COLLEGE FOOTBALL BOWL GAMES : Ohio State Continues Tradition of Losing

ORLANDO, Fla. —  For Ohio State, the New Year got off to the traditional start.

The Buckeyes appeared in the Citrus Bowl, their third in the ‘90s. Once there, they lost for the third time in the ‘90s.

As if to symbolize it all, Brutus, their mascot, was knocked flat on the sideline on an unsuccessful pass play.

“Seems like I’ve done this before, guys,” said Coach John Cooper, sighing after Tennessee’s 20-14 victory in a soggy and seemingly interminable game, attended by perhaps 50,000 of the announced crowd of 70,797. “Too many times.”

Cooper is 1-6 in bowl games at Ohio State, so it’s obviously not only this stadium. Tennessee proved a worthy opponent, but this loss took some doing for Ohio State. Thankfully for the Volunteers, the Buckeyes were up to the task.

Leading, 7-0, the Buckeyes went for it on a fourth and goal at the Tennessee two-yard line and missed.

They let Tennessee go 80 yards to tie the score in the last 41 seconds of the half . . . on two running plays.

They roughed the Volunteers’ punter in the third quarter, giving Tennessee a first down, after which Peyton Manning threw a 47-yard touchdown pass to Joey Kent.

Finally, trailing 17-14, they threw away their last chance on fourth and one when quarterback Bobby Hoying ran an option and bounced his lateral off fullback Matt Calhoun’s helmet.

“Looking back, we had a lot of situations you could sit back and second-guess all night,” Cooper said.

“Maybe we should have kicked a field goal with fourth and short. My thinking was, we have a big, strong offensive line and a Heisman Trophy running back [Eddie George]. If we can’t make six inches, we’re probably not going to win the game anyway.”

They didn’t make even one inch. George ran straight ahead behind 245-pound fullback Nicky Sualua and 320-pound Orlando Pace, the first sophomore to win the Lombardi Award, and was hurled backward for a two-yard loss.

The Buckeyes carried a 7-0 lead into the dying moments of the half when Tennessee started its last possession, at its 20, with 41 seconds left.

On first down, the Volunteers ran tailback Jay Graham up the middle.

“We were being careful,” Coach Phillip Fulmer said, “but we felt we could get ourselves in field-goal position. We were not going to throw anything particularly dangerous at all.”

In other words, they were running the clock out and would have continued to do so--except that Graham gained 11 yards to the 31.

Fulmer opened it up a tiny bit, with a draw play. Imagine his delight and Cooper’s chagrin when Graham broke it 69 yards, all the way into the Buckeye end zone and a tie.

“We said all week, with all the slants and twists they do, they were probably going to catch us a couple of times, but we might just pop one,” Graham said.

Buckeye safety Rob Kelly had an angle on Graham, but instead of coming up carefully, he hurtled in fast and low . . . and missed. After that, it was a sprint for Graham.

On the opening series in the third quarter, the Buckeyes roughed punter Larry Binion, and Manning burned them on the next play to make it 14-7.

Ohio State tied it with a 68-yard drive after the Buckeyes converted on fourth and one at their own 41. The Volunteers then slogged 59 yards in the other direction, taking the lead, 17-14, on Jeff Hall’s 29-yard field goal.

Ohio State marched to midfield, where it faced fourth and one. Cooper said to go for it, a routine decision. Offensive coordinator Joe Hillis sent in an option.

Tennessee brought six rushers. Hoying and Cooper agreed later that the Buckeyes, who had just called time out, should have called another, or audibled to another play, or anything.

“I probably should have checked off,” said Hoying. “They disguised their blitz a little bit. They trumped our move.”

Cooper: “Looking back, we should have taken a timeout. . . . That’s one of those situations you guys can second-guess all you want to.”

Actually, the Buckeyes were second-guessing themselves.