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Game Thread Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: Ohio State 34, Notre Dame 20 (final)

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NOTREDAMECHIEF said:
What has CW and the player said? Everything I have read and heard they have been very respectful of OSU. The only thing I have seen was that he was working on the teams confidence and after that many bolw losses sho could blame him....
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You don't think his saying his one Super Bowl ring he was wearing is worth more than the five NC rings Tressel has is disrespectful? Especially when he wasn't even the fucking head coach at New England while Tressel was the head coach for all five national title teams.
 
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<!-- date -->December 31. 2005 6:59AM
<!--START Headline-->Chips in their bowl, on their shoulders

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JASON KELLY
Tribune Columnist

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TEMPE, Ariz. -- Which one was the dog and which one was the pony wasn't clear, but Charlie Weis and Jim Tressel did their ceremonial duty for the sponsor.

Before talking football, they accepted complimentary bags of chips and salsa, the official snack of the Fiesta Bowl.

Afterward they got their own souvenir "fiesta bowls" filled with some more knicks and/or knacks.

<!--START Inline Ad--><TABLE style="WIDTH: 321px; HEIGHT: 270px; TEXT-ALIGN: left" cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=2 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top"><SCRIPT language=JavaScript><!--OAS_AD('Middle');//--></SCRIPT> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!--END Inline Ad-->With success comes ceremony and distraction, as much a part of the background noise at Friday's media day as the planes flying over Sun Devil Stadium.

In their duly logoed jerseys, Notre Dame and Ohio State players followed the example their coaches set, playing along with the assorted silliness associated with the game.

Laura Quinn, an aspiring broadcast journalist, interviewed her brother the Irish quarterback and her boyfriend the Buckeye linebacker.

Notre Dame center Bob Morton filed a report as a freelancer for CSTV -- emphasis on the "free," lest the NCAA investigate -- trolling for New Year's resolutions and otherwise tormenting his teammates with microphone in hand.

Morton's persistent reporting turned up a relevant tidbit, albeit unrelated to Laura Quinn's relationship with A.J. Hawk or the relative merits of mild, medium and hot.

"The only resolution I have is winning this game," Irish safety Tom Zbikowski said. "I don't really have anything else."

Oh, right. That.

That would be reward enough, much better than the swag everyone receives, win or lose, like a certificate of participation.

Tressel must have an attic full of those mementos after leading Ohio State to two previous appearances here in the last three years. Winning both games, including a national title after the 2002 season, provided all the fulfillment he needed.

You can't sell wins on eBay.

"The great thing about sport," Tressel said, "is you have to go out and make your own memories."

Weis, new to Notre Dame and college football, has four Super Bowl rings to show for his previous postseason experiences.

Both coaches have a history of suffering distractions, if not gladly, at least successfully.

They each have a championship pedigree and the accompanying sensibility that any season ending in defeat leaves a hollow feeling no gift basket can fill.

So how will Notre Dame's remarkable turnaround season be remembered?

"That depends a lot on this game," linebacker Brandon Hoyte said. "We've worked so much, but if we don't handle business now ... "

His voice trailed off, leaving the sentence unfinished, but not the thought.

Notre Dame's 9-2 record, already more than a month removed from its climactic regular-season win, will be reduced to a historic footnote without a successful finish. Fun while it lasted, but forgotten, the unfortunate fate befalling all runners-up.

"If you go to the national championship and you lose," offensive lineman Dan Stevenson said, "nobody remembers the loser."

He doesn't have much experience with that, but judging from the consistency of its recitation, Weis emphasized it with the Irish. Wringing out satisfaction and replacing it with a motivating message that sticks in their minds seems to be a specialty.

For the Fiesta Bowl, the theme goes like this: No less than the legacy of the 2005 team hangs in the balance.

"This is how this season's going to be remembered, this last game," tight end Anthony Fasano said. "There's a big difference between 9-3 and 10-2, so that's on all of our minds."

The biggest difference for Notre Dame would be felt in public opinion.

Disrespect -- sometimes real, sometimes fabricated for effect -- drove the Irish through a season that included at least one warning of an 0-6 start. A couple of them recalled that prediction Friday, not that they're bitter or anything.

Defeating Ohio State, ranked fourth and favored over No. 5 Notre Dame, would be the defining moment missing from a season otherwise worthy of all the Tostitos in Tempe. Nobody could dismiss the Irish revival then.

"For us it's kind of a statement game. We've got a lot of critics and a lot of people said negative things that we don't belong here and we got here because of our name," Stevenson said. "We think we've got a lot to prove. We're still a team that's hungry."

For more than just chips and salsa.


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<TABLE class=factsborder cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width=240 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=ten><CENTER></CENTER>Notre Dame offensive lineman Bob Morton, right, cuts up as he interviews teammate Anthony Fasano during Media Day Friday at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz. <HR height="1">Tribune Photo/JIM RIDER
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<!-- date -->December 31. 2005 6:59AM
<!--START Headline-->Eyes of a Hawk, heart of a champ

Ohio State's All-American linebacker may be shy, but his play has earned lots of attention.

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ERIC HANSEN
Tribune Staff Writer

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TEMPE, Ariz. -- The questions about yoga were a welcome departure Friday for Ohio State linebacker A.J. Hawk from his way-too-public romance with Laura Quinn.

Not that his venture into the esoteric science lasted much longer than a typical sound bite from the publicity-shy All-American.

"I did it like twice, and they put it in my bio!" Hawk said with a rare incredulous tone. "Where do they get that? It's not like I was doing the chanting or anything like that. I just tried it, because we had some guys on the team at that time were doing it. I guess it's supposed to give you more flexibility, but I figured I'd try something else to accomplish that."

<!--START Inline Ad--><TABLE style="WIDTH: 321px; HEIGHT: 270px; TEXT-ALIGN: left" cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=2 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top"><SCRIPT language=JavaScript><!--OAS_AD('Middle');//--></SCRIPT> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!--END Inline Ad-->Whatever Hawk tried instead, it seems to be working. The 6-foot-1, 240-pound senior from Centerville, Ohio, is considered to be the best defensive player and a member of the best defensive unit that first-year Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis and the most prolific offense in Irish football history have had to deal with this season.

Perhaps that matchup Monday in the Fiesta Bowl at Sun Devil Stadium will be intriguing enough to knock Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn's sister off page one, which would suit Hawk just fine, since he's never really sought the spotlight or, for that matter, been comfortable being a hero.

He'd much rather honor the heroes in his life anyway, because they're the reason, he says, that anyone cares who's he's tackling, much less dating these days.

It starts with older brothers Matt (27) and Ryan (24), the latter of whom played quarterback for Ohio University.

"I kind of watched them to see how I should act on and off the field," Hawk said. "With Ryan, he's the one quarterback I never got a chance to hit. I practiced with him in high school and got to go against him, but quarterbacks in practice, as you know, you don't get to hit very much."

There were the Ohio State seniors on the Buckeyes' 2002 national championship team, who paid little mind to the fact that Hawk was the only linebacker in his freshman class not to be labeled a top 100 prospect. They answered his questions, eased his fears and showed him the path to greatness with the expectations he would someday walk, if not barrel, down it.

Stan White, now a fullback, was No. 100 on Tom Lemming;s list of top college prospects that year. Bobby Carpenter, a perfect complement to Hawk, was No. 97. And Mike D'Andrea, injured much of the past two seasons, was the No. 12 prospect regardless of position.

And Hawk? The 30th-best outside linebacker prospect. Earlier this month, he finished sixth in the Heisman Trophy balloting.

"He suffered an injury his senior year and really didn't have the hype coming in," Carpenter said of Hawk. "But I remember watching him move and work out with me, and we played in the North-South (high school all-star) game together. That's when I first kind of realized what kind of player he was, the capability of how good he could be."

And now?

"There's really nothing he can't do," Carpenter said. "He's good at pass-rushing. He's good at run-stopping, good at coverage and he's good all the time. The hallmark of a champion is consistency. He might be one of the most consistent players I've ever met."

And with one of the more interesting hair cuts. Shoulder length. By his own admission, scraggly. And with a purpose.

"It's because of Pat Tillman," Hawk said. "When he died, that's when it started. I enjoyed watching him play football. I respected what he did in giving football up. I respected how he did what he thought was right."

Tillman played both his pro and college football at the site of Monday's Fiesta Bowl -- Sun Devil Stadium, as a linebacker for Arizona State and a safety for the NFL's Arizona Cardinals. But after four seasons with Arizona, he pushed away a three-year, $3.6 million contract to enlist in the military. He did so in May of 2002 in the wake of the September 11 tragedies of the previous fall. He was killed two years later in the line of duty in Afghanistan at age 27.

"I don't plan on cutting my hair any time soon," Hawk said.

The common thread that Hawk's heroes carried was going after goals with an overachiever's heart. And now it beats inside an underachiever's body -- a dangerous combination for anyone who comes in contact with Hawk on the football field.

"I recruited A.J. myself," Ohio State defensive coordinator Joe Heacock said. "And from the day I met him until now, he's been a competitor. He didn't just show up and become great. He worked extremely hard, and his competitiveness drove that. I've never seen anyone like him. He's in the weight room every day at 6 o'clock in the morning. A lot of people don't see that side of him, because he doesn't let them in. They see the glamour, but he's worked for everything he's gotten."


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<TABLE class=factsborder cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width=240 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=ten><CENTER></CENTER>Ohio State All-American linebacker A.J. Hawk works during practice Thursday in Arizona. <HR height="1">Tribune Photo/JIM RIDER
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR bgColor=#720c0c><TD>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Related articles:[/FONT]</TD></TR><TR bgColor=#f6f6f6><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width=15>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]» [/FONT]</TD><TD>12/31/2005 - Awkward reunion for Wilson
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=15>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]» [/FONT]</TD><TD>12/30/2005 - They're not ready to leave
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=15>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]» [/FONT]</TD><TD>12/30/2005 - Bowl Histories
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=15>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]» [/FONT]</TD><TD>12/30/2005 - OSU Team Statistics
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=15>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]» [/FONT]</TD><TD>12/30/2005 - ND Team Statistics
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=factsborder cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width=240 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=content><HR height="1">Irish vs. Buckeyes


Who: No. 5 Notre Dame (9-2) vs. No. 4 Ohio State (9-2)

What: Tostitos Fiesta Bowl

When: Monday, 5 p.m. EST

Where: Sun Devil Stadium (73,752)

TV: WBND-TV (ABC)

Radio: WNDV-FM (U-93), WNDV-AM (1490), WDND-AM (1580)

Quotable: "The only way I'll have fun is if we win the game. I cannot have fun until after the game is over. Now if we win the game, I'm going to say I had a lot of fun. If we lose the game, I'm going to be miserable."

ND coach Charlie Weis on whether he is enjoying his first bowl experience
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What a silly thing to joke about especially when the SB rings adorning his precious fingers were acquired as an assistant coach. Yes he is a good coach, but Bill Belichek has not missed him. The Pats are back in the playoffs without the great one. How freaking silly to even suggest that the achievements on the field that a college NC ring represents is somehow so inferior to a SB ring that not even 5 college NC rings can eqaute to one SB ring. How freaking delerious does somebody need to be to make this statement?
 
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NOTREDAMECHIEF said:
NO, And I am sure he was just joking anyway he does have a little wit to him.
Click to expand...

Whether he was "joking" or not isn't very important. It was an EXTREMELY arrogant statement. Why would you say something like that unless you believed your own hype? Weis is a fuck and he is just making himself look like an over-confident asshole by saying things like that. Where does he get the right to disrespect anything that Tressel has ever accomplished? He hasn't accomplished anything yet. Like I said before, the superbowl rings don't mean shit. This isn't the superbowl, and even if it was, he's never been a head coach before this year. I don't think that fat piece of shit or his band of underachievers respect tOSU program, it's players, or it's coach, despite the obligatory ingratiating comments that he is essentially required to make to the media to remain PC.
And you Domer's pretend to not understand why we hate ND so much. Its becasue of the holier than thou attitude that is toted around on a year in year out basis and the fact that ND hasn't done anything recently to deserve it or to earn ANYONES respect, yet the arrogance persists. Its becasue Notre Dame always gets the benefit of the doubt because they are Notre Dame. Its because they dont have to work as hard as everyone else does to get the respect that they have. Its because they don't show other schools the respect that they should, and Charlie Weis' statement exemplifies that as well as any other example.

So, Cheif, I want to let you know that I can respect you personally for even having the balls to post here and because you seem to notice that ND does get more respect than they routinely deserve, but having said that my opinion is even more than ever, fuck Notre Dame, fuck their tired, boring year in year out media darling arrogant attitude and Fuck Charlie Weis.
 
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scarletngrey77 said:
The same Tennessee team that could not make a bowl game this year...

Everyone, fans, media, and players are comparing us to Tennessee, they will be in for a huge surprise soon...
Click to expand...

In ND's defence that is the last time they saw a good defense. Lack of experience with the real thing will do this to you every time.

NDCHIEF - I suspect a joke was his sole intention. However, that is not the manner in which this comes off. It comes off as slight, a belittlement, as a mine is much, much bigger than yours statement.
Designing the offense that garnered the Patriots Super Bowl victories is no small thing. For this Weis deserves considerable kudos and respect.
Likewise, leading a major college program 14-0 and winning an uncontested National Championship in the BCS era is a very substantial feat. For this Tressel deserves considerable kudos and respect.
I could argue that Tressel deserves more respect as he was the Head Coach, while Weis was naught but a mere Offensive Coordinator. However, I will not do so. For, engaging in that comparative argument assumes that respect can be that finely measured like carats of gold. Worse yet, that argument has at its heart the same flaw that is central to Weis' off-hand and ill-thought quip - that reaching the pinnacle of your profession in parallel fields can be weighed one against the other - and one found to have more merit than the other. Such a premise is petty and unnecessary.

Both achievements stand on their own.

Weis' poor choice of words stand in stark contrast to his prior respectful statements concerning his opponent in the Fiesta Bowl. I can only hope he saw that in print and went, "Did I really say that?" and then issues some manner of retraction.
 
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CW's statement has alot to do with confirming the smug, arrogant attitude that is ND. I wonder what Weis thinks is more valuable - the ND education or the special needs teacher who earned her degree at some *lesser* school but yet is able to teach Weis's special needs daughter how to communicate with the family? Does her accomplishments fall short of one SB ring? Also, why did Weis lower himself to roam a college sideline when it really is no big deal? Is that what he tells his recruits? That's what he believes.
 
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And OSU fans beware: Weis is targeting the Buckeye state.

"We're bringing some (players) out this year," he said of the three seniors who have given the Irish verbal commitments, "and we're going to be bringing more out every year."
Click to expand...

What, you mean the three kids that didn't have Ohio State offers?
 
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