OSU Beats Irish in Fiesta Bowl

Ohio State’s 44-28 win over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl on Friday was a repeat of the dominating performance the Buckeyes put together against MI in a 42-13 win in their final regular-season game. That lead reached 28-7, before Notre Dame rallied to cut the deficit to 28-21. The Buckeyes defeated the Fighting Irish 44-28. His first two carries of the second quarter went for a combined 30 yards, and he capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown.

The game started at 11 a.m., local time, and the Irish were slow to wake up.

“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. “It was unfortunate that it happened that way, but I’m proud of my team for stepping up and finishing the way they did”. At one point, Corey Robinson caught three straight passes (14, 12, and 15 yards) to move the Irish right down the field. After tying a BattleFrog Fiesta Bowl record with his fourth rushing touchdown in the third quarter, Elliott stopped at the back of the end zone and mimicked Bosa’s trademark shrug.

Treadwell also completed a 45-yard pass on a trick play to continue a scoring drive and left tackle Laremy Tunsil scored a 2-yard touchdown at the end of the first half. More often than not, Notre Dame’s ballcarriers were taken down on first hit and that should be a welcome sight for Rutgers fans who watched the Scarlet Knights struggle to tackle in a 4-8 campaign this past fall.

Notre Dame missed its CFB chance by four points; two-point losses to Clemson and Stanford. “Just because things didn’t go our way doesn’t mean we’re just going to pack it up”, he said. It helped in this game that the Buckeyes did a nice job of mixing the run and pass and getting a lot of skill players involved.

“Ohio State is a great team”.

The Irish were depleted, especially on defense.

The consensus All-America linebacker was laboring back to the Notre Dame sideline from a tunnel at University of Phoenix Stadium, his left leg swallowed by a black air cast, his armpits swallowing the crutches he leaned on.

“Certainly the guy that is so impactful, I guess”, Kelly said. “You lose a guy like that early on, it significantly affects what you’re doing defensively”.

Smith’s backup Te’von Coney also was knocked out of the game, with a shoulder injury.

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.

Meyer said he has “let go” of all that.

“Honestly, we didn’t see those plays for the rest of the game”. That’s the kind of captain he is. “He was on IVs all morning”. In a flawless world for Rutgers, it may be three or four years before Ash has a defense as talented as the one Ohio State fielded in the Fiesta Bowl.

Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott (15) breaks free for a touchdown run against Notre Dame during the second half of the Fiesta Bowl NCAA College football game, Friday, Jan. 1, 2016, in Glendale, Ariz.

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.

“It’s been awesome”, he said. I know that might have seemed ridiculous to some at the time, but think of it, how could your draft stock get any higher than right after the tremendous accomplishments turned in by Cardale Jones around this time a year ago? Reflecting on it now, I think we did make a little statement being that we were not in the playoffs, but it is okay.