Fans cheered on favorite team for Fiesta Bowl

In the first 36 games of the 2015-16 bowl season, 31 teams have allowed at least 35 points with the Irish joining the near majority out of 72 participants. The Buckeyes’ speed is evident on all three sides of the ball.

Both Kiper and his colleague, Todd McShay, believe some Ohio State underclassmen could climb their positional rankings with another year in college, but Meyer could still face major transitions at several positions. They own up that they “shot ourselves in the foot” – a phrase used by multiple players in the postgame locker room.

On several occasions, Notre Dame needed just one more stop to halt to an Ohio State drive and get the ball back in the hands of its offense. They were scoreless in the first quarter for the first time all season.

Bosa was banished for targeting with 5:26 left in the first quarter. After being reviewed by the officials, the call on the field was confirmed and Basa was ejected from the game.

Smith was widely expected to enter the draft, and was considered by some scouts as the best defensive player available, if not the best player overall. However, its ending is not the way he or Buckeyes fans planned. On the next play, running back Ezekiel Elliott romped through the middle for a 47-yard touchdown.

Ohio State finished with four sacks and two takeaways, including two sacks and a forced fumble by Lee. Here’s a senior playing in his last game, got treatment all day, got himself ready to play, then got deathly ill last night. When Ohio State threatened to blow the Irish from here to Tucson with a 28-7 lead in the second quarter, the few among Notre Dame’s healthy closed the gap to 28-21 in the third quarter.

“There’s definitely going to be a chip on our shoulder”, Barrett said, “because I think we’re going to be doubted a lot of times, which is fine”. Barrett found tight end Marcus Baugh wide open for a 27-yard gain to start the drive.

“He made some good plays”.

Braxton Miller, who was the Buckeyes starting quarterback for three seasons is still with the team, but he played wide receiver this season. The teams traded touchdowns throughout the second quarter to put the score at 28-14 at the half time break. “That’s where you get most of the momentum”.

“I don’t have any set date”, said Thomas, who led the Buckeyes with seven receptions for 72 yards.

_On the offensive: Kizer was 22-for-37 for 284 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions for Notre Dame.

The Buckeyes would have known of that and promptly drove right back down the field. Joshua Dobbs threw for 166 yards and ran for two touchdowns, helping the Volunteers rout No. 12 Northwestern 45-6 before a crowd of 53,202.

Add it all together, and the result is a Notre Dame defense that was battered, then beaten. Instead, the Fighting Irish flopped again as their legends remained silent. “Today’s game was a little more conducive of what we are trying to be”.

Hogan completed 12 of 21 passes for 223 yards and one interception.

Grade: It was an entertaining game, more for the machine-like consistency of Ohio State’s offense than anything. Ohio State finished the season with a record of 12-1 while Notre Dame finished the season 10-3.

Friday’s game, to the ire of the Irish, was an unfortunate microcosm of an adversity-stricken season.

A prescient Brian Kelly predicted in the days leading up to the Fiesta Bowl that Ohio State would throw toward sophomore cornerback Nick Watkins early and often – “I sure would pick on him if I (were) them”, Kelly said. They may have a point. Maybe some of the bad luck that befell the Irish previous year will swing the other way in 2016.

Kizer is determined to take what he learned in his inaugural year in the lineup, compete with another quarterback who wants to be the starter, Malik Zaire, and take the next step of maturity and development as a college quarterback. He got a nice push on the inside and staked his claim as the leader in the clubhouse right now to replace Day heading into the season.