Ohio State Returns to Fiesta to Face Wildcats – Ohio State Buckeyes
12/7/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec 7, 2003
By BOB BAUM
AP Sports Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) – Ohio State is returning to the Fiesta Bowl, site of last season’s dramatic double-overtime national championship triumph, to face surprising Big 12 champion Kansas State.
The Jan. 2 game will be the first meeting of the two schools.
On Sunday, Fiesta Bowl officials exercised a provision in BCS rules that gave them an “economic priority” pick ahead of the Orange Bowl and selected Ohio State over Florida State.
“It was our opportunity to have the next-to-last selection, essentially, and the Orange Bowl was left with the final selection,” Fiesta Bowl executive director John Junker said.
The big loser was Texas, which Junker indicated was a probable choice had Kansas State not upset Oklahoma 35-7 Saturday night in the Big 12 championship game.
The Fiesta Bowl gives an automatic berth to the Big 12 champion unless that team is playing in the national title game. If Oklahoma had won the Big 12 title and gone to the Sugar Bowl, the Fiesta would have had two at-large picks.
Kansas State (11-3), with its first conference championship since 1934, will make its second Fiesta Bowl appearance. The Wildcats defeated Syracuse 35-18 at the Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 31, 1997. Until Saturday, that victory was considered the biggest in the school’s history.
The Wildcats lost three in a row to Marshall, Texas and Oklahoma State to drop out of the national rankings, but have won seven straight since then.
“It’s complete now, Bill Snyder’s rebuilding job,” Junker said. “There’s no more asterisks. They’ve made it. They beat one of the best college football teams of all time. They earned their way into this game, and now they’ll play a team that represents some of the best traditions in football. They’re a very, very tough team, one that leads the nation in rushing defense.”
Ohio State (10-2), meanwhile, returns to Sun Devil Stadium with the best of memories, a 31-24 double-overtime over favored Miami for the national championship last season.
The Buckeyes were in the national title picture this year, too, before a 35-21 loss at Michigan Nov. 22, Ohio State’s final regular-season game.
