January 3, 2003: The Fiesta Bowl is played at Sun Devil Stadium (now Mountain America Stadium) in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Arizona. The University of Miami were going for back-to-back National Championships. But they got shocked by The… Ohio State University.
Miami had not lost since September 9, 2000. They had won the Big East Conference and the Sugar Bowl in the 2000 season. They had won the Big East, the Rose Bowl, and the National Championship in the 2001 season. Now, in 2002, they had again won the Big East, and were ranked Number 1 in the country, carrying a 34-game winning streak into the Fiesta Bowl.
They had beaten Florida, then Number 6, away, by 25 points. They had beaten their other arch-rival, Florida State, then Number 9. They had beaten Number 17 Pittsburgh and Number 18 Virginia Tech. In 9 of their 12 regular-season games, they had scored at least 38 points. One potential warning sign: In 5 games, they had allowed at least 3 touchdowns, including their finale against Virginia Tech, which was a shootout, 56-45.
They were coached by Larry Coker. They had quarterback Frank Dorsey. They had running backs Willis McGahee and Frank Gore. They had tight end Kellen Winslow II, son of a Hall of Fame tight end. They had defensive tackle Vince Wilfork. They had linebacker Jonathan Vilma. They had cornerback Antrel Rolle. They had safety Sean Taylor. What's more, McGahee, Gore, Winslow, Wilfork, Rolle and Taylor were sophomores. And Vilma was a junior. The Hurricanes were expected to be a dominant team for a long time to come. The record for the longest winning streak in college football history, 47 by Oklahoma in the 1950s, was beginning to look like it was in jeopardy.
Ohio State were coached by Jim Tressel, and had won the Big Ten Conference title. They had lost their bowl game the season before, but they had won all 13 regular-season games, including over Number 10 Washington State, Number 17 Penn State, Number 23 Minnesota, and Number 9 Michigan.
Craig Krenzel, a junior, was their starting quarterback. One of his blockers was center Nick Mangold. They had a quartet of interesting freshmen: Quarterback Troy Smith, running back Maurice Clarett, receiver Santonio Holmes and linebacker A.J. Hawk. They were the Number 2 team in the country, behind Miami at Number 1. But the Buckeyes were 11 1/2-point underdogs in the Fiesta Bowl.
The Hurricanes jumped out to an early 7–0 lead. But in the 2nd quarter, Mike Doss intercepted Dorsey, setting up touchdown run by Craig Krenzel; and a Dorsey fumble set up the Buckeyes on the Miami 14. A Clarett touchdown run put Ohio State ahead 14–7 at halftime. They added a field goal in the 3rd quarter, for a 17-7 lead. But McGahee scored a touchdown to end the quarter at 17-14 Buckeyes.
In the 4th quarter, on 3rd down a catch by Ohio State receiver Chris Gamble was ruled incomplete due to his being out of bounds. Replays however seem to show that Gamble had his jersey grabbed on this play, which could have resulted in pass interference call and a consequent Ohio State 1st down; and that Gamble appeared to land inbounds, again a 1st down. Ohio State would have been in a position to run the clock out, and win the game without it going to overtime. Instead they had to punt, leading to Miami's Todd Sievers kicking a field goal to send the game into overtime.
On their first possession in overtime, Winslow caught a 7-yard touchdown pass. A 2nd-down sack of Krenzel helped set the Buckeyes up for 4th & 14, Krenzel threw a 17-yard pass to Michael Jenkins, to keep his team alive.
Miami held Ohio State off long enough to force another 4th down, & 3. Then came one of the most talked-about plays in college football history. Krenzel attempted a pass to Gamble, but the ball bounced off Gamble's hands and was called an incomplete pass by the line judge. The Miami fans and team, believing the game to be over, began to rush the field.
However, Terry Porter, the field judge, had thrown a late flag in the end zone, for pass interference, called on Miami cornerback Glenn Sharpe. As a result, Ohio State received the ball on the 2-yard line with an automatic 1st down. With a fresh set of downs, Krenzel rushed for a 1-yard touchdown on 3rd down. The extra point tied the score at 24, sending the game into a 2nd overtime.
With the possession order switched, Ohio State had the ball first. Clarett ran the ball in for 5 yards for a go-ahead touchdown. When Miami had the ball, the Buckeyes were hit with 2 pass interference penalties, giving the Hurricanes 1st & goal on the 2. But Ohio State held them, so it was 4th & goal on the 1. Dorsey threw an incomplete pass, and Ohio State had won, 31-24. It was their 1st National Championship in 34 years, since Woody Hayes' "Super Sophomores" of 1968.
Miami fans still whine that they got robbed by the officials. They need to put a sock in it: Their team gave away 5 turnovers; they couldn't stop Ohio State on a 4th & 14 in the 1st overtime, a play which would have ended the game and given them the National Championship; and they couldn't convert 1st & goal on the 2. If you can't do those things when it matters most, then you shouldn't argue that you were robbed, because you weren't worthy of the National Championship.
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January 3, 2003 was a Friday. Environmental activist Greta Thunberg and got-away-with-it-racist-murderer Kyle Rittenhouse were born.
Baseball was out of season. The NFL was between the end of its regular season and the start of its Playoffs. There were 9 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Indiana Pacers, 98-96 at Madison Square Garden.
* The New Jersey Nets beat the Miami Heat, 100-80 at the American Airlines Arena in Miami.
* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Boston Celtics, 108-103 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.
* The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 116-111 at the Pyramid Arena in Memphis. Corey Magette scored 34 points in defeat for the Clips.
* The New Orleans Hornets beat the Orlando Magic, 100-89 at the New Orleans Arena (now the Smoothie King Center). Tracy McGrady scored 40 points in defeat for the Magic.
* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Toronto Raptors, 81-80 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.
* The Utah Jazz beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 118-115 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.
* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Golden State Warriors, 98-95 at the SBC Center (now the Frost Bank Center) in San Antonio. Tim Duncan of the Spurs and Antawn Jamison of the Warriors each scored 37 points.
* And the Denver Nuggets beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 94-82 at the KeyArena in Seattle.
And there were 7 games in the NHL:
* The New York Islanders beat the Boston Bruins, 8-4 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The New Jersey Devils beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-0 at the Continental Airlines Arena at the Meadowlands.
* The Washington Capitals and the Columbus Blue Jackets played to a tie, 2-2 at the MCI Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.
* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Atlanta Thrashers, 4-1 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 6-3 at the HSBC Arena (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo.
* The Phoenix Coyotes beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-1 at the Joe Louise Arena in Detroit.
* And the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 1-0 at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim (now the Honda Center).
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