Notre Dame LB Smith leaves Fiesta Bowl with leg injury

That explains reporters’ fascination with the Ohio State running back, but it doesn’t explain how a player who rips his coaching staff’s play calling after a season-altering loss to Michigan State remains in good standing and faces no discipline.

Notre Dame finally got a stop on Ohio State’s third drive of the game and forced the Buckeyes to punt. Not when Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett passed for 211 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 96 more. The junior speedster caught a short pass, tip-toed past a would-be tackler and sprinted 81 yards along the right sideline for Notre Dame’s final touchdown of the day.

Smith’s “significant knee injury”, as Kelly classified it after the loss, was the latest in a load of bricks that ultimately sealed Notre Dame’s tomb.

Those skills should translate well in the NFL. “I’m honored to continue the running back pedigree at Ohio State”.

Instead, they turned on their TVs in the posh Princess Resort Hotel and watched Michigan State play Alabama in the College Football Playoff. They may leave the desert wondering what could have been after beating another playoff contender.

What might have been if Shawn Springs hadn’t slipped against Michigan; if John Cooper could have gotten his constellation of future National Football League players properly aligned for the Michigan game; if Ted Ginn Jr. hadn’t gotten hurt against Florida after his touchdown return on the opening kickoff; if Braxton Miller had gained two yards on fourth down and not one against Michigan State in the 2013 Big Ten Championship Game.

Barrett’s day was not flawless however, he threw an interception in the second half after he was hit and Notre Dame ended up scoring and cutting the lead to seven (28-21) as well as missing some wide open targets at times.

Urban Meyer moved to 3-1 in bowl games at Ohio State, but many fans will still view this season as a disappointment after winning a national title with virtually the same team past year. Ohio State won 44-28. Ohio State DE Joey Bosa was ejected with 5:25 remaining in the first period for targeting a Notre Dame player after an interception by Buckeyes S Tyvis Powell.

“We certainly needed to execute better, but (I) didn’t feel like we were out-manned”, coach Brian Kelly said. “You lose a guy like [linebacker Jaylon Smith] early on, [and] it significantly affects what you’re doing defensively”.

After getting past those initial shocks to the system, the real story of this game was the efficiency of the Ohio State offense, particularly on first and second down.

Once they had lost and the pressure to be ideal was off, the Buckeyes seemed to play as they did in the postseason of 2014, adhering to the exhortation Meyer, an old minor-league baseball player in the Atlanta Braves’ system, to “swing hard”.

Ezekiel Elliott had three touchdowns in the first half, but that’s somewhat deceptive because the Buckeyes went through another one of those stretches where they got away from featuring Zeke.

The Bishop Luers graduate is Notre Dame’s leading tackler and victor of the Butkus Award as the nation’s best linebacker.

“Refs made a call, I’m in no place really to challenge that call or whatever, I don’t really know the rule”, he said afterward.

Notre Dame just neeeeeeever quite felt out of it.

Notre Dame closed the gap to 28-14 at halftime with a 75-yard drive and a 1-yard scoring run by Kizer.

Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey set a Rose Bowl record with 368 all-purpose yards.

“He’s a physical back. He did some special things with his feet today”. But such speculation mostly takes place outside the locker room.

MI (10-3) completed its one-season turnaround under first-year coach Jim Harbaugh. Meanwhile, Barrett racked up 41 yards in the second quarter alone. Bosa said he was hoping to keep his decision private until after the game in order to keep focus on the task at hand.

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