OSU's last trip to Rose Bowl was memorable one with dramatic 20-17 win over Arizona State.
Katzenmoyer sacks Plummer
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On Jan. 1, Ohio State will return to the Rose Bowl game for the first time in 13 years when the Buckeyes face Oregon.
This will be OSU’s 14th visit to Pasadena to play in the Rose Bowl game. However, that last visit on Jan. 1, 1997, stands as one of the biggest wins in Ohio State history.
It is unfortunate for OSU’s 1996 team that six years later the Buckeyes would upset No. 1-ranked Miami (Fla.) in double overtime in the Fiesta Bowl to win the national championship. It’s almost like that win over Miami trumped the 1996 team’s fantastic win over then-No. 2 Arizona State.
There were a lot of things about OSU’s 20-17 win over Arizona State that stood out, including:
* It was Ohio State’s first Rose Bowl victory in 23 years, dating to a win over USC in the Rose Bowl played on Jan. 1, 1974.
* The Buckeyes had not been to the Rose Bowl in 12 seasons. In fact, losses to Michigan in 1986, 1990, 1993 and 1995 had denied OSU a chance to play in the Rose Bowl in the interim.
* This win was, by far, the highest point in the 13-year era with John Cooper as the OSU head coach. The victory gave OSU a No. 2 national finish – its highest finish in the polls since 1973.
* And the victory was achieved in spectacular fashion. After ASU’s Jake “The Snake” Plummer had given the Sun Devils a 17-14 lead with an 11-yard touchdown run with 1:40 left, the Buckeyes drove 65 yards in 12 plays to the winning touchdown. Joe Germaine found David Boston for the 5-yard game winner with just 19 seconds left.
Setting The Scene
Ohio State was ranked ninth in the preseason poll in 1996. The Buckeyes were going into their season without Heisman Trophy-winning running back Eddie George and quarterback Bobby Hoying, who each graduated after the 1995 season.
Cooper decided that junior Stanley Jackson would be the starting quarterback, but sophomore Joe Germaine (a junior college transfer) would also see time at that position.
The Buckeyes opened with lopsided wins over Rice (70-7) and Pittsburgh (72-0) before beating a pair of top-five teams in back-to-back weeks with victories over No. 5 Notre Dame (29-16) and No. 4 Penn State (38-7). Those wins helped OSU vault to No. 2 in the national polls.
That’s where Ohio State stayed as it built a 10-0 record. OSU clinched the Big Ten title and its long-awaited Rose Bowl bid with a 27-17 win at Indiana. But hopes of an unbeaten regular season were dashed when No. 21 Michigan upset OSU 13-9 on Nov. 23 at Ohio Stadium.
Meanwhile, Arizona State had roared through its season unbeaten – including a win over defending national champion Nebraska -- and was poised for a shot at the national championship, provided it could defeat Ohio State at the Rose Bowl. A crowd of 100,635 jammed into the historic venue in the Arroyo Seco Canyon to see these two teams go head-to-head.
Back-And-Forth Game
Ohio State drew first blood on its second possession of the game. The Buckeyes drove 83 yards in 11 plays to the game’s first touchdown. Jackson scrambled for a 20-yard gain and then dumped it off to fullback Matt Keller for 22 more yards down to the ASU 4-yard line.
A false start moved OSU back to the 9. After two incomplete passes, Jackson scrambled to his right on third down and drilled a pass into Boston just inside the end zone for the touchdown. Boston leaned out of bounds to make the catch, barely keeping one foot inbounds for the score that put OSU up 7-0 with 5:04 left in the first quarter.
“Stan started scrambling,” Boston said. “I guess he got hurried and he scrambled. I thought he was going to run, but I just set up there in the end zone, caught the ball and kept my foot inbounds. My foot was definitely in. It wasn’t that close.”
Arizona State answered early in the second quarter, going 80 yards in 12 plays to tie the game at 7-7. Plummer completed 5 of 6 passes on the drive, including the miraculous 25-yard touchdown to a diving Ricky Boyer. The play was miraculous in the sense the officials, from the Big East Conference, called it a touchdown. Television replays in the stadium showed the ball bounced underneath Boyer. Still, ASU had tied it at 7-7 with 10:04 left in the first half.
That 7-7 score stood at halftime. ASU moved ahead 10-7 after a 37-yard field goal by Robert Nycz with 9:12 left in the third quarter.
It did not take Germaine and the Buckeyes long to regain the lead. He hit a diving Dimitrious Stanley for a 16-yard gain. He then went play action and threw deep to Stanley on a post pattern. The flanker got behind ASU’s Jason Simmons, avoided his diving tackle and was gone for the 72-yard touchdown that gave the Buckeyes a 14-10 lead with 8:23 left in the third quarter.
“That was a simple post route,” Stanley said. “Joe put the ball there and I took it to the house.”
OSU seemed to take control of the game midway through the fourth quarter when tailback Pepe Pearson, running behind Heisman Trophy finalist Orlando Pace at left tackle, ripped off a 62-yard gain to the ASU 35. But the offense faltered and the game changed dramatically when OSU kicker Josh Jackson’s 37-yard field goal was blocked with 5:36 left.
The Sun Devils returned the blocked kick for a touchdown, but it was negated by a forward lateral on the play. Nevertheless, ASU and Plummer took over at the Sun Devils’ 42-yard line.
He conducted a methodical 10-play, 58-yard scoring drive. The key play was his gutsy 29-yard completion to a streaking Lenzie Jackson on fourth-and-4 at the OSU 37. That gave ASU a first down at the OSU 8.
OSU’s Greg Bellisari notched a second-down sack of Plummer at the 11. ASU called timeout with 1:47 left before facing third-and-goal there.
Plummer dropped back to pass but couldn’t find anybody open. OSU linebacker Andy Katzenmoyer got one hand on Plummer, but the slippery Snake sidestepped him, tucked the ball and headed toward the goal line. There, he dove between two OSU defenders to complete an 11-yard touchdown. The extra point gave ASU a 17-14 lead with 1:40 left.
“I got my hands on him, but he just slipped out and the next thing I know he was running into the end zone to score a touchdown,” Katzenmoyer said. “I thought the game was over.”
But it wasn’t quite over just yet.
The Drive
Ohio State took over on its own 35 after Keller returned a short ASU kickoff. Germaine, who had run the two-minute drill all season, took command of the huddle with 1:40 left.
“You could just see the determination in Joe’s eyes,” Pace said.
Here is a play-by-play look at one of the biggest touchdown drives in OSU history:
* First-and-10, OSU 35 – Blitzed heavily, Germaine threw down the middle incomplete toward tight end D.J. Jones.
* Second-and-10, OSU 35 – Germaine threw down the middle left high over Jones’ head incomplete.
* Third-and-10, OSU 35 – Germaine threw to a button hooking Stanley in the right flat for 11 yards and a first down with 1:16 left.
* First-and-10, OSU 46 – Germaine threw incomplete to Stanley at the right sideline. An OSU penalty for ineligible man downfield was declined.
* Second-and-10, OSU 46 – Germaine threw incomplete to Jones down the middle.
* Third-and-10, OSU 46 – Germaine stepped up and threw to Stanley over the middle for 13 yards and a first down at the ASU 41 with 54 seconds left.
* First-and-10, ASU 41 – Germaine threw to Stanley at the left sideline for 12 yards and a first down at the ASU 29 with 46 seconds left.
* First-and-10, ASU 29 – OSU was penalized five yards for a false start when Germaine pulled away from center early.
* First-and-15, ASU 34 – Germaine threw deep down the right side to Stanley incomplete, but ASU’s Simmons was penalized for pass interference. The 15-yard penalty moved the ball to the 19-yard line with 41 seconds left.
* First-and-10, ASU 19 – Germaine scrambled right and overthrew Keller incomplete with 33 seconds left.
* Second-and-10, ASU 19 – Germaine’s pass over the middle to Stanley was broken up by ASU’s Courtney Jackson with 28 seconds left.
* Third-and-10, ASU 19 – Germaine threw left incomplete to the ASU 5 for Boston, who was essentially mugged by ASU’s Marcus Soward. This second pass interference penalty moved the ball to the 5 with 24 seconds left.
“I think the defensive backs got a little bit frustrated,” Boston said. “They grabbed Dimitrious and then they grabbed me.”
Cooper said the Buckeyes planned to take a shot or two at the end zone and then would have attempted a short field goal to forge a tie if needed. Ironically, the 1996 postseason was the first time Division I-A schools could play overtime periods.
* First-and-10, ASU 5 – Germaine looked left at a slanting Stanley, but he couldn’t miss a wide open Boston. On the play, Boston faked his man, Jackson, inside and drifted back out. Germaine tossed it to Boston at the 2 and Boston turned and stolled into the end zone for the 5-yard touchdown with 19 seconds left. The play was called “Two-Left Twins, 240 Smash.”
“It was a smash route – that’s what we call it – out of a twin set,” Germaine said. “David did a great job of beating his man. He kind of lost him and was wide open. I was fortunate to get it to him.”
Boston added, “I was thinking, ‘Just don’t drop the ball.’ I knew if I went back out, there wasn’t anybody on the outside.”
ASU’s Burnstein added some suspense when he blocked Josh Jackson’s PAT kick, keeping the score at 20-17.
The Sun Devils took possession on their own 34-yard line. Plummer hit a pair of passes and got as close as the OSU 35-yard line before time expired. Ohio State had done it.
The Aftermath
OSU players rushed the field in a massive celebration.
“It doesn’t get any better than this,” Cooper said. “We’ve won some big games, but we haven’t won one this big. Maybe you guys will quit writing about us not being able to win the big game.”
He also got a jab at OSU fans, who had made life tough for him early in his tenure with the Buckeyes.
“This is for all our great fans, who are with us win or tie!” Cooper said.
It couldn’t have been any better for Germaine, a native of Mesa, Ariz., who played one season at Scottsdale Community College before transferring to Ohio State. He was selected as the game’s most outstanding player after completing 9 of 17 passes for 131 yards and two touchdowns.
“We knew what we had to do,” Germaine said of his heroics. “We worked on the two-minute drill a lot in practice and fortunately we were able to move it down there and score.”
Cooper became the only coach in Rose Bowl history to win games for a Big Ten and a Pac-10 team. He had led ASU to the 1987 Rose Bowl win over Michigan.
But the Arizona State fans had no love lost for Cooper, who left their school for Ohio State following the 1987 season.
He addressed the crowd at the Rose Bowl after the game and yelled, “How about the hometown boy coming back to beat his hometown team?” That remark drew lustful boos from the 40,000 ASU fans in attendance.
There were a number of heroes for Ohio State in this game, including:
* Boston, a freshman who had four catches for 20 yards and the game-winning touchdown;
* Katzenmoyer, a freshman who had eight tackles, five tackles-for-loss, three sacks and the game’s only interception;
* Stanley, who had five catches for 124 yards and his long touchdown;
* Cornerback Shawn Springs, who blanketed ASU receiver Keith Poole. Poole, who had 46 catches and 11 touchdowns in the regular season, finished with one catch for 10 yards;
* Safety Damon Moore, who had 12 tackles;
* Pearson, who tallied 111 yards rushing on 13 carries; and
* Defensive tackle Luke Fickell (now an OSU assistant), who refused to miss the game – and his school-record 50th career start – after tearing a pectoral muscle in pre-bowl practice.
The loss was a bitter pill for Arizona State to swallow. The next day, No. 3 Florida knocked off No. 1 Florida State 52-20 in the Sugar Bowl. Had ASU won, the Sun Devils would have been the nation’s only unbeaten team and surely the national champions.
“That is a quality football team,” ASU coach Bruce Snyder said of Ohio State. “That was a hell of a drive that late in the game.”
ASU came into the game averaging 42.8 points per game, but settled for a season-low 17 points. Plummer was 19 of 35 passing for 201 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
“Their defense was relentless and it kept me out of rhythm to a certain extent,” Plummer said.
Ohio State, at 11-1, tried to make a case for the national championship. But between the AP and coaches polls, 123-1/2 of the possible 129 first-place votes were cast for Florida (12-1). The Gators had avenged their only loss at the hands of Florida State.
Florida was 5-1 against ranked teams and 2-1 against top-10 teams. The Gators’ opponents had a combined record of 90-60 (.600). Florida had four wins over teams that finished with 10 or more wins.
Ohio State was 4-1 against ranked teams and 3-0 against top-10 teams. OSU’s opponents had a combined record of 78-61 (.561). OSU had two wins over opponents that finished with 10 or more wins.
Two days later, the Buckeyes received a hero’s welcome with a huge celebration at St. John Arena.
“You are looking at a team with more heart than any team in America,” said linebacker Greg Bellisari, who joined offensive lineman Juan Porter as a team captain. “Not only do we have more heart than any team in America, we’re the best team in America.”
Box Score
Ohio State (4) 20, Arizona State (2) 17
Jan. 1, 1997: Rose Bowl; Pasadena, Calif.
Attendance: 100,635
SCORING 1/2/3/4 -- F
Arizona State 0/7/3/7 -- 17
Ohio State 7/0/7/6 -- 20
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
OSU - Boston 9 pass from S. Jackson (J. Jackson kick), 5:04
Second Quarter
ASU - Boyer 25 pass from Plummer (Nycz kick), 10:04
Third Quarter
ASU - Nycz 37 field goal, 9:12
OSU - Stanley 72 pass from Germaine (J. Jackson kick), 8:23
Fourth Quarter
ASU - Plummer 11 run (Nycz kick), 1:40
OSU - Boston 5 pass from Germaine (J. Jackson kick failed), 0:19
TEAM STATISTICS ASU/OSU
First Downs 18/18
Rushes-yards 41-75/30-133
Passing yards 201/190
Return yards 23/33
Comp.-Att.-Int. 19-35-1/15-31-0
Sacks-yards 5-36/6-33
Fumbles-lost 1-0/1-0
Penalties-yards 9-85/10-75
Time of Possession 33:17/26:43
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing (att.-yds.-TDs) -- Arizona State: Battle 18-34-0, Redmond 8-26-0, Paulk 3-7-0, Poole 1-13-0, Plummer 11-(-5)-1. Ohio State: Pearson 13-114-0, Wiley 7-32-0, S. Jackson 5-6-0, Keller 2-4-0, Germaine 3-(-20)-0.
Passing (comp.-att.-int.-yds.-TDs) – Arizona State: Plummer 19-35-1-201-1. Ohio State: Germaine9-17-0-131-2, S. Jackson 6-14-0-59-1.
Receiving (no.-yds.-TDs) - Arizona State: L. Jackson 5-71-0, Battle 5-30-0, Bush 3-41-0, Boyer 3-39-1, Poole 1-10-0, Kendall 1-7-0, Paulk 1-3-0. OhioState: Stanley 5-124-1, Boston 4-20-2, Keller 3-24-0, D. Miller 2-18-0, Pearson 1-4-0.
Video Highlights
Check out some great highlights from this classic Ohio State victory.
