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 four consecutive bowlgames for the second time in school history. The previous four gamebowl winning streak occurred over a 19 year span that included the1950 Rose Bowl, the 1955 Rose Bowl, the 1958 Rose Bowl and the 1969Rose Bowl.
The Fiesta Bowl marked the final game for 16 Ohio Stateseniors, who finish with a combined won-lost record of 43-8 to tiethe OSU record for wins by one class over a four-year period. The2005 seniors won a national championship, two Big Tenco-championships and are the first class to win four bowl games.
Jim Tressel is now 50-13 after five seasons at Ohio State and4-1 in bowl games, including 3-0 in BCS games, all of which havebeen at the Fiesta Bowl. His teams have finished in the Top 5 inthe national polls in three of the last four years following eachof those Fiesta Bowl victories and have won at least 10 games inthree of the last four years.
Tressel is the first Ohio State coach to go 8-2 againstMichigan and bowl opponents.
Ohio State has won seven consecutive games, which marks theBuckeyes’ longest winning streak since winning 19 consecutive gamesduring a span covering the 2002 (all 14 games) and 2003 (first fivegames) 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 the win, the Buckeyes arenow 37-3 under Tressel when leading at the half. OSU led 24-13after three quarters to improve to 39-3 under Tressel when leadingafter three quarters. Ohio State is now 3-2 all-time against NotreDame 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, Troy Smith set a new careerhigh and becomes the first Ohio State quarterback to pass for morethan 2,000 yards and rush for more than 500 yards in the sameseason. He entered the game with 1940 yards passing and 545 yardsrushing.
Smith ended the game with 408 yards in total offense, themost-ever for a Buckeye in a bowl game, surpassing the 330 yards bySteve Bellisari against South Carolina in the 2002 Outback Bowl. Itmarked Smith’s fourth 300+ yard total offense game of the season,which ranks second in the OSU record book behind Joe Germaine’sfive 300+ yard games in 1998. Smith now has five 300+ yard games inhis career, which rank second behind Germaine’s six.
With the win, Smith improves to 13-2 as Ohio State’s startingquarterback. In his last seven games, he has accounted for 19touchdowns (passed for 13, rushed for six). Overall this season, hehas accounted for 27 (16 passing, 11 rushing).
Smith’s 56 yard touchdown pass to Ted Ginn on Ohio State’sopening drive marked the fifth time this season the Buckeyes havescored a touchdown on their opening possession. Miami, Iowa,Northwestern and Michigan were the other games.
Ginn’s 68 yard touchdown run in the second quarter marked hislongest rush from scrimmage of his career, eclipsing a 28-yard rushlast year. His previous longest rush this season was eight yards.
Ginn has now scored 14 touchdowns in his collegiate career.Those include three by rush (covering 17, 5 and 68 yards), five bypunt return (65, 67, 60, 82 and 62 yards), five by reception (59,58, 42, 57 and 73 yards) and one by kickoff return (100 yards).
Ginn finished the game with a career-high 167 yards receiving.It marks the second 100-yard receiving game of his career (138yards vs. Illinois, Nov. 5, 2005).
A.J. Hawk finished the game with 12 tackles to end his careerwith 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 pass also set a new Fiesta Bowl record,eclipsing the 79 yard scoring pass from Oregon’s Joey Harrington toSamie Parker against Colorado in the 2002 Fiesta Bowl.
Holmes finished the game with five catches, marking the30th-consecutive game he has caught at least two passes. In hiscareer, he now has 25 touchdown catches (only OSU’s David Bostonwith 34 and Cris Carter with 27 have more). In addition, he nowranks fifth in receiving yards with 2,295 and fifth in receptionswith 140. In his career, he now has six 100-yard receiving games.
The Smith-to-Ginn 56 yard scoring play in the first quarter wasOhio State’s longest scoring play in a bowl game under Tresseluntil Ginn’s 68 yard run in the second quarter, which was thelongest until the Smith-to-Holmes 85 yard pass later in thequarter.
Ohio State’s 391 yards of total offense in the first half werethe most for the Buckeyes in one half this season, surpassing the331 against Iowa Sept. 24.
The Buckeyes have scored at least one touchdown in 113consecutive games. The last time Ohio State was held without atouchdown was in a 13-9 loss to Michigan in the 1996 season.
A sell-out crowd of 76,196 attended the game Monday, whichmarked 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.
