Ohio State Football: A look back at the 2003 Fiesta Bowl

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TEMPE, ARIZONA – JANUARY 3: Head coach Jim Tressel of the Ohio State Buckeyes directs his team in the BCS Championship game against the University of Miami Hurricanes during the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl at Sun Devil Stadium on January 3, 2003 in Tempe, Arizona. Ohio State won the game 31-24 in double-overtime, winning the NCAA National Championship. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

3rd Quarter

After a struggling first half, the Hurricanes got their big break. Dorsey found his target Kellen Winslow Jr for a 23 yard gain on a second and nine and again on a third and five.

Dorsey then gave the ball to Willis McGahee who used some nice vision, taking it in for a nine-yard touchdown cutting the lead to three.

The powerful Ohio State rushing attack was stopped with just under a minute to go which forced Andy Groom to punt the ball away, and thus began the fourth quarter in what was becoming one of the greatest BCS National Championship games in history.

4th Quarter

Miami’s offense got off to a slow start in the fourth quarter, and it did not help that kicker Todd Sievers missed a long 54-yard field goal. However, there was a lot of time on the clock to stop the powerful rushing offense of Clarett.

Krenzel kept the drive alive as he found Chris Gamble for a 12 yard gain, but the Buckeyes were stopped and had to try a 42-yard field goal. With Nugent making one from 44 just before halftime, Tressel had faith in him making this kick.

However, Nugent missed the important kick leading to the Hurricanes to take over and a chance to score with 6:36 to go in the game. Dorsey did his usual drop back and threw a pass right in between two defenders finding Roscoe Parrish. Parrish tried to stretch the reception into a bigger gain and fumbled with Will Allen recovering.

Ohio State decided to give Clarett a breather and played Lydell Ross for a few downs. Ross could not make anything happen and the Buckeyes punted away with 2:18 to go.

That is when Roscoe Parrish redeemed himself by making a few shifty moves and along with a nice block, took it all the way to the Buckeyes 25.

Parrish was not the only one to bounce back from a mistake as Sievers, who missed the long field goal earlier, made this one from 40 sending the game into overtime.

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