked hard and kept this thing together through the ups and downs of whatever. We played through it and focused on winning games, and that's what we did."
For Sims, wins over the course of an entire career is the ultimate measure of football success.
"This is excellence," said Sims.
"I wasn't All-American here, I made first team All-Big Ten after four years of struggling, but I wanted to be like that, to come back here, for me, Bobby (Carpenter) and A. J. (Hawk) and all the guys I came in with, for us to come back have a reunion and people say that that was the class, those guys shut Columbus down for four years, came to play hard and got it done. That's how I want it to be," Sims said.
"It's very big for me. I think my guys deserve it, we all deserve it. We've worked hard and kept this thing together through the ups and downs of whatever. We played through it and focused on winning games, and that's what we did."
On Monday Sims will suit up one last time as a Buckeye and he will take the field in a stadium where he has already earned his one spot in Buckeye history. He would like nothing better than to add to that legacy, to become known as not only a player who won a big game, but as a player who won as consistently over a career as any other Buckeye ever.
but not just because he's a Buckeye. Since we lost Hutchinson we could've used a guy like Sims.
