Buckeyes, Irish meet in bowl game

It will be Ohio State third appearance in four years in Tempe, Ariz.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- For the third time in four years, Ohio State has a date in the desert.
The Buckeyes (9-2) accepted an invitation Sunday to meet Notre Dame in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, also their bowl destination in the championship year of 2002 and again in 2003.
"The main thing about it is we're going to feel comfortable out there," safety Nate Salley said. "It's almost like our second home and that's an advantage for us."
Game set Jan. 2
The battle against the Fighting Irish (9-2) will take place at 5 p.m. Jan. 2 at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz.
It's a dream matchup in many ways, pitting two teams on a roll who could easily have been playing in the national championship game had a play or two gone their way.
Ohio State has won its last six games, thanks to a defense led by linebacker A.J. Hawk and a versatile offense featuring quarterback Troy Smith and tailback Antonio Pittman.
Turns Irish around
Notre Dame is one of the biggest surprises in college football in Charlie Weis' first year as coach, making a dramatic turnaround from last year's 6-5 record. The Fighting Irish came into this season 11-16 in their previous 27 games.
"He's done a tremendous job," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said of Weis. "Charlie and his staff have come in and taken them to the next level."
Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith was on the Fiesta Bowl board when he was the AD at Arizona State. He said he was in steady contact with seven or eight people currently on the board to lobby for the Buckeyes.
"I'm a life member of the Fiesta Bowl board," Smith said. "Unfortunately for them -- or fortunately for me -- I had all their cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses and I was working them pretty hard last week."
Fifth meeting
This will be the fifth time the Fighting Irish and Buckeyes have met, the first time at a neutral site or in a bowl.
Notre Dame won the first two meetings, 18-13 in 1935 in what many historians have referred to as one of the greatest college games ever. The Fighting Irish also won a year later, 7-2.
After a 60-year gap, the teams met again in back-to-back years in 1995-96, with Ohio State taking both games, by scores of 45-26 and 29-16.
The Fighting Irish and Buckeyes share many similarities. One of the biggest is that, although neither team beat any elite teams this season -- neither has a win over a team currently ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 -- both came close to perfection.
Notre Dame's only losses came to then-unbeaten Michigan State, 44-41 in overtime on Sept. 17, and to No. 1-ranked and two-time defending national champion USC, 34-31 on Oct. 15. The Trojans' Matt Leinart sneaked across from a yard out on the game's final play.
Ohio State lost 25-22 to No. 2 Texas on Sept. 10 and then dropped a 17-10 decision at Penn State on Oct. 8. The Buckeyes ended up tying the Nittany Lions for the Big Ten title, but Penn State earned the conference's automatic BCS berth by virtue of winning the head-to-head battle and having a better overall record and BCS ranking.
The Fighting Irish are led by a quarterback who grew up not far from Ohio Stadium. Brady Quinn, expected to be among the top five in the Heisman Trophy balloting later this week, is from suburban Dublin. The 6-foot-4 junior has completed 65 percent of his passes this season for 32 touchdowns with only seven interceptions.