Buckeye Rosters

Recap

Louisiana, LA — Ohio State capped another highly -successful season by winning the 65th annual Sugar Bowl, 24-14, over Texas A&M University. The win capped an 11-1 campaign for John Cooper’s Buckeyes and clinched the No. 2 position for Ohio State in both major polls for the second time in three years.

The Buckeyes took control of the game early, jumping out to a 21-7 first quarter lead, and then relied on the defense to continually stop all but one scoring drive by A&M in the second half. The Aggies scored on their first possession, driving 59 yards with Dante Hall going in from 9 yards out. Although the Aggies ran right down the field against the nation’s No. 4-ranked defense, nobody was fazed on the OSU sidelines. Quarterback Joe Germaine calmly engineered an eight-play, 71-yard scoring drive that was capped by an 18-yard Germaine-to-Reggie Germany touchdown pass. Following a defensive stop, the Buckeyes marched down the field again, using six plays to go 71 yards with Joe Montgomery’s 10-yard touchdown run putting the Scarlet and Gray up 14-7.

Another defensive stop followed by a huge special teams play gave OSU a 21-7 advantage with just 1:59 to go in the first quarter. After Derek Ross streaked in to literally “take” the football off A&M punt Shane Lechler’s foot, Kevin Griffin picked up the loose ball and went untouched into the end zone. Two more times in the half Ohio State marched inside of the A&M 36-yard line but came away empty both times. A Dan Stultz field goal with 16 seconds left in the half provided the Buckeyes with a 24-7 halftime bulge.

Stultz missed a 49-yarder on OSU’s first possession of the second half and A&M – with the help of 40 yards in penalties against the Buckeyes – went on an 11-play, 68-yard drive to cut the lead to 24-14 with five minutes remaining in the third quarter. Things got tight moments later when A&M had a first down at the Ohio State 33-yard line. But two incompletions followed by an Andy Katzenmoyer sack of quarterback Brandon Stewart forced a drive-ending punt.

From then on, Ohio State’s defense kept making enough plays to keep A&M from getting any closer. The biggest came from Jerry Rudzinski. After another missed OSU field goal attempt, the Aggies drove to a first down at the OSU 43. But an alert Rudzinski defended an option play to perfection, forcing a bad pitch that he recovered to stop the drive. The defense was perfect the next two drives and OSU ran out the final four minutes on the clock behind seven carries and 31 rushing yards from local hero Jonathan Wells.

NOTES: David Boston shook off the affects of a badly sprained ankle that had the Sugar Bowl media buzzing all week to claim game MVP honors with 11 receptions for 105 yards.

Joe Montgomery was in a zone of his own in his final game as a Buckeye, ripping off runs of 29, 10, 31, and 9 yards the first four times he touched the ball. His 10-yard TD run gave OSU the lead for good at 14-7. He capped his OSU career with 96 yards on nine carries.

Senior Dee Miller made just one reception in the game but it was the biggest of the game. With OSU trailing 7-0, Miller made a 28-yard reception on third down that extended OSU’s first TD drive.

Kevin Griffin’s touchdown was the 36th by the Griffin family, after 29 from his uncle Archie and five from uncle Ray.