2016 Fiesta Bowl (January)

2016 BattleFrog Fiesta Bowl
CFP New Year’s Six 45th Fiesta Bowl
Notre Dame Fighting Irish Ohio State Buckeyes (10–2) (11–1) Independent Big Ten 28 44 Head coach:  Brian Kelly Head coach:  Urban Meyer AP Coaches CFP 8 9 8 AP Coaches CFP 7 5 7
1 2 3 4 Total Notre Dame 0 14 7 7 28 Ohio State 14 14 7 9 44
Date	January 1, 2016
Season	2015
Stadium	University of Phoenix Stadium
Location	Glendale, Arizona
MVP	J. T. Barrett & Eli Apple
Favorite	Ohio State by 3.5
Referee	Hubert Owens (SEC) [1]
Halftime show	OSU & ND Bands
Attendance	71,123[1]
Payout	US$24 million (2014)[2]
United States TV coverage
Network	ESPN, ESPN Deportes
Announcers	Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman, & Todd McShay (ESPN) Adam Amin, Kelly Stouffer, & Olivia Harlan (ESPN Radio)

The 2016 Fiesta Bowl was a college football bowl game that was played on January 1, 2016 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The 44th Fiesta Bowl was one of the New Year's Bowls. It was one of the 2015–16 bowl games that concluded the 2015 FBS football season.

The game was televised on ESPN and ESPN Deportes, and broadcast on ESPN Radio and XM Satellite Radio, with the kickoff time set for 1:00 p.m. ET (11 a.m. MT). Sponsored by obstacle racing series BattleFrog, it was officially known as the BattleFrog Fiesta Bowl.^[3]

Coincidentally, it took place 10 years after the 2006 Fiesta Bowl, that was also played by Ohio State and Notre Dame. That was also the last time Notre Dame participated in the Fiesta Bowl.

Ohio State wound up beating Notre Dame, 44–28.

Teams

The participants for the game were determined by the College Football Playoff selection committee, and consisted of at-large selections and/or the highest ranked team from the "Group of Five" conferences. The two participants were the #8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10–2) vs. the #7 Ohio State Buckeyes (11–1).

Game summary

Scoring summary

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP ND OSU 1 9:53 9 80 3:01 OSU Ezekiel Elliott 2-yard touchdown run, Sean Nuernberger kick good 0 7 1 7:41 3 43 0:45 OSU Michael Thomas 15-yard touchdown reception from J. T. Barrett, Sean Nuernberger kick good 0 14 2 7:34 13 70 5:38 ND Josh Adams 3-yard touchdown run, Justin Yoon kick good 7 14 2 9:53 11 62 2:39 OSU Ezekiel Elliott 1-yard touchdown run, Sean Nuernberger kick good 7 21 2 1:48 6 63 2:04 OSU Ezekiel Elliott 1-yard touchdown run, Sean Nuernberger kick good 7 28 2 0:29 9 75 1:19 ND DeShone Kizer 1-yard touchdown run, Justin Yoon kick good 14 28 3 8:58 7 58 2:54 ND Chris Brown 4-yard touchdown reception from DeShone Kizer, Justin Yoon kick good 21 28 3 6:37 6 75 2:21 OSU Ezekiel Elliott 47-yard touchdown run, Sean Nuernberger kick good 21 35 4 12:10 10 44 4:14 OSU 37-yard field goal by Sean Nuernberger 21 38 4 11:27 2 83 0:43 ND Will Fuller 81-yard touchdown reception from DeShone Kizer, Justin Yoon kick good 28 38 4 6:09 13 42 5:18 OSU 38-yard field goal by Sean Nuernberger 28 41 4 2:42 4 5 1:36 OSU 35-yard field goal by Sean Nuernberger 28 44 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 28 44

Source:^[1]

Statistics

Statistics[1]	ND	OSU
First Downs	24	27
Total offense, plays – yards	70–405	85–496
Rushes-yards (net)	32–121	54–285
Passing yards (net)	284	211
Passes, Comp-Att-Int	22–38–1	19–31–1
Time of Possession	27:15	32:45

References

1. "2015 Fiesta Bowl: Notre Dame vs. Ohio State Stats". Stat Broadcast. Retrieved January 1, 2016.
2. "American dream: UCF, others eye unlikely, unprecedented BCS berth - CBSSports.com". Archived from the original on December 11, 2015. Retrieved November 27, 2015.
3. "BattleFrog Announced as Title Sponsor of 45th Annual Fiesta Bowl". Fiesta Bowl.