The 2008 BCS Fiesta Bowl turned out to be a pretty good football game, but truth be told, the aftermath did little to resolve the impressions left on both teams and left lingering doubts about two of the biggest and best college football programs in the world. Country: Texas. and the state of Ohio.

This was the ticket into the game: Texas, ranked No. 3, was a one-loss team still smarting from not being selected to play in the BCS national championship game; that honor went to two other one-loss teams, No. 1 Florida and No. 2 Oklahoma. 10-ranked Ohio State had lost its last two BCS bowl games and was eager to snap the losing streak because both losses came in the last two national championship games against Florida and Louisiana State.

This was the game: Despite being favored by 9.5 points and having scored an average of over 43 points per game during the regular season, the Texas Longhorns were held to 3 points in the first half as Ohio State’s Buckeye defense shrank. He held his ground, taking a 6-3 drive to the locker room.

After third quarter scores by Longhorn junior quarterback Colt McCoy on a 14-yard run and 7-yard pass to senior wide receiver Quan Cosby, Texas advanced 17–6.

In the 4th quarter, Ohio State cut the margin to 17–15 with a 44-yard field goal by junior Aaron Pettrey and a 5-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Todd Boeckman to rookie quarterback Terrell Pryor.

Buckeye’s defense kept Texas at 3-and-out and then Boeckman led Ohio State on a 73-yard TD drive capped by freshman running back Daniel Herron’s 15-yard run to call ground. A 2-yard extra point pass from Boeckman fell incomplete, leaving the Buckeyes up 21-17 with 2:11 to play.

When a game coverage camera cut to the sidelines, the Ohio State bench players were all smiles and began to celebrate; never a good idea with so much time to play and an explosive Texas offense in possession of the ball.

Enter Colt McCoy. Starting at their 22-yard line, McCoy completes passes of 6, 7, 13, 7, 3, 14 and finally a 26-yard TD pass to Cosby that made Ohio State defenders look foolish and out of position. Cosby caught a short pass up the middle, dodged a tackle and ran for the goal line before diving into the end zone with 23 seconds left. Joy on the Ohio State sideline turned to disbelief and grievance.

Buckeye quarterback Todd Boeckman had the ball with exactly 11 seconds left and 55 yards from the pay ground when he was promptly sacked for a 10-yard loss when Buckeye’s offensive line was hit badly when they needed to hold and let Boeckman try to complete a miraculous step. On the next play with 5 seconds to go, the pass fell incomplete, and that was the game.

This was the impression after the game: Texas won and coach Mack Brown and star quarterback Colt McCoy were excited about the win like a geyser in a national park. You would have thought Texas had beaten Florida and Oklahoma on the same afternoon when, in fact, nothing could erase Texas’ loss to the Texas Tech Red Raiders earlier in the year.

Texas players may be legends in their own minds, but the Texas Tech Red Raiders and many other college football fans aren’t so convinced.

The simple fact of the matter is that Utah has a better right to be left out of the BCS national title game than Texas. Utah was unbeaten 13-0 this year and humiliated Alabama in the BCS Sugar Bowl; all other contenders suffered at least one embarrassing defeat.

For Ohio State, it marked a third straight loss in a BCS bowl game for the third year in a row, making it easier to forget that Ohio State won the national championship 6 years ago. An annoying memory is seeing all the stars on the Buckeye players’ helmets like King Kong come to life only to see how defenseless and silly they looked when the defense that had defended Texas so well from the start couldn’t get the job done. when it finally mattered.

If I were Jim Tressel and Ohio State coach, those stars on the helmets would be taken off and stay off until the Buckeyes win another national championship or at least another BCS game. When you strut around and you can’t back it up, you look ridiculous. Ask someone who can back it up, like Joe Namath.

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley