Texas outlasts Ohio state to win Fiesta Bowl

The Texas Longhorns held off a determined upset bid from Ohio State on Monday night to win a closely contested 24-21 victory in the Fiesta Bowl.   The Buckeyes were in the driver’s seat as the 4th quarter ticked away until Texas QB Colt McCoy hit Quan Crosby from 26 yards out to score the winning TD with only :16 seconds to play.

The first half was surprisingly uneventful, with Ohio State getting on the board first by virtue of a 51 yard Aaron Pettrey FG midway through the opening period.  Texas would respond with a 27 yard Hunter Lawrence FG midway through the second quarter before Ohio State Ryan Pretorious kicked a 30 yarder to give his team a 6-3 lead heading into the halftime break.

Texas took over in the third quarter and appeared to be on the verge of putting the game away thanks to a pair of TD in the period—the first on a 14 yard run by Colt McCoy, the second on a 14 yard McCoy TD pass to Quan Crosby.  The Longhorns’ onslaught put them up 17-6 heading into the fourth quarter.

Ohio State fought back with a vengeance, however, as they dominated much of the offense in the final period.  Kicker Pettrey started the comeback with a 44 yard strike early in the quarter, Todd Boeckman connected with Terrelle Pryor from 15 yards out midway through the 4th to draw the Buckeyes within two and Daniel Herron capped the comeback with a 15 yard rushing TD.  When the dust had settled, Ohio State held a 21-17 lead with just over two minutes to play.

That was plenty of time for the Longhorns and their capable QB McCoy, who engineered an 11 play, 78 yard drive taking only 1:42 and culminated by his 26 yard game winning strike to Crosby.  The victory represented the Longhorns’ fifth straight bowl triumph, while Ohio State suffered their third straight BCS bowl setback.

After the game, a disappointed Ohio State coach Jim Tressell waxed philosophic in his comments:

"That's the problem in tight ballgames like this. Two outstanding teams, sometimes you finish it [and] the game ends when you are the one ahead, and sometimes the game ends when you're not."

Texas coach Mack Brown was obviously more upbeat in victory as he noted:

"It doesn't feel any better than to come from behind and win. It was just a classic, really, between Texas and Ohio State, the way it should be."

The Longhorns entered the game ranked #3 in the country, and will have to await the result of tonight’s Florida/Oklahoma contest to learn their final ranking.  They may suffer for their tight victory with Utah going undefeated and posting an impressive bowl win and USC winning easily in the Rose Bowl.