I do hope that serious college football fans are never again asked to imagine how tough it will be to beat a Charlie Weis-coached team when he has five weeks to prepare. Jim Tressel and his Buckeyes managed that feat quite nicely thank you, throttling the Irish in the Fiesta Bowl Monday evening, 34-20.
Tressel outcoached Weis, who passed on an easy field goal that would have given his team a 10-7 lead and momentum, deciding instead to go on 4th down against one of the best defenses in the country. The Buckeyes sacked Brady Quinn, drove for the go-ahead touchdown, and never trailed thereafter.
Weis is the only guy I can remember to have been designated genius, guru and coaching icon before he ever won anything at all as a Head Coach. TV viewers of the game today were subjected to constant between-play shots of Weis on the sidelines, as if we might miss a spontaneous explosion of coaching genius if we dared look away.
But Weis had no answer whatsoever for the Buckeyes offense today, as Ohio State piled up big play after big play, and gained more offensive yardage on Notre Dame (617 yds) than any team in the history of Notre Dame football. The OSU defense held QB Brady Quinn without a passing touchdown for the first time this season, and rendered star Irish receiver Jeff Samardzija a non-factor in the game with only 59 yards on six catches. The vaunted Notre Dame offense that was to have kept OSU coordinators awake nights for the last month netted 62 yards rushing.
The Buckeyes punted exactly once, and the score would have been more lopsided had OSU not fumbled the ball away inside the Irish ten yard line, and had two makeable field goals blocked.
As annoying as the Weis worship has been during the runup to the Fiesta Bowl, the difference in the game today was less a coaching issue than one of talent. Weis is coaching someone else's recruits so far, and the Irish simply are not as talented or deep as the Buckeyes. Notre Dame gave USC one hell of a game this season, but they lost, and Weis' resume for 2005 will show wins over only two teams with winning records, Navy and a Michigan team that lost five games. They beat no one who will finish in the Top 25. So let's hold the Knute Rockne comparisons for the moment, OK?
To his credit, Weis was gracious in defeat tonight, and he may well win something before he answers the inevitable call back to the NFL. (I don't think it will be more than two more years before Notre Dame is looking for a new coach again. The NFL money is just too big these days to pass up)
All in all, it was a very satisfying win for the Buckeyes. (It doesn't get much better for Buckeye fans than to beat Michigan and Notre Dame back-to-back.) The great A.J. Hawk sacked his girlfriend's brother twice, and left the NFL scouts drooling with his overall play. The girlfriend, by the way, was second only to Weis for over-the-top on-camera time.
Special mention for stellar games goes to Mike Kudla, David Patterson, Donte Whitner, Ashton Youboty, Santonio Holmes, Ted Ginn, Jr., Tony Pittman, Tony Gonzalez, and of course Troy Smith. Pat Forde of ESPN.com writes a Troy Smith lovefest late Monday evening, calling him "Vince on training wheels." It's a nice tribute to Smith, who is writing his name into OSU history books as one of the best Buckeye QB's of all time.
Here's the Bucknuts recap by Steve Helwagen.
UPDATE 1/3: Postgame thoughts from Terry Pluto. I couldn't agree more with Terry on the bright future for Mike Kudla, who had a huge game last night. Kudla has the unique combination of speed and strength that NFL scouts love. He will dazzle them at the combines when he benches 225 lbs over 40 times, and then runs a 4.6 forty. That is off the charts. I suspect he could be off the board by the third round of the draft.
UPDATE 1/3: More love for Troy Smith, this time from SI.com's John Walters. I loved his opening line, on Smith's uncanny knack for picking up huge third down conversions...
Notre Dame, after an impressive six-play opening drive, led 7-0 in the early minutes of the 35th Fiesta Bowl, and Ohio State, after a running play that was bottled up for a one-yard gain and an incomplete pass, was facing third-and-9.Posted by dan at January 2, 2006 11:37 PMIn other words, the Fighting Irish were in trouble.