Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor runs a short fade route to the corner of the end zone, jumps over a Texas defender, and hauls in a touchdown pass from his predecessor and now backup Todd Boeckman, cutting the Longhorn's lead to 17-15.
On the subsequent drive, running back Daniel "Boom" Herron took a hand off at the Texas Longhorn 15 yard line, cut back, and ran virtually untouched into the end zone to give the Buckeyes a 21-17 lead with 2:05 left in the Fiesta Bowl.
Wait a minute.
Pryor catching passes?
Boeckman throwing the ball?
The Buckeyes have the lead with two minutes to go?
And who the heck is Boom Herron?!!
All of the headlines, recaps and commentary about Monday night's thrilling Fiesta Bowl will laud Texas quarterback Colt McCoy and receiver Quan Crosby, among others on the Longhorns, and their stunning 11 play, 78-yard drive with less than two minutes to play.
And for good reason: the Longhorns came up big when the game was on the line.
But the story of this Fiesta Bowl were those athletes and coaches in the scarlet and silver.
Coach Jim Tressel pulled out all of the stops in a game where few thought that the Buckeyes had any real chance. Ohio St. had not only lost the past two national championship games, but had been soundly beaten. They have a true freshman quarterback.
And also, have you heard how Texas feels about the way the BCS treated them this year?
The odds were stacked against Tressel and the Buckeyes, but they responded excellently. The Longhorns had no answer in the first half for running back Chris "Beanie" Wells, and he seemed well on his way for an enormous game en route to carrying the Buckeyes to a win, only to be injured early in the second half, and absent from the rest of the game.
But Ohio St. battled. They scored 15 straight points on a Texas defense that was supposedly much better than advertised. They held one of the most explosive offenses in the country to half of their points per game average. They executed trick formations.
Texas deserved the win, but Ohio State played better than a loss.
10 comments Last one added 5 months ago — Leave a Comment
Andrew 5 months ago
I know they loss, but I am proud of my Buckeyes
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Brad Frank 5 months ago
The impact of another Ohio State loss shifted more towards the direction of "Wow, they actually hung with Texas and probably should have won," rather than something like "Wow, they still are terrible and should be banned from BCS bowl games and embarassed for the Big Ten again."
Essentially, I predict Ohio State earned more respect for its efforts than criticism it will receive for losing yet another BCS bowl game.
I think America learned something about Ohio State last night. And perhaps it is willing to reconsider its stance on the hated Buckeyes.
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Matt Burris 5 months ago
I think it's more like, "Wow, Ohio State hung with an overrated Big 12 team."
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B GOBUX 5 months ago
Ohio State had two BCS debacles in a row but people seem to forget they were 4-0 in BCS games going into the National Championship in 2006. They are now 4-3.
They showed who they really were last night and should have won the game against one of the best teams in the country. To say that OSU is no good or doesn't belong is foolish. Ohio State continues year in and year out to have a top 5 recruiting class and have more players in the NFL than any other school. They have laid an egg in a few big games recently but last night proved against a very good Texas team that they belong.
Let the haters keep hatin'
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Joe G 5 months ago
Matt, are you sure it's not "Wow, Ohio State hung with the ONLY TEAM TO BEAT OKLAHOMA?" I think they looked great last night.
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Kevin Strickland 5 months ago
My opinion will not be popular, but I think the Fiesta said more about the weakness of the Big 12 than anything.
Neither Texas nor OSU would be remotely competitive in the SEC based on what I saw last night. And the SEC was lacking a little this season.
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John Barker 5 months ago
Kevin,
Not sure how you define "remotely competitive" but you are very wrong in my opinion. I think both Texas and OSU were easily better than Auburn, TN, Vandy, KY, Miss State, Ark and South Carolina. By the way, I'm an SEC guy.
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Kevin Strickland 5 months ago
Texas, Oklahoma, OSU would be three or four loss teams in the SEC. Middle of the pack most years. OSU in particular would have difficulty competing.
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Chris Gubata 5 months ago
Thanks for the comments and the reads guys,
The Big 12 is not weak. Nor is the Big 10. They just have different styles. Teams from the Big 12 don't have running backs like Beanie Wells with that power style of football. Teams in the Big 10 don't have high powered offenses. Ohio St. will get credit for hanging with a team that end up number one in the country depending on the national championship game.
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Dan Morgan 5 months ago
Kevin, you're stance is ridiculous. The SEC had a terrible year (outside of Florida and Bama) in 2008 and shouldn't be bragging to anyone right now.
Big Ten is worse, I'll give you that but it isn't by some huge margin. I really hope we meet an SEC team in a bowl game next season.
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