Email
PrintThe last stand
Fittingly, Ohio State's shot at national championship depended on its defense. Four plays to remember.
Victory: The final play of the Fiesta Bowl. Photo by Chance Brockway.
This story appeared in the March 2003 issue of Columbus Monthly.
Ohio State’s defensive coordinator has just sent in the play he hopes will stop Miami from advancing a football 36 inches into the end zone. Now it’s out of his control; all that’s left for Mark Dantonio is to watch—like the 77,502 people attending the Fiesta Bowl, the Buckeye and Hurricane fans agonizing in front of their TVs and the Ohio State athletic director pacing the sideline.
In the Buckeye huddle, linebacker Cie Grant knows what has to be done. Ohio State must do to Miami what the Hurricanes were expected to do to the Buckeyes this night: win with speed. He exchanges determined looks with two teammates.
As Jan. 3 approaches its end in the sprawl and sand of Arizona, as the most intense and exciting college football game ever played edges toward its fourth hour, it comes to this: The national championship hinges on OSU’s defense preventing the No. 1 Miami Hurricanes, the winners of 34 straight games and the owners of the nation’s most devastating offense, from gaining one yard.
It would take another dramatic effort as part of an already dramatic goal-line stand in a game with more dramatic moments than an episode of “The Sopranos”: Maurice Clarett’s stripping the ball back from a Miami defender after an interception, the injury to star Hurricane runner Willis McGahee, the long Miami punt return setting up the last-second, game-tying field goal, the fourth-and-14 completion from Craig Krenzel to Michael Jenkins, the late pass-interference penalty against Miami that cut short the Hurricanes’ victory celebration. . . .
The goal-line stand had started three plays earlier, with the numbers stacked against the Buckeyes. Four chances for Miami to travel two yards. And for OSU fans, there was another lingering, nagging figure: 34, the span of years since the last Ohio State national championship. To end that drought in this desert would require grit, strategy, strength, swiftness and a bit of luck.
First down
Moments after Maurice Clarett dove across the goal line to give OSU a 31-24 lead in the second overtime, Miami knows it has only one option to continue the game: match Ohio State’s touchdown and extra point. Five plays into Miami’s last chance, it appears that a third overtime is inevitable. A pass-interference call against Chris Gamble—OSU’s 60-minute man—gives Miami a first down on the two-yard line.
Fittingly, a Buckeye victory depends on its defense, which has shut down opponents all season while the offense struggled to score enough points to keep an undefeated campaign rolling through 13 games. But for Mark Dantonio, nothing in his 30-some years as a football coach and player approaches the magnitude of what he now faces in Sun Devil Stadium. How to beat the odds with so much at stake?
Dantonio knew coming into the season that his defense needed to improve its goal-line play. So five minutes were spent during each Monday and Thursday practice on fending off an offense close to the end zone. In preparing for the Fiesta Bowl, the defense worked on its goal-line sets five times, specifically against those plays Miami had called during the season while inside the 10-yard line—to be precise, those 36 snaps (30 runs, six passes) that OSU coaches had studied on video and meticulously documented in a thick black binder.
Preparation is one thing; execution is another. “Penetration is the key to a goal-line stand,” says Dantonio. “You can’t get knocked off the ball.” If a lineman pushes back a defensive player, it’s a touchdown. There is no ground to give.
Dantonio considers the players Miami sends in for first down and decides a running play is likely. He calls for the goal-line wedge, inserting an extra defensive lineman (David Thompson) for a defensive back (Dustin Fox).
Players line up against each other in tight clumps, like two walls. At the snap, Miami quarterback Ken Dorsey hands the ball to running back Jarrett Payton, who, if not for the horrific knee injury earlier to all-American Willis McGahee, would be watching from the sideline. But now is his opportunity to emulate his father, the late Walter Payton, perhaps the greatest rusher in NFL history.
Payton follows the blocking back straight ahead toward the scrum at the line of scrimmage. His job is to find enough space between the behemoths to travel those two precious yards.
The OSU defense is designed for Cie Grant, fellow linebacker Matt Wilhelm and three-time all-American safety Mike Doss to stop Payton from scoring. Doss is too eager, getting into the backfield so quickly that he overruns Payton, although he forces him to change direction slightly. Wilhelm takes on that Miami blocking back by doing as he’s been taught: getting his shoulder pads lower than his opponent’s to gain control of their matchup. Wilhelm drops the blocker to the turf, clogging up the hole. At the same time, OSU linebacker Robert Reynolds has beaten his man and lunges at Payton, knocking him off stride. That leaves Grant to elude all-American Miami center Brett Romberg, who, after Grant speeds past, tries to grab his legs. As Payton falls forward, Grant knocks him to the ground at the one-yard line.
Second down
With five minutes left in regulation, Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger, at the request of Fiesta Bowl officials preparing for an awards ceremony, had moved from a suite to the sideline. He’d complied reluctantly. “I think I’m a jinx,” he says. Geiger positioned himself at a far end of the bench.
“Everybody was excited. I’ve never felt more intensity. There was a resolve,” he says. “I also had this eerie feeling that I was watching it by myself.” He isn’t alone, though. Former OSU and current NFL stars Eddie George and Shawn Springs are nearby. “We kept bumping into each other while we were pacing,” Geiger says.
Dantonio, who’s working out of the press box, decides to keep the goal-line wedge formation, but substitutes Fox for Gamble, who gets a brief rest on his way to participating in an extraordinary 119 plays as cornerback, wide receiver and kick returner.
As Miami settles into position, waiting for the snap, tight end Eric Winston runs parallel to the line of scrimmage, passing behind quarterback Ken Dorsey. Fox’s job is to mirror Winston and he, too, runs parallel to the line of scrimmage, behind his defensive linemen.
Out of this particular formation, Miami has both run and passed the ball during the season. But it’s obvious as the play begins that it’s a pass—obvious, that is, to those in the stands or watching a television. But it’s not to Fox. Instead of following Winston, who runs toward the end zone, Fox turns upfield to tackle a running back who doesn’t have the ball. Winston is wide open for a certain touchdown that, with the following extra point, will tie the game and trigger another overtime.
Then the inexplicable happens to Ken Dorsey, a premier quarterback whose career record is 38-1. Perhaps he’s still dazed from Wilhelm’s brutal hit just a few plays earlier that forced him to leave for one snap. Or maybe he’s anxious after getting pressured all game by OSU’s defensive line. Whatever the reason, Dorsey rushes his pass, throwing off balance. The ball sails wide of the diving Winston, who slams his hand to the turf.
“We got lucky on this one,” Dantonio says.
Third down
The mood in the OSU huddle is confident. “One of the biggest things for our team,” Grant says, “is the way we won games, close games. That really helped us against Miami. Most teams would be like, ‘Oh, man.’ We were comfortable-like.”
OSU won its only other overtime game of the season when the defense stopped Illinois on fourth down at the nine-yard line. And it had one successful four-down goal-line stand, back in the opener in August against Texas Tech. But opponents did score eight touchdowns in the 14 times they had a first down inside OSU’s 10-yard line this season, including two TDs tonight by Miami.
Before Miami breaks its huddle, Dantonio, anticipating another run, keeps the extra lineman in the game. Miami again forms a tight wall at the line and has two running backs behind Dorsey, one in front of the other.
Miami tries to surprise OSU by handing the ball to the first running back, Quadtrine Hill, who is primarily a blocker. In fact, he hadn’t carried the ball all night, and during the season Miami had run this particular play—30 Wham—just once near the goal line. It was a play, however, that OSU had practiced against.
The defensive line doesn’t give ground, and Thompson, the extra lineman, penetrates into the backfield to try to slow Hill, who heads in a straight line to the end zone. Standing between him and a touchdown is Wilhelm, the senior linebacker who over four seasons has developed from a fine player into an all-American. At this moment, it’s Hill versus Wilhelm, a split-second duel of strength and determination.
There’s a collision and the two players, Hill wrapped in Wilhelm’s embrace, collapse to the ground. Short of the goal line.
Fourth down
One play left. One yard to go. Will it be a national championship or a third overtime? Miami brings in multiple wide receivers, suggesting a pass. Dantonio counters by pulling Thompson for another defensive back, Gamble. He quickly settles on his play: Tight Will Tulsa. “We run this a lot,” Dantonio says. “It’s a good defense for us; it is the same defense that caused the fumble in the fourth quarter against Michigan.”
But there’s a risk: The play calls for a linebacker to blitz instead of cover a receiver. The key is to get to the quarterback before he can complete the pass. The blitzer is Grant. “We’re sending our fast guy,” says Dantonio. And the Buckeye season has been built on taking chances: by Krenzel throwing the deep pass to Jenkins against Purdue on fourth down, by Doss returning for his senior season instead of going to the NFL, by Geiger hiring a minor-league head coach two years ago for a major-league job. . . .
In the huddle, players are talking, giving encouragement. One more play. Hey, this is it. It’s the money down. As the players begin to line up, Grant catches the eyes of Gamble and defensive lineman Will Smith. They nod. “We know what time it was,” Grant says.
Miami breaks into its formation—the wide receivers spread out, each covered by a Buckeye. Dantonio’s biggest concern, though, is tight end Kellen Winslow, who has caught 11 passes for 122 yards tonight, including a big reception the last time Miami faced a fourth down in the second overtime. Dantonio decides to double-team Winslow with Reynolds and senior safety Donnie Nickey.
Grant lingers in the middle of the field, not wanting to give away where he will line up. Before the snap, he jogs over just to the outside of Will Smith.
Two Miami players could block Grant: a lineman or Payton, the running back. According to Dantonio, 95 percent of the time Miami runs this play, the running back heads to the right—in this case, toward Grant.
As the play begins, the receivers sprint upfield. The lineman decides to double-team Smith, and Payton heads . . . to the left.
That leaves Grant a clear path to the quarterback. It all comes down to speed, a race between Grant and Dorsey.
When Dorsey drops back, he sees Grant dashing right at him. “His eyes got real big,” Grant says. Dorsey retreats to the nine-yard line as Grant clutches at him, grabbing a fistful of his jersey, and begins to throw him to the ground. Dorsey takes his only shot, flinging a desperate, aimless pass toward the end zone. The wobbling ball deflects off OSU’s Donnie Nickey and tumbles to the turf.
As the celebrating starts, Grant, sprawled on the ground, isn’t sure what’s happened—until he sees his teammates rushing toward him. The first person to reach him is actually linebacker coach Mark Snyder. “We did it!” Grant hears Snyder yell. “You came on that play. We’re national champs!”
Four downs. Only one yard surrendered. And a perfect call by Dantonio that will be talked about for decades.
“My last play of college football,” says Grant, a senior. “I’ll always remember.”
Ray Paprocki is managing editor of Columbus Monthly.
