In general, I have always been a hater of Ohio State because of the poor performance in my football rankings. Despite languishing in the middle of the Top 25, if in the Top 25 at all, they were ranked in the Top 10 by the major polling institutions and gave me more reason to complain week after week. Something changed this year as Ohio State finally got it together and moved up to #5 in the final MRI prior to the bowl games. What changed? They finally got an offense.

Ohio State's struggles at the quarterback position have been well documented with Jim Tressel bouncing between Troy Smith and Justin Zwick for the first few games of the year, including their crucial early season contest against Texas. That game, more than any before, proved that Smith was the right quarterback for the team. Zwick was inconsistent in the game and being less mobile than Smith, was unable to escape the rush of the Longhorns. The defense kept Ohio State in the game but without the dynamic offense that Smith brought, Ohio State wasted at least half of their possessions. After that game, it was all Smith who finished first in the conference in passer rating. Over the season, he threw for 1940 yards and 14 touchdowns while only throwing the ball away four times. The Buckeyes also relied heavily on his legs, as he was the second leading rusher on the team with 545 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground. The junior, who was the Ohio State offensive MVP this season, will be looking to lead Ohio State to their 4th straight bowl win and 4th straight Fiesta Bowl victory.

Assisting Smith in the rushing game was supposed to be Maurice Clarrett. This would have been his senior season in a career which saw such promise begin in the 2003 championship game against Miami. Instead, Clarrett has been gone and Ohio State has been looking for a replacement since. They may have finally found that runner in sophomore Antonio Pittman. Pittman ran for 1195 yards this season and six touchdowns and earned himself an honorable mention on the All-Big Ten squad. Pittman finished fifth in rushing in the conference and had six games of more than 100 yards rushing. Using him wisely to mix up the carries that Smith gets will be key to Ohio State keeping the momentum on their offensive drives. In the Irish are able to key in on Smith and his game, the Buckeyes will be in for a long day.

The primary receivers for the Buckeyes will be Santonio Holmes and Ted Ginn. The pair combined for almost 1500 yards receiving and caught 13 touchdown passes. The junior Holmes finished on the first team All-Big Ten team and was the main receiver all season, including a big game against Michigan State when he went for 150 yards and two scores. Ginn received a lot of press at the beginning of the season thanks to his performance at the end of last season including a big game in the Alamo Bowl. Ginn never lived up to the hype this season, probably thanks to the increased pressure the exposure brought on him. Instead, he had a solid year and improved over the season. Look for Tressel to try to use Ginn much like he did in the Alamo Bowl last season during this year's game.

As always, the strength of the Ohio State team is the defense. The Buckeyes gave up only 266 yards a game and not very many of those came on the ground. They surrendered less than 900 yards rushing and a good chunk of those came in the game against Texas. They were the only team all season to hold the Longhorns to less than 40 points and that should be a good sign facing the powerful offense of Notre Dame. The defense is anchored by their core of linebackers. The leader of that squad is multiple award winner A.J. Hawk. Hawk was the MVP of the Buckeye team this season and led them in tackles on his way to All-Big Ten Honors. Hawk's 7.5 sacks were second on the team to only fellow linebacker Bobby Carpenter. Carpenter is a game time decision as he is trying to come back from a leg injury. His status will be unknown but as a senior, he wants to definitely be out on the field for their last game. The third member of the core is Anthony Schlegel. Schlegel finished second on the team in tackles and was big in the game against Michigan with 10 tackles.

The defensive backfield is also very strong, with Donte Whitner and Ashton Youboty being the two players to watch. The two were both named to the first team All-Big Ten squad and will be called on a lot to defend the Irish receivers. Whitner and Youboty should have the advantage in speed on defense and that should come in handy against the Irish passing attack.

That passing attack is led by Brady Quinn. The junior has only improved in his time at Notre Dame and really took to the new Charlie Weis offensive attack. Quinn was shafted a little in the Heisman race this season. While it was mostly always a three horse race, Quinn was consistently putting up numbers and finished 4th, even garnering a few 1st place votes. However, Quinn was not invited to New York for the ceremony, something that seems quite strange as in recent years, as many as 5 finalists were sent invitations. That oversight should give Quinn some extra motivation and begin his quest for the 2006 Heisman a little early. He finished with over 3600 yards and 32 touchdowns. He had 4 games of over 400 yards and had two or more touchdown passes in nine of the Irish's eleven games. Open the very old Irish record book and Brady Quinn's name will be all over it. He is the career passing leader and also set records this season for single season yardage and touchdowns. Quinn will most likely be back for his senior season and will put those numbers far out of reach for the next generation of Irish passers.

Hoping to catch the ball from Quinn and keep the Ohio State defensive backs on their toes are two very good receivers for the Irish. Both Jeff Samardzija and Antonio Stovall had over 1000 yards receiving on the season and Samardzija led the nation in touchdown catches with 15. He was named to 8 All-American teams and shared the team MVP honors with his quarterback, Quinn. Samardzija had 5 games with over 100 yards receiving including 216 yards and 2 touchdowns in the finale against Stanford. The junior had only one game where he did not catch a touchdown pass. Stovall added 11 touchdown catches of his own and also had 5 games of over 100 yards. His biggest game came against BYU when he caught 4 touchdowns.

Attempting to run the ball against the stout Ohio State defense will be Darius Walker. Walker had over 1000 yards on the season and scored six times on the ground. He was also a good receiver for Quinn, catching 36 passes for over 300 yards and another 2 scores. Walker will be relying on the passing game to work so that he can work through the defense. If Ohio State is able to consistently stack the box against him and rely on the defensive backfield as their only coverage on the Irish receivers, Walker is in for a long day. Walker will have to hope that some of the linebackers will need to drop back to cover the receivers for his day to mean anything.

The Notre Dame defense is a very good group also. They only surrendered 1300 yards on the ground and were one of the top defenses against the run in the league. They also scored 30 sacks over the course of the season. They were led by junior defensive lineman, Victor Abiamiri who had 8 sacks this season as part of his 15 tackles for loss. Senior linebacker Brandon Hoyte is also very strong up the middle, leading the team in tackles and tackles for loss. He contributed six sacks of his own and forced two fumbles over the course of the season.

Notre Dame will also have a very good defensive back trying to keep at least one of the Ohio State receivers at bay. Tom Zbikowski, a junior, led the team in interceptions with five and returned 4 touchdowns this season, two off those interceptions and two on punt returns. His biggest game was against Tennessee when he had a punt return and interception return for touchdowns and also scored a sack. Zbikowski is one weapon that Weis may choose to use differently during the game against the Buckeyes to throw a different look at them as he definitely has talent.

Notre Dame hasn't won a bowl game since 1993 and that is something that the Irish are not proud of. The single time they had been selected to the BCS bowls before this ended in a very bad loss for the Irish. Charlie Weis is going to have his hands full against a very good Ohio State defense, but he is used to seeing those defenses from the NFL. Ohio State was the only team this season to hold Texas to less than 40 points and their offense is much improved from that game. If Smith can pass the ball out of the pocket, he should be able to find open receivers against the Notre Dame defense. This one should lean towards the more athletic Buckeyes but Notre Dame has shocked a lot of people this season, including myself. Maybe there is still time to hope the field folds up.

Fiesta Bowl: Ohio State(5) vs. Notre Dame(12)
MRI Predicts: Ohio State Confidence factor: 77.05%, 16 out of 28