It’s Ohio State vs. Notre Dame in the BattleFrog Fiesta Bowl – Ohio State Buckeyes
12/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 6, 2015
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COLUMBUS, Ohio — The 11-1 Ohio State Buckeyes will meet the 10-2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the BattleFrog Fiesta Bowl Jan. 1 at the University of Phoenix Stadium in in Glendale, Ariz. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. EST (11 a.m. MST). Ohio State is ranked seventh by the College Football Playoff Selection Committee while Notre Dame is ranked eighth.
This will be the 45th Fiesta Bowl and a rematch of the 2005 game when Ohio State defeated Notre Dame, 34-20, to cap a 10-2 campaign. The game will also represent Ohio State’s 46th bowl game with the Buckeyes owning a 21-24 all-time record in bowl games. Ohio State has played in six previous Fiesta Bowls:
| 1980 | L | Penn State 31, Ohio State 19 |
| 1983 | W | Ohio State 28, Pittsburgh 23 |
| 2002 | W | Ohio State 31, Miami (Fla.) 24 (2OT)* |
| 2003 | W | Ohio State 35, Kansas State 28 |
| 2005 | W | Ohio State 34, Notre Dame 20 |
| 2008 | L | Texas 24, Ohio State 21 |
*National championship game
Sixth meeting between Ohio State & Notre Dame
Ohio State and Notre Dame will be meeting for only the sixth time on the gridiron. The teams met in 1935 and 1936, respectively when Ohio State was coached by Francis Schmidt and Notre Dame was led by Elmer Layden. It would be 59 years after those games — both won by Notre Dame — before the two would meet again with John Cooper’s Buckeyes claiming wins over Lou Holtz’ Notre Dame teams in 1995 and again in 1996. The schools also met in the 2006 Fiesta Bowl, with coach Jim Tressel’s Buckeyes prevailing over Charlie Weis’s Fighting Irish, 34-20.
Ohio State vs. Notre Dame
| 1936 | Notre Dame 18, Ohio State 13 at Ohio Stadium |
| 1937 | Notre Dame 7, Ohio State 2 at Notre Dame Stadium |
| 1995 | Ohio State 45, Notre Dame 26 at Ohio Stadium |
| 1996 | Ohio State 29, Notre Dame 20 at Notre Dame Stadium |
| 2006 | Ohio State 34, Notre Dame 20 at Sun Devil Stadium |
Urban Meyer teams: 9-2 in bowl games
Coach Urban Meyer’s teams are 9-2 all-time in bowl games, including two wins last year: in the Allstate Sugar Bowl over Alabama in the College Football Playoff semifinals and in the College Football Playoff national championship game in North Texas over Oregon.
Urban Meyer — Bowl Games
| 2003 | Liberty Bowl — Utah 17, Southern Miss 0 |
| 2005 | Fiesta Bowl — Utah 35, Pittsburgh 7 |
| 2006 | Outback Bowl — Florida 31, Iowa 24 |
| 2007 | BCS Championship — Florida 41, Ohio State 14 |
| 2008 | Capital One Bowl — Michigan 41, Florida 35 |
| 2009 | BCS Championship — Florida 24, Oklahoma 14 |
| 2010 | Sugar Bowl — Florida 51, Cincinnati 24 |
| 2011 | Outback Bowl — Florida 37, Penn State 24 |
| 2014 | Orange Bowl — Clemson 40, Ohio State 35 |
| 2015 | Sugar Bowl — Ohio State 42, Alabama 35 |
| 2015 | CFP Playoff National Championship — Ohio State 42, Oregon 20 |
Notre Dame ties
While this is the first time an Urban Meyer-coached team has faced Notre Dame, the Ohio State coach is very familiar with the university, as are a number of other Buckeye coaches and staff members. Meyer was an assistant coach — wide receivers — at Notre Dame between 1996-2000 working under Lou Holtz for one season and Bob Davie for four. At least four more key members of the coaching staff spent time in South Bend:
- Assistant head coach/running backs coach Tony Alford just finished his first season with the Buckeyes after spending six seasons with the Irish coaching under Charlie Weis and Kelly.
- Offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Ed Warinner was offensive line coach in 2010-11 at ND under Brian Kelly with the added responsibilities of run game coordinator in 2011.
- Tight ends coach Tim Hinton coached at Notre Dame the same two seasons as Warinner, in the capacity of running backs coach.
- And Mickey Marotti, Ohio State assistant athletic director for sports performance, spent seven seasons, from 1998-2005, as Notre Dame’s strength and conditioning coach.
Waiting list for tickets
Fans interested in purchasing tickets in the Ohio State sections through Ohio State University for the BattleFrog Fiesta Bowl are encouraged to submit a request now at the following link on the Athletic Department website: http://go.osu.edu/FiestaBowlTix. Ticket prices start at $100 including service charges. Ohio State receives approximately 13,000 tickets for the game and, should general public tickets be available after priority requests from season ticket holders, faculty, staff and students are fulfilled, a public sale will commence beginning with those individuals on the waiting list.
