Glendale, AZ (Betting Express) - Colt McCoy's 26-yard touchdown pass to Quan Cosby with 16 seconds remaining lifted third-ranked Texas to a 24-21 Fiesta Bowl win over No. 10 Ohio State, as the Buckeyes were dealt another crushing defeat in a BCS postseason contest.
McCoy, named the game's offensive MVP, finished 41-of-59 for 414 yards through the air, while Cosby had a spectacular performance in his last collegiate game, making 14 catches for 171 yards and a pair of scores for the Longhorns (12-1). Texas' only blemish on the season was a last-second 39-33 loss at Texas Tech on November 1.
"There's not too many people who can experience a night like this," said Cosby. "We're very fortunate to do so. Our defense kept us in it all night long."
Daniel Herron ran 15 yards for the go-ahead score with 2:05 remaining for the Buckeyes (10-3), until McCoy's heroics turned the game around.
The Longhorns were left out of the national championship equation despite a one-loss season. They had a gripe after losing out on a three-team tiebreaker for a chance to play in the Big 12 title game. Oklahoma was the beneficiary of the tie-breaking system and faces Florida for the BCS crown, though the Longhorn faithful remember when Texas rolled to a 45-35 victory over the Sooners at a neutral site earlier in the season. Monday marked Texas' fifth straight bowl victory.
The Buckeyes were in a BCS bowl game for a fourth straight year and seventh time overall. They had lost the national title game the previous two years.
Todd Boeckman and Terrelle Pryor worked Ohio State's two-quarterback system. Boeckman hit Pryor with a scoring pass and the Buckeyes scored 15 unanswered points in the fourth quarter before faltering.
Chris "Beanie" Wells ran for 106 yards for Ohio State, but a concussion forced him out of the game most of the second half.
Boeckman finished the game 5-of-11 passing for 110 yards. Pryor went 5-of-14 for 66 yards and also ran for 78 yards. Brian Robiskie had five catches for 116 yards for the Buckeyes.
"It's been an amazing career for all of us," said Ohio State star senior linebacker James Laurinaitis. "We've done a lot of special things. Obviously it's not the way you want to go out."
Down, 17-15, Ohio State's defense rose to the occasion, forcing a three-and- out, and the Buckeyes marched from their own 27 to the end zone. They avoided disaster when Pryor lost the ball, as Herron came up with the recovery at the Ohio State 40. Boeckman threw a pair of 21-yard passes, and Herron's nine-yard rush set up his 15-yard jaunt to the left side into the end zone.
McCoy engineered the Longhorns from their own 22 and converted a huge 4th- and-3 with a three-yard pass to James Kirkendoll, who reached out to the first down marker before being driven back. Officials stretched the chains to give the Longhorns a first down at the Ohio State 40, but Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel challenged the spot, which stood after a video review with 38 seconds left.
"The guy closest to the ball spotted it one place and then someone from the other side said he had a better vantage point," said Tressel.
McCoy then connected with Brandon Collins on a 14-yard gain before Cosby caught a pass over the middle and shed the tackle of Anderson Russell and darted to the end zone.
"When they brought everybody we kind of said over and over if I catch the same look give me a slant behind the linebacker," said McCoy. "If he comes you can make a guy miss and you're going to score. We have confidence in each other. We've done it all year long."
Boeckman was sacked and his final two passes fell incomplete.
"It doesn't get any better than to come from behind and win," said Texas coach Mack Brown. "We're behind all night. It's the hardest thing to do in sports and that's why I'm so proud of these guys."
Ohio State's Aaron Pettrey kicked a 51-yard field goal midway through the first quarter, but then missed another one from the same distance, well left, in the final minute of the stanza.
Hunter Lawrence countered with a 27-yarder 3:15 into the second quarter to tie the game, but Ryan Pretorius booted a 30-yard field goal with 5:39 remaining until intermission for the Buckeyes.
McCoy drove the Longhorns to the Ohio State 37, but on 4th-and-7 he was sacked and slammed to the ground by Thaddeus Gibson.
Following a punt, Texas got the ball back at its own nine and marched to the Ohio State 15, but McCoy's floating pass was picked off by Russell near the goal line in the closing seconds of the half.
The Longhorns were limited to minus-nine yards rushing in the first half.
Texas started the third quarter on a huge, 15-play, 80-yard drive, which was culminated by a 14-yard scramble by McCoy to the end zone. The Longhorns converted a pair of fourth downs during the surge and capitalized on a personal foul call just before McCoy ran to his left, spun out of trouble and made it to the end zone to end the 6 1/2 minute drive.
McCoy rolled out before hitting Cosby with a seven-yard TD pass with 1:04 remaining in the third to expand the lead to 17-6.
Pettrey's 44-yard field goal less than two minutes into the fourth quarter had the Buckeyes within eight points, and Ohio State then forced a punt.
The Buckeyes embarked on an 80-yard drive, which ended with a five-yard TD strike from Boeckman to Pryor, who made his first career catch at Ohio State with a leaping grab in the right rear corner of the end zone with 7:26 remaining. On the previous play, the Buckeyes faced a 3rd-and-12 from the Texas 25, but despite an incompletion, Longhorns cornerback Deon Beasley was whistled for pass interference and a subsequent unsportsmanlike conduct penalty moved the ball to the five.
Game Notes
The game marked just the third meeting all-time between the Buckeyes and Longhorns after the two teams faced each other in 2005 and 2006...Ohio State cornerback Shaun Lane was strapped to a stretcher and carted off the field. Lane tackled Jordan Shipley on a kickoff return with 5:34 remaining in the first half and was taken to a local hospital as a precautionary measure...Ohio State is 4-3 all-time in BCS games, winning the Sugar Bowl in 1999 and the Fiesta in 2003, 2004 and 2006. The Buckeyes had won four consecutive Fiesta Bowl games, all under Tressel...Shipley had 10 catches for 78 yards...Cosby's 14 catches were a Texas record for a bowl game...Texas defensive tackle Roy Miller, who had a sack, was named the defensive MVP.
