Postgame Notes From The 2006 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/2/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Jan. 2, 2006
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery
Attendance: 76,196 (largest Fiesta Bowl crowd for anon-championship game) With the win, Ohio State has now won fourconsecutive bowl games for the second time in school history. Theprevious four game bowl winning streak occurred over a 19 year spanthat included the 1950 Rose Bowl, the 1955 Rose Bowl, the 1958 RoseBowl and the 1969 Rose Bowl. The Fiesta Bowl marked the final gamefor 16 Ohio State seniors, who finish with a combined won-lostrecord of 43-8 to tie the OSU record for wins by one class over afour-year period. The 2005 seniors won a national championship, twoBig Ten co-championships and are the first class to win four bowlgames. Jim Tressel is now 50-13 after five seasons at Ohio Stateand 4-1 in bowl games, including 3-0 in BCS games, all of whichhave been at the Fiesta Bowl. His teams have finished in the Top 5in the national polls in three of the last four years followingeach of those Fiesta Bowl victories and have won at least 10 gamesin three of the last four years. Tressel is the first Ohio Statecoach to go 8-2 against Michigan and bowl opponents. Ohio State haswon seven consecutive games, which marks the Buckeyes’ longestwinning streak since winning 19 consecutive games during a spancovering the 2002 (all 14 games) and 2003 (first five games)seasons. Against teams ranked in the Top 10, Tressel is now 6-2following the win over No. 5/6 Notre Dame. Tressel’s record againstthe Top 25 is now 22-7. Ohio State led 21-7 at halftime. With thewin, the Buckeyes are now 37-3 under Tressel when leading at thehalf. OSU led 24-13 after three quarters to improve to 39-3 underTressel when leading after three quarters. Ohio State is now 3-2all-time against Notre Dame and has won three consecutive games vs.the Fighting Irish (1995, 1996 and 2006).
Ohio State Team and Individual Notes
Ohio State’s 617 yards of total offense are the most ever forthe Buckeyes in a bowl game, topping the 466 yards against BYU inthe 1982 Holiday Bowl. With 342 yards passing in the game, TroySmith set a new career high and becomes the first Ohio Statequarterback to pass for more than 2,000 yards and rush for morethan 500 yards in the same season. He entered the game with 1940yards passing and 545 yards rushing. Smith ended the game with 408yards in total offense, the most-ever for a Buckeye in a bowl game,surpassing the 330 yards by Steve Bellisari against South Carolinain the 2002 Outback Bowl. It marked Smith’s fourth 300+ yard totaloffense game of the season, which ranks second in the OSU recordbook behind Joe Germaine’s five 300+ yard games in 1998. Smith nowhas five 300+ yard games in his career, which rank second behindGermaine’s six. With the win, Smith improves to 13-2 as OhioState’s starting quarterback. In his last seven games, he hasaccounted for 19 touchdowns (passed for 13, rushed for six).Overall this season, he has accounted for 27 (16 passing, 11rushing). Smith’s 56 yard touchdown pass to Ted Ginn on OhioState’s opening drive marked the fifth time this season theBuckeyes have scored a touchdown on their opening possession.Miami, Iowa, Northwestern and Michigan were the other games. Ginn’s68 yard touchdown run in the second quarter marked his longest rushfrom scrimmage of his career, eclipsing a 28-yard rush last year.His previous longest rush this season was eight yards. Ginn has nowscored 14 touchdowns in his collegiate career. Those include threeby rush (covering 17, 5 and 68 yards), five by punt return (65, 67,60, 82 and 62 yards), five by reception (59, 58, 42, 57 and 73yards) and one by kickoff return (100 yards). Ginn finished thegame with a career-high 167 yards receiving. It marks the second100-yard receiving game of his career (138 yards vs. Illinois, Nov.5, 2005). A.J. Hawk finished the game with 12 tackles to end hiscareer with 394 at Ohio State, which ranks fifth all-time in schoolhistory. The 85 yard Smith to Santonio Holmes touchdown pass in thesecond quarter marked the longest TD pass of Smith’s career and thelongest TD reception of Holmes’ career. The 85 yard scoring passalso set a new Fiesta Bowl record, eclipsing the 79 yard scoringpass from Oregon’s Joey Harrington to Samie Parker against Coloradoin the 2002 Fiesta Bowl. Holmes finished the game with fivecatches, marking the 30th-consecutive game he has caught at leasttwo passes. In his career, he now has 25 touchdown catches (onlyOSU’s David Boston with 34 and Cris Carter with 27 have more). Inaddition, he now ranks fifth in receiving yards with 2,295 andfifth in receptions with 140. In his career, he now has six100-yard receiving games. The Smith-to-Ginn 56 yard scoring play inthe first quarter was Ohio State’s longest scoring play in a bowlgame under Tressel until Ginn’s 68 yard run in the second quarter,which was the longest until the Smith-to-Holmes 85 yard pass laterin the quarter. Ohio State’s 391 yards of total offense in thefirst half were the most for the Buckeyes in one half this season,surpassing the 331 against Iowa Sept. 24. The Buckeyes have scoredat least one touchdown in 113 consecutive games. The last time OhioState was held without a touchdown was in a 13-9 loss to Michiganin the 1996 season. A sell-out crowd of 76,196 attended the gameMonday, which marked the largest crowd in Fiesta Bowl history for anon-championship game. The Fiesta Bowl has sold out 15 consecutivetimes and 20 of the last 21.
