Jaylon Smith leaves Fiesta Bowl with knee injury

In regards to Notre Dame losing 44-28 Friday to Ohio State in the 2016 Fiesta Bowl at the University of Phoenix Stadium in front of an over-flowing 71,123 fans, injuries to the Fighting Irish weren’t an excuse, but without question, they were a legitimate reason as to why Notre Dame wasn’t closer to a victory. The bowl result stings – as always for ND in major bowls since 1/1/94 – but there’s evidence things are going the right direction. Ohio State would punt again, but Notre Dame was finished. The teams traded touchdowns throughout the second quarter to put the score at 28-14 at the half time break.

The game started at 11 a.m., local time, and the Irish were slow to wake up. Corey Robinson set a season high with three catches for 41 yards, all of which came in a row during a second-quarter drive that ended with Kizer’s 14-yard run.

“Obviously their first series was outstanding”.

Taylor Decker said during bowl preparation that the OL prefers playing up-tempo and then the “slobs” went out and showed it against Notre Dame, crisply marching nine plays and 80 yards on its opening drive.

“So I would say their back is very talented, but they did a great job scheming, especially early on”. Bosa, a junior, confirmed after the game that he intends to apply for early entry into the 2016 NFL Draft, per ESPN. Notre Dame lost standout linebacker Jaylon Smith to a knee injury in the first quarter.

“I feel pretty good about where we’re going”, Kelly said.

To go through that and reach the Fiesta Bowl is impressive.

Ohio State’s biggest problem in some unimpressive wins early in the season and in its one loss came on offense. “I mean, it will bring a tear to my eye thinking about everything I’ve been through, everything we’ve been through as a team”.

“I like where we are”.

“That’s what we strive to do is definitely dominate the line of scrimmage”, Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said.

The Irish were depleted, especially on defense.

“He’s a physical back and he certainly makes his presence known”, Kelly said about Elliott. That specific situation got worse immediately when Smith’s back-up, true freshman Te’von Coney, was injured shortly thereafter.

A source told Blue & Gold Illustrated that Day suffered the injury late this week, which could prevent him from playing in the final game of his Irish career. Day hurt his foot in practice this week but X-rays were negative.

“It hurts because as a team we felt we should have been there”, Lee said, measuring his words.

We are required by law to do this whenever the Irish lose a bowl game. “We were shorthanded today, but we weren’t out-manned”. “He was on IVs all morning”.

Ezekiel Elliott tied a Fiesta Bowl record with four touchdowns, leading No. 7 Ohio State to a 44-28 victory over eighth-ranked Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz.

Ohio State improves to 4-2 all-time against Notre Dame, with its fourth-consecutive victory over the Irish, including a 2-0 mark in the Fiesta Bowl.

Four years, 50 football wins.

“It’s been a wild journey with this team, something I couldn’t even imagine”, Ohio State cornerback Eli Apple said.

Buckeyes star defensive end Joey Bosa was ejected for targeting in the first quarter.

Kizer reflected on the season. “I learned quite a bit”.

Sophomore quarterback J.T. Barrett, who will be back next year with no one looking over his shoulder, completed 19 of 31 passes for 211 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 96 yards on 23 carries. “In the one drive that we had where we kind of had some momentum after we scored on the strip-sack, the plays we ran, we ran a lot of gap schemes and we were gashing them”.