OHIO STATE Datish will make third trip to Fiesta Bowl

The Buckeyes offensive lineman from Howland has had a great year.
By ROB TODOR
VINDICATOR SPORTS EDITOR
When we last saw Ohio State offensive lineman Doug Datish, he was in the middle of a scarlet and gray euphoria on the floor of Michigan Stadium.
Moments earlier, Datish and the Buckeyes defeated their arch-rivals from the Big Ten, 25-21, ensuring a BCS bowl berth.
Since then, the Howland High graduate and junior offensive lineman has been forced to settle into a more mundane schedule.
Things like school work, including semester finals, and preparing for the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. Ohio State plays Notre Dame in the BCS bowl on Jan. 2 in Tempe, Ariz.
"It's a great matchup for sure," said Datish recently. "Probably everybody on our team was recruited by Notre Dame also."
Since the Michigan victory on Nov. 18 -- and the subsequent school work -- Datish said he's been watching a lot of film and going to team meetings.
"There's only so much film you can watch," said Datish, who was named to the All-Big Ten Academic team. "Mostly, I'm watching the guy [on the defensive line] that I'm going to play against."
Off to Arizona
The Buckeyes were scheduled to fly to Arizona today, where they will continue a week-of-game preparation schedule. That involves practice, more film study and more meetings.
"This is the third time in my career [going to the Fiesta Bowl]," said Datish, who added he's not disappointed about that.
"I like the warm weather. I really enjoyed being in Arizona the last few years and they [the bowl committee] really treat us great."
Datish (6-foot-5, 295 pounds) started 11 of 12 games in the 2004 season at guard, before starting all 11 games this season at left tackle. He was selected the team's offensive lineman of the game three times, following the wins over Michigan State, Illinois and Michigan.
"Personally, I thought I had a good year," Datish said, "but, as an offensive lineman, you can't really look at it as an individual thing.
"Offensive line play is a group thing. If the offense is doing well then the line play has something to do with that.
"I thought the 'O' line played a lot better than last year. We really came together the last half of the season. We became a very cohesive unit."
More than 400 yards per game
Ohio State finished the season averaging 404.6 yards per game in total offense, including 189.5 yards rushing per game and 215.1 yards passing. The Buckeyes were ranked fifth in the Big Ten in both rushing and scoring offense.
Over the last six games -- all wins -- Ohio State averaged 33.4 points per game and 446.5 yards per contest. In the fourth quarter of those six games, the Buckeyes outscored their opponents 68-10.
Perhaps the best performance by the offensive line, though, came in the final seven minutes of the victory over Michigan, when the Buckeyes rallied for two touchdowns after trailing by nine points.
Ohio State drove 69 yards in just five plays for the first score, needing only one minute. Then, after a Michigan punt, the Buckeyes drove 85 yards in 14 plays, scoring the go-ahead touchdown with just 24 seconds remaining.
The winning score was a 3-yard dash by Antonio Pittman over the left side -- Datish's side -- of the Buckeyes' line.
todor@vindy.com