2009 Fiesta Bowl
Encyclopedia
The 2009 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl
game was a post-season college football bowl game between the Ohio State Buckeyes
and the Texas Longhorns on Monday, January 5, 2009, at University of Phoenix Stadium
in Glendale, Arizona
. Texas participated in the Fiesta Bowl because the Big 12
champion University of Oklahoma Sooners
were participating in the 2009 BCS National Championship Game
; however the bowl kept its ties to the Big 12 by selecting the Longhorns, who did not play in the championship game
as they beat Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry, 45-35, then lost to Texas Tech
and Texas Tech in turn lost to Oklahoma and dictated that a tiebreaker would decide that the highest BCS ranked team for the Big 12 South the week of November 28, 2008 would be in the title game. The Buckeyes were chosen as an at-large school as co-champions of the Big Ten Conference
, having lost the right to play in the Rose Bowl
due to a 13-6 loss to Penn State
on October 25.
The Fiesta Bowl served as the penultimate contest of the 2008–2009 Bowl Championship Series
(BCS) of the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season
and was the concluding game of the season for both teams involved. This 38th edition of the Fiesta Bowl was televised in the United States on FOX
. It was the third meeting in the history of the two schools.
The Longhorns (variously "Texas" or "UT" or the "Horns") are coached by head football coach Mack Brown
and led on the field by quarterback
Colt McCoy
. The Buckeyes (variously "Ohio State" or "OSU" or the "Bucks") are coached by Jim Tressel
and led on the field by Terrelle Pryor
.
The victory by Texas gave Ohio State their third straight bowl loss, their longest such streak since the early John Cooper era (when they lost 4 bowls in a row from 1989–92). This follows a four game bowl winning streak which tied for longest in OSU history.
The Ohio State Buckeyes
and the Texas Longhorns
are two of the most storied programs in college football. Before 2005 each school had participated in college football for more than 100 years. They are home to nationally known traditions from the Buckeye leaf stickers and the O-H-I-O chant at Ohio State to Bevo
and the Hook 'em Horns
of Texas.
One of the three most victorious programs in college football history as judged by either number of wins or winning percentage, the University of Texas has traditionally been considered a college football powerhouse. From 1936 to 2004, the team finished the season in the top ten 23 times, or one-third of the time, according to the Associated Press
. The team that coach Mack Brown fielded in 2005 has been called one of the most memorable in college football history by College Football News.
Like the Longhorns, the Buckeyes are an elite football program. The Buckeyes program has produced 164 first-team All-American players, including seven Heisman Trophy
winners. The Buckeyes rank fifth in college football history in terms of both total wins and winning percentage.
en route to winning their most recent national championship
(in the process becoming the first visitor to win a night game at Ohio Stadium
). In the 2006 game, which was won by Ohio State, OSU and Texas were ranked #1 and #2 respectively. It was only the 36th time that the top two teams in college football had ever faced each other outside of the BCS National Championship . OSU later played against #2 Michigan Wolverines
in the Buckeyes' regular season finale.
, the Longhorns were selected to represent the Big 12 Conference
as host team in the Fiesta Bowl. The Buckeyes were selected as an "at-large" school from among the eligible teams. The day the bowl bids were announced the sports betting line opened with Texas as ten-point favorites, the most of any of the 2009 BCS bowls.
Fiesta Bowl
The Fiesta Bowl, now sponsored by Frito-Lay and named with their Tostitos brand, is a United States college football bowl game played annually at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Between its origination in 1971 and 2006, the game was hosted in Tempe, Arizona at Sun Devil...
game was a post-season college football bowl game between the Ohio State Buckeyes
2008 Ohio State Buckeyes football team
The 2008 Ohio State Buckeyes football team competed in football on behalf of the Ohio State University during the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Buckeyes were coached by Jim Tressel and played their home games in Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio...
and the Texas Longhorns on Monday, January 5, 2009, at University of Phoenix Stadium
University of Phoenix Stadium
University of Phoenix Stadium, opened August 1, 2006, is a multipurpose football stadium located in Glendale, Arizona. It is the home of the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League and the annual Fiesta Bowl...
in Glendale, Arizona
Glendale, Arizona
Glendale is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, located about nine miles northwest from Downtown Phoenix. According to 2010 Census Bureau, the population of the city is 226,721....
. Texas participated in the Fiesta Bowl because the Big 12
Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of ten schools located in the Central United States, with its headquarters located in Las Colinas, a community in the Dallas, Texas suburb of Irving...
champion University of Oklahoma Sooners
2008 Oklahoma Sooners football team
The 2008 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma in the college football season of 2008-2009. It was the 114th year of season play for the Sooners. The team was led by head coach Bob Stoops, a two-time Walter Camp Coach of the Year award winner, who has a contract...
were participating in the 2009 BCS National Championship Game
2009 BCS National Championship Game
The 2009 BCS National Championship Game, sponsored by FedEx, was an American football game played at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on January 8, 2009. It was the national championship game for the 2008 college football season, and featured the second-ranked Florida Gators against the...
; however the bowl kept its ties to the Big 12 by selecting the Longhorns, who did not play in the championship game
2008 Big 12 Championship Game
The 2008 Dr. Pepper Big 12 Championship Game was held on December 6, 2008 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, and pitted two of the divisional winners from the Big 12 Conference: the Missouri Tigers, winner of the North division against the Oklahoma Sooners, co-champion of the South...
as they beat Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry, 45-35, then lost to Texas Tech
2008 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team
The 2008 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team represented Texas Tech University in the college football season of 2008/09. The team was coached by Mike Leach. The Red Raiders played their home games at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. The football team competed in the Division I Football Bowl...
and Texas Tech in turn lost to Oklahoma and dictated that a tiebreaker would decide that the highest BCS ranked team for the Big 12 South the week of November 28, 2008 would be in the title game. The Buckeyes were chosen as an at-large school as co-champions of the Big Ten Conference
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
, having lost the right to play in the Rose Bowl
2009 Rose Bowl
The 2009 Rose Bowl, the 95th edition of the annual game, was a college football bowl game played on Thursday, January 1, 2009 at the same-named stadium in Pasadena, California. Because of sponsorship by Citi, the first game in the 2009 edition of the Bowl Championship Series was officially titled...
due to a 13-6 loss to Penn State
2008 Penn State Nittany Lions football team
The 2008 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represents the Pennsylvania State University in the 2008 college football season. The team is coached by Joe Paterno and plays its home games in Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania.-Previous season:...
on October 25.
The Fiesta Bowl served as the penultimate contest of the 2008–2009 Bowl Championship Series
Bowl Championship Series
The Bowl Championship Series is a selection system that creates five bowl match-ups involving ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , including an opportunity for the top two to compete in the BCS National Championship Game.The BCS relies on a combination of...
(BCS) of the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season
2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season
The 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season, or the college football season, began on August 28, 2008, progressing through the regular season and bowl season, and concluded with the Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game in Miami Gardens, Florida on January 8, 2009, where the #2...
and was the concluding game of the season for both teams involved. This 38th edition of the Fiesta Bowl was televised in the United States on FOX
Fox Sports (USA)
Fox Sports is a division of the Fox Broadcasting Company . It was formed in 1994 with Fox's acquisition of broadcast rights to National Football League games...
. It was the third meeting in the history of the two schools.
The Longhorns (variously "Texas" or "UT" or the "Horns") are coached by head football coach Mack Brown
Mack Brown
William Mack Brown is head coach of The University of Texas at Austin Longhorn football team.Prior to his head coach position at Texas, Brown was head coach at Appalachian State, Tulane, and North Carolina. Brown is credited with revitalizing the Texas and North Carolina football programs...
and led on the field by quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
Colt McCoy
Colt McCoy
Daniel "Colt" McCoy is an American football quarterback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Browns in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft...
. The Buckeyes (variously "Ohio State" or "OSU" or the "Bucks") are coached by Jim Tressel
Jim Tressel
James Patrick Tressel is a gameday consultant for the Indianapolis Colts, and former collegiate football head coach at both The Ohio State University from 2001 to 2011 and at Youngstown State University from 1986 to 2000. Tressel is most notable for his time at Ohio State. He was hired by the...
and led on the field by Terrelle Pryor
Terrelle Pryor
Terrelle Pryor is an American football quarterback for the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League. He was the starting quarterback for the Ohio State Buckeyes from 2008−2010...
.
The victory by Texas gave Ohio State their third straight bowl loss, their longest such streak since the early John Cooper era (when they lost 4 bowls in a row from 1989–92). This follows a four game bowl winning streak which tied for longest in OSU history.
Scoring summary
| Scoring Play | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Quarter | |||
| OSU - Aaron Pettrey 51 yard FG, 7:28 | OSU 3-0 | ||
| 2nd Quarter | |||
| Texas - Hunter Lawrence Hunter Lawrence Hunter Lawrence Tried out for the job of placekicker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He played college football at the University of Texas at Austin.-High school career:... 27 yard FG, 11:45 |
Tie 3-3 | ||
| OSU - Ryan Pretorius 30 yard FG, 5:39 | OSU 6-3 | ||
| 3rd Quarter | |||
| Texas - Colt McCoy Colt McCoy Daniel "Colt" McCoy is an American football quarterback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Browns in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft... 14 yard TD run (Lawrence kick), 8:29 |
Texas 10-6 | ||
| Texas - Quan Cosby Quan Cosby Quantwan Cosby better known as Quan Cosby is an American football wide receiver for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League. He was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He played college football for the Texas Longhorns... 7 yard TD pass from McCoy (Lawrence kick), 1:04 |
Texas 17-6 | ||
| 4th Quarter | |||
| OSU - Pettrey 44 yard FG, 13:22 | Texas 17-9 | ||
| OSU - Terrelle Pryor Terrelle Pryor Terrelle Pryor is an American football quarterback for the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League. He was the starting quarterback for the Ohio State Buckeyes from 2008−2010... 5 yard TD pass from Todd Boeckman Todd Boeckman Todd Boeckman is an American football quarterback who is currently a free agent in the National Football League. He was signed by the Jaguars as an undrafted free agent on June 17, 2009... (2-Pt Conversion failed), 7:26 |
Texas 17-15 | ||
| OSU - Daniel Herron 15 yard TD run (2-Pt Conversion failed), 2:05 | OSU 21-17 | ||
| Texas - Cosby 26 yard TD pass from McCoy (Lawrence kick), :16 | Texas 24-21 | ||
The Ohio State and Texas football programs
Ohio State Buckeyes football
The Ohio State Buckeyes football team is an intercollegiate varsity sports team of The Ohio State University. The team is a member of the Big Ten Conference of the NCAA, playing at the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly Division I-A, level. The team nickname is derived from the state...
and the Texas Longhorns
Texas Longhorns football
The Texas Longhorns football program is the intercollegiate football team representing The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas. The team currently competes in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Big 12 Conference which is a Division I Bowl Subdivision of the National...
are two of the most storied programs in college football. Before 2005 each school had participated in college football for more than 100 years. They are home to nationally known traditions from the Buckeye leaf stickers and the O-H-I-O chant at Ohio State to Bevo
Bevo (mascot)
Bevo is the name of the mascot of the sports teams at the University of Texas at Austin, a Texas longhorn steer with burnt orange coloring. The shape of the Longhorn's head and horns gives rise to the school's hand symbol and saying, Hook 'em Horns...
and the Hook 'em Horns
Hook 'em Horns
Hook 'em Horns is the slogan and hand signal of The University of Texas at Austin. Students and alumni of the university employ a greeting consisting of the phrase "Hook 'em" or "Hook 'em Horns" and also use the phrase as a parting good-bye or as the closing line in a letter or story.The gesture is...
of Texas.
One of the three most victorious programs in college football history as judged by either number of wins or winning percentage, the University of Texas has traditionally been considered a college football powerhouse. From 1936 to 2004, the team finished the season in the top ten 23 times, or one-third of the time, according to the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
. The team that coach Mack Brown fielded in 2005 has been called one of the most memorable in college football history by College Football News.
Like the Longhorns, the Buckeyes are an elite football program. The Buckeyes program has produced 164 first-team All-American players, including seven Heisman Trophy
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...
winners. The Buckeyes rank fifth in college football history in terms of both total wins and winning percentage.
Previous meetings
Texas and Ohio State have two of the longest-running programs in college football, but they have played each other only twice. Texas won the 2005 game2005 Texas vs. Ohio State football game
Texas vs. Ohio State football game, played September 10, 2005, was the first-ever meeting between The University of Texas at Austin and The Ohio State University in a college football game. The two teams came into the game ranked No. 2 and No. 4, respectively. It was the second game of...
en route to winning their most recent national championship
2006 Rose Bowl
The 2006 Rose Bowl Game, played on January 4, 2006, was a football game that served as the national championship of the 2005-2006 Bowl Championship Series...
(in the process becoming the first visitor to win a night game at Ohio Stadium
Ohio Stadium
Ohio Stadium is the home of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team and is located on the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. The stadium was added to the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service on March 22, 1974...
). In the 2006 game, which was won by Ohio State, OSU and Texas were ranked #1 and #2 respectively. It was only the 36th time that the top two teams in college football had ever faced each other outside of the BCS National Championship . OSU later played against #2 Michigan Wolverines
Michigan Wolverines
The Michigan Wolverines comprise 27 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except men's ice hockey which competes in the NCAA D1 Central Collegiate Hockey Association, and women's water polo, which...
in the Buckeyes' regular season finale.
Leading into the game
After being passed over in the selection for the 2009 BCS National Championship Game2009 BCS National Championship Game
The 2009 BCS National Championship Game, sponsored by FedEx, was an American football game played at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on January 8, 2009. It was the national championship game for the 2008 college football season, and featured the second-ranked Florida Gators against the...
, the Longhorns were selected to represent the Big 12 Conference
Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of ten schools located in the Central United States, with its headquarters located in Las Colinas, a community in the Dallas, Texas suburb of Irving...
as host team in the Fiesta Bowl. The Buckeyes were selected as an "at-large" school from among the eligible teams. The day the bowl bids were announced the sports betting line opened with Texas as ten-point favorites, the most of any of the 2009 BCS bowls.