Jan. 2, 2006

Recap | Final Stats | Photo Gallery

2005 Notre Dame Football In-Game Notes
2006 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl * Notre Dame vs. Ohio State
Monday, Jan. 2, 2006 * Sun Devil Stadium * Tempe, Ariz.

FINAL SCORE: Ohio State 34, Notre Dame 20

NOTRE DAME TEAM NOTES:

Game time weather information – Sunny, 76 degrees, winds of the south at five mph.

Attendance: 76,196 – the largest Tostitos Fiesta Bowl crowd for a non-BCS Championship game.

Notre Dame’s captains this evening were senior Brandon Hoyte (defense), junior Brady Quinn (offense) and senior Corey Mays (special teams). The special team’s captain is selected by the Irish coaching staff week-to-week. Hoyte and Quinn were selected as season-long captains by their teammates. Ohio State won the toss and deferred its choice to the second half. Notre Dame received and defended the north goal.

Darius Walker’s 20-yard scoring run in the first quarter marked Notre Dame’s first rushing touchdown to begin the team’s scoring since Travis Thomas’ 17-yard scoring burst against USC on Oct. 15. Since the USC game (five games) the Irish have scored their first touchdown via the passing game.

Notre Dame’s two blocked field goals in today’s game were the second and third of the season for the Irish. They also blocked a field goal attempt at Purdue on Oct. 1, 2005. Junior Trevor Laws has two blocked field goals this season, knocking one down at Purdue and recording the second of the game today against Ohio State.

Notre Dame failed to score in the second quarter of today’s game for the first time this season. The Irish also failed to score 21 or more points for only the second time in 2005 (a 17-10 victory at Michigan was the other exception).

Ohio State now leads the all-time series with Notre Dame 3-2 and has won the last three consecutive meetings with the Irish.

Tonight’s game was Notre Dame’s fourth appearance in the Fiesta Bowl (1989, ’95, ’01 and 2005). The Irish are 1-3 now in Fiesta Bowl action.

Notre Dame falls to 13-14 all-time in bowl games and has lost eight straight. The last Irish victory in bowl-game action was a 24-21 victory over Texas A&M in the 1994 Cotton Bowl.

With 20 points scored in tonight’s game, the Irish finish the season with a 36.7 points-per game average (440 points total), just off the school record of 37.6 from the 1968 season.

NOTRE DAME PLAYER NOTES:

Corey Mays forced his third fumble of the season in the third quarter and is the team leader in that category. It was the fifth forced fumble of his career.

Darius Walker finished fifth on the Notre Dame single-season rushing list with 1,196 yards (posting 90 rushing yards this evening). Walker finishes behind Vagas Ferguson (1,437 in 1979), Allen Pinkett (1,394 in 1983), Reggie Brooks (1,343 in 1992), Julius Jones (1,268 in 2003) and Autry Denson (1,268 in 1997).

With a career-high seven receptions in tonight’s game, Darius Walker set the Notre Dame single-season record for receptions by a running back with 43 (for 351 yards). He breaks the record of 37 by Bob Gladiuex in 1968.

Darius Walker’s three-touchdown runs in tonight’s game are a career-best for the Irish running back and mark the second time this season that a Notre Dame back has rushed for three touchdowns. Rashon Powers-Neal accomplished the feat at Purdue. Walker finishes the season with a career-best nine rushing touchdowns.

Maurice Stovall finishes his career with 130 receptions (fourth on the Notre Dame all-time list) and 2,195 receiving yards (fourth). He also finished the season with 1,149 yards – second on the Notre Dame single-season list behind Jeff Samardzija (59 yards this evening, 1,249 this season). Both Stovall and Samardzija’s totals broke Tom Gatewood’s previous Notre Dame receiving yardage single-season record of 1,123 from 1970.