The Buckeyes and Big 12 Fiestas Past
The Buckeyes, having ended their season at least a full two weeks before the rest of the world, find themselves in a good position to play in the Fiesta Bowl, and probably against an opponent from the Big 12. Let’s take a look back at the last time the Buckeyes played a Big 12 opponent in the desert – the 2004 Fiesta Bowl, against Kansas State.
The Wildcats
Kansas State University is located in Manhattan, Kansas, which is only slightly more populated and exciting than any given Siberian town on a Tuesday night. Bill Snyder, who earned his chops as an assistant under Hayden Fry at Iowa, had built the lowly Wildcat program into a Big 12 contender, mainly through the use of juco transfers and soft scheduling.
Kansas or Siberia?The 2003 Wildcats started the season ranked #7, then suffered a midseason swoon, losing three straight games to Marshall, #13 Texas and Oklahoma State. Snyder’s team righted the ship with seven straight wins, though, including a shocking Big 12 Championship Game upset of then top-ranked Oklahoma. The Wildcats ran up 549 points in the course of the season – the third-highest total points in school history.
Kansas State’s option attack featured quarterback Ell Roberson, who accounted for 3520 rushing and passing yards, and running back Darren Sproles, who rushed for 1986 more on the ground. The Wildcats played just enough defense to keep opponents honest – Bret Bielema served as Snyder’s defensive coordinator.
The Big 12 champions entered the Fiesta Bowl ranked eighth and favored by seven points.
The Buckeyes
See if any of this sounds familiar: a senior-laden, top-ten Buckeyes squad, geared up for a national title run, sent to the Fiesta Bowl as a consolation prize against a Big 12 opponent. Eerie, huh?
The comparisons end there, though. The 2003 Buckeyes were the defending national champions, and stayed in the top ten throughout the year, despite road losses to Wisconsin and Michigan. (Once upon a time, The Game was a rivalry, and in 2003, both Michigan and Ohio State were top-5 teams.)
Tressel’s offense was led by senior quarterback Craig Krenzel and featured a wealth of talent at receiver in future first-round draft picks Michael Jenkins and Santonio Holmes (Drew Carter was there, too, and seems to be doing alright). The running game was something of an unsettled affair following the departure of Maurice Clarett, and relied on Lydell Ross and Maurice Hall.
But it was on defense and special teams where the Buckeyes really shined. The roster had future NFL players all over it, including Tim Anderson, Bobby Carpenter, A.J. Hawk, Chris Gamble, Donte Whitner, Robert Reynolds, Quinn Pitcock, Will Smith, Simon Fraser, Darrion Scott, Ashton Youboty and Dustin Fox – possibly the best collection of NFL-caliber talent in Ohio State history. Kicking duties were handled by Mike Nugent – another future NFL draft selection – and punter B.J. Sander.
Ohio State, denied a Big Ten title by the loss to Michigan, came to Tempe ranked #7 in the country and in an angry mood.
Show Time
Kansas State had problems before the game so much as kicked off. Ell Roberson was accused of sexual assault by a 22-year-old Kansas State alumna who happened to be “visiting” Roberson at the team’s hotel in the early morning hours before the game (no charges were filed). Snyder elected to play Roberson, but didn’t make the decision until minutes before kickoff, and the uncertainty surrounding his situation showed in Roberson’s first-half play.
Where have you gone, AJ DiHawkggio (University photo)Ohio State started out the gate quickly. Special teamer John Hollins returned a blocked K-State punt for a touchdown, and Craig Krenzel overcame two first-quarter interceptions with a 6-yard scoring strike to Santonio Holmes on a crossing pattern, giving the Buckeyes a 14-0 lead.
Kansas State started their next possession pinned at their own 5-yard line. The Buckeyes rushed seven, hurried Roberson into throwing an interception to Chris Gamble, and Krenzel hit Michael Jenkins for a 17-yard touchdown on the very next play (you can see that three-play series here). Ohio State had rolled out to a 21-0 lead – the first 21-0 lead in Buckeyes bowl history, and a tie for the team record for largest lead in a bowl game.
The Wildcats finally scored with 3:01 left in the second quarter on a 6-yard option pitch to Sproles. The half ended with Ohio State outgaining the Wildcats 168-96 in yardage, and with the scent of a rout in the air.
Back and Forth
Ohio State could do nothing with its initial possession of the second half, but Kansas State undertook a 70-yard drive that ended with a 14-yard run around the left by Roberson off an option fake. The Wildcats had closed the OSU lead to seven with 8:59 left in the third quarter.
Krenzel and the Ohio State offense answered the challenge. The Buckeyes marched 74 yards, including a 37-yard pass to Michael Jenkins that moved him atop the all-time Ohio State receiving yards list. Krenzel hit Jenkins again for an 8-yard score, and Ohio State went back up by fourteen, 28-14. Kansas State went three-and-out on its next possession, and the Buckeyes went to the ground game, pounding the ball with Ross and Hall. A play-action pass, set up perfectly by Ohio State’s relentless pounding on the ground, resulted in a 31-yard score from Krenzel to Holmes as the third quarter expired. The Buckeyes now led 35-14, and looked poised to drain the clock in the fourth quarter.
Crunch Time
Kansas State wasn’t quite finished yet. Nugent’s kickoff was returned inside OSU territory, and the Wildcats scored on Ayo Saba’s 3-yard touchdown carry. Another Wildcat possession ended with an errant field goal attempt that clanked off the upright, but the ensuing Ohio State three-and-out led to a third second-half Wildcat touchdown. Ell Roberson took to the air, passing for 73 yards before scoring on a 1-yard keeper at the goal line; the score was now 35-28 with 2:47 left to play.
Short on time, Snyder called for the obvious: an onside kick, which the Wildcats recovered, but an offside penalty forced a retry that was snuffed out by Bobby Carpenter. Ohio State played things close to The Vest, and drained a little time off the clock before a Sander punt pinned Kansas State at their own 10-yard line with 1:12 left in the game. Roberson connected on two passes for 57 yards, but ran out of clock in Ohio State territory. A last-second Hail Mary was batted down by Ohio State safety Nate Salley, and the Buckeyes had their second straight Fiesta Bowl win.
It was a remarkably even game. Ohio State accrued 9 penalties for 63 yards; Kansas State picked up 8 for 51. Ohio State kept the ball for 31:28, Kansas State was just under three minutes behind. The Wildcats amassed 378 yards of total offense, the Buckeyes, 337. Roberson set a record for pass attempts against the Buckeyes with 52, and both Jenkins and Holmes tied the Ohio State team record for touchdown receptions in a bowl game with two apiece; Craig Krenzel set a team record for touchdown passes in a bowl game (4).
Aftermath
Craig Krenzel took Fiesta Bowl Offensive MVP honors for the second straight year, and A.J. Hawk claimed the Defensive MVP award. Ohio State was now 2-0 in BCS games (both Fiesta Bowl wins), and left Tempe hoping that every BCS game was played in Arizona.
The loss to Ohio State proved to be something of a swan song for the Wildcats program. Bill Snyder left Kansas State the following season, but has since returned to head coaching duties following the firing of Ron Prince.
This year, it pays to be a coaching retread or a thirty-something failed NFL coach with only limited college experience – hot wife, though.
That game was great…until the 4th quarter.
Reading this just reminds me of how many clutch plays Michael Jenkins made at OSU.
Holy Buckeye, 4th an 14, Wisconsin ‘02, and a punt return against Iowa in ‘03 to name a few of his great plays.
Great article but one correction… Ohio State was 3-0 in BCS games after beating Kansas State. You are missing the 24-14 win over Texas A&M in the 1999 Sugar Bowl.
Great game. Would be nice to see another cup cake this year in a BCS bowl like Kansas State was for the Buckeyes.
‘Would be nice to see another cup cake this year in a BCS bowl like Kansas State was for the Buckeyes.”
Ummmm…”cup cake”? Are you joking? You must’ve missed the part about KSU winning the Big 12 Conference Championship game against then-ranked #1 Oklahoma that year.
Never mind the details though.
That house blitz to force the Roberson pick in the video above brought back memories. More of that, plz.
This was a fun bowl to watch. Not as fun as our next trip to the fiesta, but sitll
That would be “still”.
God, what blowhard wrote this article? This is pure and utter crap. The only reason K-State lost that game is because the QB was erroneously accused of rape the night before. Distracted the entire team.
For playing such a cupcake, you sure did let the Cats rack up a bunch of points.
Krenzel was a wuss and Columbus is considered the Armpit of Ohio for a reason.
Kansas State still has a football program?
Sorry Kstater. Kstate wasn’t the first team to have embarrassing news stories about their starting quarterbacks break right before the big game. Some schools, like KState and its Ell Roberson wandering hands, fall flat on their faces. And some schools, like Ohio State and Steve “.22 B.A.C.” Bellisari, rise to the occasion.
We got everybody comin on this site now. Joe must have sent invites to K-State fans
Kansas State still has fans? And they’re young enough to find the internet?
Obviously the Buckeye homer who wrote this article has never left the state of Ohio.
Give these fucks one good year and they are all of a sudden a dynasty pogue
Um, Wildcat, I hate to break it you, but Joe is probably the least-homer Buckeye fan we have here, possibly excepting me. So GTFO and enjoy your has-been coach.
I wonder out loud what it must be like to be a fan of a lifetime losing team like K-State? I really would’nt know seeing as how we win big televen championships like I shit/shower/shave in the morning. They had to make million dollar renovations to the WHAC just to make room for the tropies…..
that would be “trophies”
Congrats on losing to the Armpit of Ohio.
Ahh, the Big 10 arrogance. Legendary BS.
Arrogance comes with winning.
No. I don’t expect you to understand.
I doubt that’s a Kstate fan anyway. Probably one of the same few trolls on here that keep changing names without anything relevant to say.
I’d be jealous of the Big XII if I were you too. The utter dominance that it has over the Big 10 is amazing.
Hey guys, I dont wanna sound arrogant, I know the trophy is heavy, but I really think I can lift it by myself……
I know it’s blasphemous to my scarlet and gray but…
I think Boise State should play instead of us. Unlike the Buckeyes, (1) They’re undefeated, (2) Their wins are impressive blowouts (let’s face it, we were all asleep after the Purdue game) and (3) They’re ahead in the human and computer polls.
If OSU is selected over Boise, I will be ecstatic, but I think Boise deserves it more.
The BCS is the only system that can deny three undefeated teams a chance for the championship.
LOL @ Utter Dominance
Funny that a midwest cowboy would use the word udder to describe something……Wait till bowl season and tune in to see what happens when high scoring passing offenses meet teams that know what defense is…..apparently defense was outlawed in the plains
It’s too bad there isn’t a trophy for the OSU/Michigan game. I wonder which team there would have lifted that trophy more times…
Ahh, that’s right. The mighty Wolverines.
What is with “Big 12 fans” and “SEC fans” living off the accomplishments of other teams in their conference? I know you’re all related out in backwater country, but does that mean you have to cheer for all the teams instead of just your own?
Also, Ohio State is 2-1 this decade against the Big 12. Really dominant streak you guys have going there.
Pick up games against the YMCA team in the 1900s not withstanding, OSU has the winning edge since 1920’s, learn your history or shut your mouth
The Big 10 is such a tough league this year. Ohio State would have even finished high enough to get an invite to the Holiday Bowl in the Big 12. OBTW, Jim Tressel looks like a high school principal on game day. What is up with that?
Thats funny, Mangino looks like he cleared out an entire buffet at ponderosa
Dude.
Dude.
You trail in your all time series to Kansas. Kansas. The fucking Jayhawks.
Dude.
Dude.
Because d-bags from “marrying my cousins” Appalachia know all about us Midwesterners think.
K-State’s BEEN taking that Kansas Rock Chock J-Cock prison style for years pogue
There’s always an excuse, eh Buckeyeski?
I wonder if Michigan has a laundry list of excuses for the last few years like you poor baby OSU fans do.
What excuse? That is fact my friend
It is a sad, sad, day when Baylor and A&M field better teams than you do Wildcat
Enjoy your lifelong sentence of mediocrity
Okay, I think that about wraps it up. Were we linked on a K-state blog or something? Who knew we had so many Kansas State lurkers, and that they were all assholes?
Ckat, if you want to go that far. IF we were in the so called BIG 12 we would be placed in the North Division. At least then it would have some credibility. It sure isnt getting any from *cough* k-state. In which case we would have won that division and would play Choklahoma this weekend. If we would beat Oklahoma and I like our odds since they have no idea what defense is we would probably be on our way to the BCS Championship game.
Meanwhile, Kansas State rehired a guy who lost to Fresno State the last time around. GG, Wildcats, GG. You athletic department is quite possibly even incompetent than Notre Dame’s.
That would be “your”, fuck. It’d be easier to tell these plebes off if I could type.
I wonder who the Buckeyes will play this year anyway? And I wonder if their opponent will simply call the Florida or LSU coaching staff and see what they did to embarrass the eleven ladies of Ohio state “football.”
I believe this is the game that Lydell Ross, late in the 4th while we were trying to run down the clock, ran out of bounds to avoid contact. Remains one of the stupidest things I’ve seen a Buckeye do.
“Okay, I think that about wraps it up. Were we linked on a K-state blog or something? Who knew we had so many Kansas State lurkers, and that they were all assholes?
poguemahone”
The article got hit by Google and their alert system. It’s also linked on a ton of wildcat message boards.
I notice you refer to the Wildcat faithful as “assholes” when it was your “asshole” article that brought everyone here.
If you don’t want the heat, keep the craptastic writing to a minimum.
Yes, Florida and LSU have beaten us. What has your team done? I’m guessing not much, considering you’re here on a Buckeye blog, worrying about Buckeye football and all.
No, about the stupidest thing I have seen a buckey do would of happened this year when Hartline’s pansy ass ran out of bounds against the illini instead of heading up field for a first down.
Stop lying, John. Kansas doesn’t have internet yet.
lol… Come on there still using Doves to send email.
HAHAHAHAHHA…..they still call it the information superhighway
I didn’t write this “asshole” article, asshole. And there was nothing “asshole”-ish about the article anyway. The main bitch here is over some n00b calling “K-State” a cupcake in the fucking comment section, and you guys, apparently nine different kinds of butthurt over us rendering your program irrelevant in early 2004 freaking out over it. It’s the internet people. I’m sure your new to it, being from Kansas and all and only recently allowing the “coloreds” to play on your “futbaw” teams and whatnot, but Jesus H. Christ gentlemen, have you ever considered it might have been a joke? Sarcasm? No? Is any attempt at humor totally lost on your cro-magnon skulls, to the point where even the slightest bit of schadenfreude gets you into a tizzy?
Seriously - wtf, Wildcats? The only demeaning thing in the article is mentioning that Kansas isn’t very populous (it isn’t) and that Kansas State had a relatively soft schedule that year (it did). Other than that, it’s talking about the OSU aspect of the game more because, well, it IS an OSU blog here. He even compliments KState on upsetting Oklahoma.
No one started firing their mouths off until you guys came in here. Get a life, or do you go blast off every time someone mentions your school in a blog?
Wow Pogue, that was out of hounds. Low blow.
Cro-Magnon? Never existed.
You and I both know the folks in Kansas don’t believe in that evolution garbage. It’s a global Jewish/Colored/Northerner/Ohio State contrived conspiracy.
The world is 6,000 years old, plus or minus a few hundy.
More people talking shit? Time to break out the shovel, Ski.
Don’t you mean “out of hound”, not “out of hounds”?
I’m also officially on the bandwagon for replacing all references to “out of bounds” in future Hitting Rewinds with “out of hounds”.
On to more recent news. Anyone hear about Weis the Muffan Man keeping his job? Any bets he’s on a short leash and isnt allowed anymore extra gravy on his biscuts. How do you spell biscut? I know thats not right.
“biscuits”. Shit is good. Especially with butter.
LOL here comes the shovel brother
thanks pogue.lol… mmmm biscuits
Cheeseburger Charlie would be in GREAT shape if he lost weight for every game the Golden Domers lost….he’d be about a buck-fifty right about now. Uh-oh, dont look now guys, but apparently I just pissed off Touchdown Jesus and all the ND fanatics are coming!!!
Thank goodness Weis doesnt play for the Texans and there all red uniforms. the poor kids in the stands would have cried when the kool-aid man got his ass ran over.
I actually wouldn’t be surprised if ND fans have a high tech search engine that immediately posts any negative comments about Notre Dame on every one of their boards.
Then, in proud Catholic tradition, come the stakes and the burning.
LMFAO @ Brian
Nice Brian, now every time I hear “Oh yeeeahhh” I’m going to expect Jabba-the-Weis’ fat ass to break through the wall.
K-State was a good team that year… OSU played great in the first half. I vividly remember screaming at the TV to not go into the zone in the 4th quarter….. K-State made it too close for comfort and nearly pulled off the win if they get that Onside kick (called back for penalty)…..
i had a longer comment typed out making fun of the k-state people, but then i found K-State’s record against each of the major conferences on wikipedia. here is k-state against the big ten:
Conference Wins Losses Ties
Big Ten Conference 5 21 0
in conclusion:
SCOREBOARD! SCOREBOARD! SCOREBOARD!
P.S. - k-state people, re-read the blog post above and then again see me conclusion.
why would anyone ever care about what a kansas state fan had to say ever or what the kansas state football team did ever (outside of playing us once)
“toast isn’t that good”
“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?!? I LOVE TOAST YOU MOTHERFUCKER TAKE IT BACK TOAST RULES RRRGGHHH TTOOOOAAASSSTTT”
“If OSU is selected over Boise, I will be ecstatic, but I think Boise deserves it more.”
for what, playing little sister of the poor again and again and again. the Mountain West is legitimate, the WAC is garbage. I would elevate TCU to the fiesta over us before Boise State. they one a single game that wouldn’t be considered an “Ohio State Cupcake OOC” game - that was against Oregon, who was playing with its 3rd string QB.
hehe, one = won…and there are many other grammatical errors there. good for me. me no good english.
Choklahoma? Really? So the fact that OSU lost the last 2 nat’l championship games in blowout fashion means nothing. And how about the fact that they were practically handed the national championship against The U because of a BS interference call means nothing either, right? Obviously OU is the choke artist though.
Get a life pussies
Get a life pussies
you are trolling another team’s blog’s comments section. no mirrors in kansas?
Yup, that was a K-State fan defending the team that beat him by like four touchdowns this season.
I thought Notre Dame fans were just a bit off. Not sure I can quite wrap my head around K-state fans just yet.
what is the name of the blog the k-state trolls are coming from? or is it all an elaborate hoax to up the comments?
Who cares?
Even we aren’t classless enough to troll their boards and blogs by simply reminding them they’re K-State and that they need to remember their place.
not interested in trolling, just want to read the post that got them all up-in-arms. would definitely be funny.
People always forget that 1999 Sugar Bowl game. I think that if it weren’t for the BCS that year Ohio State probably would’ve played for the National Championship instead of FSU. Anyway, people always say the Bucks are 3-2 in the BCS and I always say, no 4-2. Good recap though. I remember how upset I was after the game when Gamble basically said, that’s it I’m done!
Your sorry-ass conference sucks this year. It really, really, blows. USC fucked you in the ass and then loses to Oregon State. (Did you see them against Oregon last week?)
And at least we don’t have a history of a coach hitting opposing players like you brainless fucks. Wayne Woodrow Hayes, anyone?
If fucking Joe the dipshit Plumber were from Kansas, I’d be applying to hide in the government witness program. What an embarassment.
You fucktards are, plain and simple, uh, plain and simple.
Well, saying USC sucks because they lost to Oregon State is stupid anyway. Everyone knows USC loses a game to a bad team every year. That would be like saying Penn State killed Oregon State, who USC lost to, there for Penn State is going to kill USC. I don’t think anyone is predicting that.
you sorry-ass team sucks this year. i mean you really really suck. you fired your head coach and then hired the guy who was crib-mates with JoePa and you ran out of town 3 years ago.
Using that same Kansas logic, Alabama is going to kill Florida because Floida lost to Ole Miss. But then again, Florida crushed Kentucky who Alabama barely beat, so those 2 teams are going to tie I guess.
“If fucking Joe the dipshit Plumber were from Kansas, I’d be applying to hide in the government witness program.” - W.
So wait…. You’re living in Kansas and you’re NOT in the witness protection program?
Alright, this is getting out of hound.
This is completely off the topic (especially since I hate hockey), but I just wanted to let everyone here know that I would like to be next in line for Sean Avery’s “sloppy seconds”, if anyone wants to get behind me.
i wonder if we should start categorizing k-state recruits as oklahoma’s “sloppy seconds”
I can’t believe someone that lives in Kansas and supports a Kansas football team is talking about ANYONE.
This just in: Tommy “Ohio State Wouldn’t Finish Better than 5th in the SEC” Tuberville just got his ass straight canned. Can you imagine a coach at Ohio State or Michigan, beating their arch-rival for 6 consecutive seasons, then dropping the next rivalry game, and getting fired? I don’t care if 5-7 in that season. Unthinkable.
Wow. The South is officially bat shit crazy about its college footbaw.
Dude what is wrong with people from Kstate? Where is this anger coming from? Other than their program being in the shitter, which…if we remember, it was known for prior to their “rise”. As to Big 12 “dominance”, I recall tOSU beating the last three big 12 teams in a row, including a #2 texas, right? Call me crazy, they have been OWNING us lately…except for the consecutive loses I suppose. Anyway, now that I got that out of my system, get a fucking life and that is real advice. Calling an ariticle on this blog “homer” is pretty fucking ground breaking. Ironically, this entire blog is devoted to Ohio State sports information (in general) and I wouldn’t expect an entirely unbiased opinion, that is what (supposedly) ESPN is for. I’m sorry your dancing coach got fired, or happy for you, or whatever the fuck you prefer but I certainly don’t give a shit what you think about OSU. KSU is the bukkake centerpiece in the ass-clown big12 north. Mizzou is by far the best north team and would be…wait for it…5th in the south. “Lucky to get to the Holiday bowl” would be about 1000 times better than where your disgrace of a program is at.
I’m sorry your program has and will only make one BCS appearance in the history of said series but you lost, get over it.
Hate hate hate, now if you will please excuse me, I need to get home and put water in Kstate’s mother’s dish.
Awesome Matt.
Can we get Tuberville as an O-coord now? Then maybe we could start dreaming about 4th place in the SECspn
What’s really funny: Kansas State basically fired the head coach because he was black and average. Three years in Manhattan and he has more quality wins than Charlie Weis can ever claim to (two over Texas), but this year is a disappointment and ass is grass. No one’s willing to admit the reason why, but where does KSU go? Back to the comfortable, conservative old white dude. Racism at its best.
poguemahone - head out of your ass please…even if you are just trying to rile up the k-state lurkers.
What? Don’t pretend it’s anything but. Just backwater hicks doing what backwater hicks do best.
Hell, that last joke wasn’t half as offensive as my first.
What kind of name is Anonymous, anyway? Your mother must have disliked you from the start.
I’ve never even seen a Kansas State fan on TV.
K-State is racist because they fired a black head coach. That’s the most