Article published January 07, 2009
Buckeyes unable to deliver for seniors
Texas tackle Cedric Dockery, left, and Ohio State defensive back Anderson Russell react to the winning TD.
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By MATT MARKEY
BLADE SPORTS WRITER
GLENDALE, Ariz. - That monkey that has been riding on Ohio State's back ever since the humbling loss to Florida here in the 2006 national championship game, that monkey is now a gorilla, and it is rapidly approaching the 500-pound range.
Monday night's 24-21 defeat in the Fiesta Bowl by Texas adds more company to the misery for the Buckeyes, who have lost three straight bowl games, and lost their last five games against teams ranked in the top 10.
"It's frustrating to lose again, it really is frustrating," said James Laurinaitis, a three-time All-American linebacker who was one of 28 OSU seniors to end his career with the loss to Texas.
"There's a lot of things that I will look back on and smile about - never losing to Michigan, that always makes you happy - but we really wanted to come out with a victory in this. And I thought the whole time, the whole night, that there was no way we were going to lose that game."
After coming back from a 17-6 deficit by scoring 15 straight fourth-quarter points, the Buckeyes led the No. 3 Longhorns 21-17 with just two minutes left in the game. Then Texas, behind quarterback Colt McCoy, the runner-up in the Heisman Trophy voting, zoomed down the field in an 11-play, 78-yard drive and got the winning touchdown on a 26-yard pass play with 16 seconds to play.
| BOWL GAMES UNDER TRESSEL |
Ohio State’s bowl games under Jim Tressel (record 4-4):
Season Bowl Result
2008 Fiesta Texas 24, OSU 21
2007 BCS LSU 38, OSU 24
2006 BCS Florida 41, OSU 14
2005 Fiesta OSU 34, Notre Dame 20
2004 Alamo OSU 33, Oklahoma State 7
2004 Fiesta OSU 35, Kansas State 28
2003 Fiesta (BCS) OSU 31, Miami 24, 2OT
2002 Outback South Carolina 31, OSU 28 |
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The fact that one defensive stop in the closing seconds might have made the day turn out so differently was eating away at Ohio State coach Jim Tressel and his players."We wanted so badly to send them out in a big way, and we didn't get that done on the scoreboard," Tressel said. "The whole focus of the bowl experience for us was our appreciation for that senior group. They are a special bunch and we wanted to do anything we could to help them see if they could beat a great Texas team."
Ohio State junior running back Chris "Beanie" Wells said he felt ter-rible about failing to give the seniors a proper send-off. Wells, who was a dominant force in the first half with 96 rushing yards, missed most of the second half after suffering a concussion.
"It stinks. We were 16 seconds away [from winning] and we just couldn't hold on," a despondent Wells said. "We fought hard, but we just couldn't get the job done."
On the game's decisive play, McCoy found receiver Quan Cosby over the middle, where Ohio State junior defensive back Anderson Russell was in man-to-man coverage. Cosby shook out of Russell's tackle, then made a celebratory dive into the end zone, sealing a three-peat of Ohio State's recent postseason fate.
"It's frustrating to be out there on the field and have a chance to win it, and then experience that - having it all slip away," Laurinaitis said. "I still think we did a lot of good things out there but, unfortunately, for each team, you are always remembered by your last performance."
McCoy, who set Fiesta Bowl records with his 41 pass completions in 59 attempts, good for 414 yards with two touchdowns and one interception, said that despite his success, the Ohio State defense was in a class by itself.
"They are the best defense we have faced all year," said McCoy, who led his team to a 45-35 win over current No. 1 Oklahoma in October.
"Ohio State's guys are big, strong and physical. They were coming after us."
Ohio State tried to counter McCoy's rapid-fire spread attack with a hybrid dual-quarterback system it had not used during the season.
From the first play of the game, the Buckeyes intermittently used offensive formations that put senior backup Todd Boeckman at quarterback, and freshman starter Terrelle Pryor at wide receiver.
The formula worked, with Boeckman finding Pryor for a five-yard touchdown pass midway through the final quarter as the Buckeyes made their comeback. Pryor, who finished the night with just 66 passing yards but rushed for 104 before a couple of sacks chipped away at his total, said there was no glory for coming close to defeating Texas.
"We made a statement, but that's not good enough. It's not good enough to say we hung on. You got to finish these games," Pryor said. "They just outplayed us in that last, final little bit. We needed to finish that game off, but the ball bounced the other way."
The Ohio State offense, which had to adjust to life without the powerful Wells after he left the game early in the third quarter, ran just 64 plays to the 87 carried out by Texas.
Pryor, who on the day he signed to play for Ohio State said one of his main objectives was to help the Buckeyes win "the big one," said the defeat was very hard to accept, especially when stacked on top of the other recent losses to high-profile
opponents.
"We needed this game, and we didn't come up with a win," Pryor said in the moments after the Fiesta Bowl. "That's what's spinning around in my head right now."
Contact Matt Markey at:
mmarkey@theblade.com
or 419-724-6510.
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