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<!-- date -->January 03. 2006 6:59AM
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Beaten a-Ginn and a-Ginn
Irish defenseless vs. OSU weapons
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ERIC HANSEN
Tribune Staff Writer
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TEMPE, Ariz. -- In the end, all the extra time afforded Charlie Weis and his offensive imagination couldn't overwhelm or even overcome one simple fact.
Notre Dame's defense is still, in some ways, living in the past.
Despite its pluck, despite forcing a pair of turnovers and being an instant-replay reversal away for a third, Notre Dame's Achilles' heel, that bled from the last coaching regime into ND's 2005 resurgence, became a broken leg in Monday night's Fiesta Bowl at Sun Devil Stadium.
<!--START Inline Ad--><!--END Inline Ad-->Ohio State's offense, all season the under card on the fourth-ranked Buckeyes' victory tour, had too much octane, too much consistency and too many big plays for Weis, ND's first-year coach, to end the Irish bowl losing streak at seven games as the fifth-ranked Irish fell, 34-20.
"There's two ways you can go after a loss," Weis, a day removed from being named Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year, said after his Irish concluded their season at 9-3. "One way is to sit there and feel sorry for yourselves. Or you can take the bitter taste in your mouth and say, 'I don't want to have that bitter taste again next year.'
"It's either one way or another -- which way do you want to go? I told them they could count on me. I'll always be there for them, but they're the ones who have to make the decision, because ultimately it comes down to players are players and the coach is the coach. They're the ones who are going to have to make the strides and take it to the next level."
Still, it was clear that Weis took the blame for the loss and took it personally. When he accidentally knocked his nametag off the postgame interview table and onto the ground, he grunted, "That's about right."
The largest Fiesta Bowl crowd for a non-championship game -- 76,196 -- looked on as Irish quarterback Brady Quinn led two impressive late scoring drives. But Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith converted two third downs late in the fourth quarter as the Buckeyes were trying to run out the clock before running back Antonio Pittman broke loose for a 60-yard scoring run with 1:46 left to effectively suck any remaining magic out of the Irish renaissance season.
Buckeye fans chanted "Rudy, Rudy", a playful rub at Notre Dame's most famous walk-on, to punctuate the victory for the Buckeyes (10-2).
In the venue of its most recent national championship (1988) and also the humiliating 41-9 loss to what was then the losingest program in college football history -- Oregon State -- five seasons ago, Notre Dame at least showed it belonged this time.
But Smith and Ted Ginn Jr., former teammates at Cleveland's Glenville High, were a two-headed bad dream for the Irish.
Smith, voted the Fiesta Bowl offensive MVP, threw for a career-high 342 yards and added 66 more on the ground to set the tone for Ohio State. The Buckeyes amassed 617 yards in total offense -- the most by more than 100 yards the Irish defense had yielded all season and the most ND has ever given up in a game.
Ohio State totaled 391 of those in the first half, when it held a 391-154 edge in the stat column and 21-7 advantage on the scoreboard. That 391 was more than six of ND's opponents had garnered in their entire games against the Irish.
Smith accounted for 301 of them.
"That was my biggest fear going into the game," Weis said of Smith's dual passing and running threats. "He didn't disappoint. He definitely has his best football ahead of him. He's definitely on the rise."
So too appears to be Ginn. The speedy sophomore, who entered the year as a Heisman Trophy candidate and came into this game as dangerous as his relatively mortal production was puzzling, provided the first two of four long scoring plays for the Ohio State offense.
The Irish scored first and impressively. Quinn went deep on the very first play and was a hair too strong on the throw to a wide-open Jeff Samardzija. But the Irish rolled from there, picking up first downs on each of their last four plays of the six-play drive.
Sophomore running back Darius Walker scored the first of his three rushing touchdowns to cap the drive -- a nifty 20-yard run.
Then it was Ginn's turn. He got behind the Irish defense and snared a 56-yard scoring strike from Smith with the closest ND defender, Ambrose Wooden, 10 yards downfield.
On OSU's next possession, Ginn took a pitch from Smith on a reverse for a spectacular 68-yard run and a 14-7 Buckeye advantage as OSU took the lead for good. All in all, Ginn had 167 receiving yards and 73 on the ground.
"Notre Dame is a fast defense," said Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, now 4-1 in bowl games and 3-0 in the BCS circuit. "When they're chasing one way and Teddy's running the other way, they've got a problem."
The problems continued with a Smith-to-Santonio Holmes 85-yard strike, the longest scoring pass in Fiesta Bowl history, that put Ohio State up, 21-7, with 2:21 left in the half. Two Smith fumbles and two blocked field goals kept the Irish hopeful going into the second half.
Momentum appeared to swing all the way back to Notre Dame's side when with ND trailing 21-13 late in the third quarter, Smith found Anthony Gonzalez for an apparent 12-yard gain on third-and-12. But Gonzalez juggled the ball then lost control of it. Irish safety Tom Zbikowski then scooped up the ball at the 12 and raced 88 yards for an apparent touchdown.
But Notre Dame was first flagged for an illegal block in the back, then gave the ball up all together when the replay official ruled that Gonzalez never had control of the ball and that the pass was incomplete.
Ohio State regained possession facing fourth-and-12 and kicked a 40-yard field goal for a 24-13 lead.
"That was a hard one to see," Tressel said of the Gonzalez play. "That game is so fast. It looked to me like an incompletion, but I don't know. But I was looking here on the stats and we had 617 yards, so there were some other important plays."
Staff writer Eric Hansen:
[email protected]
(574) 235-6470
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