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PHOTO GALLERY |
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PHOTO GALLERY |
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Oregon State senior wide receiver CHAD JOHNSON adorns the cover of Sports Illustrated after the #8 Beavers defeated the #5 Ducks 23-13 to cap a Pac-10 championship season and solidify a BCS spot. Johnson scored OSU's first touchdown in the Fiesta Bowl on a simple out pattern and long sprint past the Notre Dame sideline covering a total of 74 yards. Replays showed that as Johnson neared the end zone unmolested, he casually dropped the football to the ground (as though he had scored) a stride or two before actually crossing the goal line! The blunder should have been ruled a fumble, but apparently none of the referees or any of Notre Dame's coaches realized the situation. Johnson was a second-round steal by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2001 NFL draft. Not only has Johnson become recognized as one of the league's very best pass catchers, his pre-game verbal barbs and goofy end zone antics provide comedic fodder for sports media and fans. • The HOLIDAY INN at Rural Road and Apache Boulevard is adjacent to the ASU campus. Many of its room doors are affixed with small plaques which name various celebrities—from movie stars and entertainers to politicians and pro athletes—who have stayed at the hotel over the years. The walk to Sun Devil Stadium is direct and fairly short. Mill Avenue, lined with shops and restaurants, is just a slight detour. Ironically, the Holiday Inn's cozy sports lounge is named "Ducks." The Vine, a popular watering hole and burger joint, is directly across the street. Alas! During the fall of 2007, the hotel property underwent sale and remodeling, including a franchise name change. • The FIESTA BOWL BLOCK PARTY was listed by USA Today as one of the top ten places in the United States to welcome in the New Year. The partying along Mill Avenue spilled over to nearby Beach Park, where in 2000 Hootie and the Blowfish performed. As it turned out, Oregon State football fans celebrated in Tempe two consecutive nights. The headache suffered by many Notre Dame fans when they awoke on January 1 of 2001 was distinctly different than the headache felt as they tried to fall asleep that night! |
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Arizona State's SUN DEVIL STADIUM hosted the Fiesta Bowl since its 1971 inaugural game until 2007. The current title sponsor (dating back to 1996) is Tostitos tortilla chips, produced by Frito-Lay. The Fiesta Bowl became aligned with the Bowl Championship Series in 1999. Oregon State's 2001 Fiesta Bowl pounding of Notre Dame remains the last OSU victory in this Pac-10 stadium. In 2004, the Beavers bested Notre Dame again in the post-season (the Insight Bowl played at America West Arena) meaning that since the magical 2000 season, the Beavers have logged more wins in Phoenix/Tempe against Notre Dame—from South Bend, Indiana, over 1500 miles away—than ASU! Go figure. In 2007, the Fiesta Bowl's 35-year relationship with the City of Tempe dissolved when officials decided to relocate the game to nearby Glendale. • These ardent OREGON STATE FANS arrived at Sun Devil Stadium after enjoying food and beverage amidst other OSU tailgaters along Mill Avenue. They swapped "Go Beavs!" salutations with some orange-clad fans and wry looks with other fans donned in green and blue. The guy is a graduate of Oregon State who remembers lots of rainy Saturday afternoons sitting in rickety Parker Stadium trying desperately to remain excited about a football team trailing by four touchdowns at halftime. The gorgeous gal is a Kansas Jayhawk (via graduation ceremony) during the winter months but an Oregon State Beaver (via marriage ceremony) in the fall. • The official attendance of the 2001 FIESTA BOWL was 75,428. Sun Devil Stadium's stated capacity is 73,379. (Over the years, only one Fiesta Bowl failed to sell out.) The Beavers entered the contest favored by three over a 9-2 Notre Dame team thought to be on the rise. Both Irish losses came in September by a total of nine points. From the opening kickoff, it became increasingly evident that Oregon State fielded the superior personnel. OSU's slim halftime lead (12-3) was actually more solid than the numbers indicate. The overall athleticism and team quickness of the Beavers so completely dominated the third quarter that most of the fourth quarter was mop-up by OSU non-starters. |
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GOD BLESS AMERICA! • OSU's stalwart offensive line provided ample time for junior quarterback JONATHAN SMITH to connect often with any one of several outstanding receivers. Smith completed 16 of 24 pass attempts for 305 total yards, including three touchdown tosses. He threw no interceptions and was sacked just three times. Smith's efforts garnered him Offensive Player of the Game honors. After his senior year, Smith stayed with the Beavers as a graduate assistant coach before being hired full-time at Idaho, where in 2006 he was reunited with his OSU Fiesta Bowl head coach Dennis Erickson. • Oregon State senior wide receiver T.J. HOUSHMANDZADEH hauled in a 23-yard touchdown pass early in the third quarter of the Fiesta Bowl to expand OSU's halftime advantage to double digits. He finished the day with six grabs for a total of 74 yards. Houshmandzadeh and OSU partner Chad Johnson were both picked in the 2001 NFL draft by the Cincinnati Bengals and soon developed into the league's biggest receiver tandem threat. In 2006, a popular television commercial mocked the difficulty many people experience attempting to correctly pronounce Houshmandzadeh's name. The ad's clever "punchline" comes when someone refers to Houshmandzadeh as "T.J. Who's Your Mama?" |
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GO BEAVS! • During Oregon State's relentless third quarter scoring barrage, speedy T.J. Houshmandzadeh returned a punt 19 yards, then fumbled near midfield, where teammate TERRELL ROBERTS scooped up the loose ball and scampered the remaining 45 yards to score the second of OSU's three touchdowns during the quarter. Sometimes when it rains, it pours, and on this day the Irish were being soaked in the Valley of the Sun by a heavy downpour out of the Willamette Valley! • The rabid BEAVER CROWD reacts to OSU's explosive third quarter during which the Beavers scored 29 points and blanked Notre Dame. The "Where's Rudy Now" sign refers to Daniel Ruettiger, a walk-on at Notre Dame during the early 1970s and subject of the 1993 movie Rudy whose situation transformed him into an inspiration in Irish football lore. Oregon State's scoring bombardment left no question about the outcome of the Fiesta Bowl. As the fourth quarter wore on, a steady flow of disgruntled Notre Dame fans could be seen filing out of the stands like rats scurrying from a sinking ship. |
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Oregon State's offensive line opens another hole for junior running back KEN SIMONTON. Simonton rushed for 85 yards on 18 carries, including a four-yard touchdown scamper in the third quarter that effectively sealed the Fiesta Bowl win for the Beavers. A year later, the All-American finished his college career as OSU's all-time leader in rushing yards and scoring. Unfortunately, Simonton missed, by only 29 yards, becoming the first-ever Pac-10 running back (and just the sixth in NCAA history) to gain 1000 yards in each of four seasons. He has had brief stops in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers, Buffalo Bills, and Detroit Lions. Simonton played pro ball in Europe and Canada, as well. • Drenched from the customary sideline baptism of Gatorade by his victorious players, a smiling DENNIS ERICKSON soaks up the pinnacle moment of his short time as head coach at OSU. After two more seasons, Erickson bolted for the NFL. His four campaigns at Oregon State produced a healthy 31-17 record (.646) and three bowl game appearances. Ironically, the only year that the Erickson-led Beavers did not qualify for a bowl game was 2001 when Oregon State was tabbed pre-season #1 by Sports Illustrated. Erickson's 2006 return to the college ranks—at Idaho, where his NCAA career started in 1982—was just in time for the Vandals' scheduled visit to Reser Stadium. The Beavers prevailed 38-0 on the way to another banner season (10-4 record and Sun Bowl victors under Mike Riley, Erickson's immediate predecessor and successor). After just one year back at Idaho, the rogue coach was lured away by Arizona State, his third Pac-10 head coaching job. • OREGON STATE FANS will always reflect with fond memories on the remarkable 2000 football season. The Beavers finished atop the Pac-10 Conference, 11-1 overall, and ranked #4 in the country. The schedule opened with a dubious two-point win over Division I-AA foe Eastern Washington and ended with a solid demolition of one of the most storied programs in collegiate gridiron annals. OSU suffered its only setback in Seattle 33-30 to the Washington Huskies, eventual conference co-champs. It was a storybook year for a school known just two decades earlier for its basketball prowess and football follies. For many Beaver fans, the 2000 football season (and Fiesta Bowl triumph) will be cherished on the same level as Ralph Miller's Orange Express teams of 1980-81 (26-0 and ranked #1 heading into the final week of play) & 1981-82 (reached the Elite Eight) and OSU baseball's College World Series back-to-back championships in 2006 & 2007. |
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