Buckeyes Bite Back

For the first time all season, victory slithered away from Jack “The Snake” Plummer and his Arizona State Sun Devils. Ohio State got the last bite in the 83rd Rose Bowl Wednesday, before a crowd of 100,635 that was treated to the kind of drama and action this game frequently creates.

Ohio State won, 20-17, after driving 65 yards in 11 plays and scoring on a five-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Joe Germaine to freshman David Boston with 19 seconds to play.

That drive was necessitated by some typical heroics by Plummer and Arizona State.

Trailing, 14-10, with just over five minutes to play, the Sun Devils got their chance by turning a blocked field goal into good field position near midfield. And then they got the lead touchdown from Plummer, who went back to pass from the Buckeyes’ 11, evaded half the Ohio State defense while scrambling and finally lunged into the end zone.

His only error to that point--and for the entire season, for that matter--was leaving Ohio State enough time to come back.

Ohio State’s John Cooper, who had coached Arizona State to its previous Rose Bowl appearance, a 1987 victory over Michigan State, said afterward, “It just doesn’t get any better than this.”

For Arizona State, Pacific 10 Conference champion and previous owner of an 11-0 record and a No. 2 national ranking, it could only get worse if Florida beats No. 1 Florida State in the Sugar Bowl tonight, meaning that Ohio State’s late drive will have cost the Sun Devils a national championship.

Two controversial scoring passes left the score tied, 7-7, after the first half. If ever the cliche “game of inches” applied, this was the time.

Ohio State quarterback Stanley Jackson took the Buckeyes 83 yards late in the first quarter, but once he got his team to the Arizona State four-yard line, he ran into a wall of Sun Devil defenders.

Finally, after one five-yard penalty and two incompletions under heavy pressure from Arizona State’s aggressive defense, Jackson rolled right, shedding tacklers and looking frantically for an open receiver. At the last second, he zipped a low fastball toward the front right corner of the end zone, where Boston, a split second from leaning out of bounds, took the pass, hung onto it and somehow managed to keep his left foot inbounds long enough for a catch and a touchdown.

Arizona State, of course, argued that the foot and the catch had not happened quite enough in sync for it to be a legal catch.

But the Sun Devils, right or wrong in their assessment of Boston’s catch, got some quick payback in both points and similarity of score.

Plummer, stymied in the first quarter with only 19 yards passing as the Sun Devils totaled 11 yards in offense, took his team on an 80-yard drive. With second and eight from Ohio State’s 25, Plummer sent receivers Keith Poole and Ricky Boyer in a crossing pattern on the left side that freed Boyer one-on-one with Buckeye cornerback Antoine Winfield.

Plummer’s pass floated toward the left edge of the end zone, while Winfield first jostled Boyer, then got his legs tangled with Boyer. But out of the tangle, Boyer leaped and somehow got his hands on the pass, holding it firm for an instant while he flew through the air.

Officials immediately signaled touchdown, but replays showed that the ball had bounced off the turf as Boyer fell, and then bounced back into his arms as he cradled it on the ground, shielding the closest official.

The correct call seemed to be pass interference, 15-yard penalty, ball on the Ohio State 10, and first down Arizona State. But the touchdown, and the 7-7 halftime deadlock, remained.

The third quarter ended with Ohio State in a 14-10 lead, but the number of points scored came nowhere near to properly reflecting the action and intensity of the period.

Arizona State got into position for a 37-yard field goal by Robert Nycz, but that was somewhat of a losing proposition for the Sun Devils, who had had a third-and-one situation and had gotten running back Terry Battle apparently wide open around left end. For a moment, it appeared that Battle would not only make a first down, but perhaps a touchdown.

But out of nowhere came strong safety Damon Moore, who not only stopped the touchdown, but somehow stopped Battle for no gain and forced the field goal.

And then, quickly, the impact of that play became obvious when Germaine, in under Cooper’s rotating quarterback system, found Dimitrious Stanley over the middle and, when Jason Simmons slipped, the play went 72 yards for a 14-10 Ohio State lead.

The touchdown occurred with 8:23 to go in the period, but the rest of the quarter, despite no scoring, featured one furious defensive stand after another, with both quarterbacks facing tremendous pressure on almost every play.

The fourth quarter was wild and crazy, with Ohio State’s Pepe Pearson going 62 yards when the Buckeyes were trapped deep in their own territory. But that went for naught when Arizona State blocked a field goal attempt.

And on the runback of that blocked field goal, Derrick Rodgers went all the way for a touchdown, but he had received a forward lateral from Derek Smith, who had recovered the ball blocked by Brent Burnstein.

Shortly after that, Plummer uncorked a pass that had touchdown all over it, but ace defensive back Shawn Springs batted it away from Poole at the last second.

But Arizona State kept the drive alive, and finally, after being sacked once deep in Ohio State territory, Plummer came through with the touchdown play that confirmed why he has the nickname he does.