For Ohio State football fans, the arrival of the New Year's bowl season can't help but produce fear and loathing. After all, the Buckeyes not only got crushed in the past two BCS title games, but on Monday face a heavily favored Texas team many believe should be playing for the national championship. Which is why ESPN's "12 Bowls of Christmas" is the ideal holiday gift for the fragile psyches of Ohio State faithful everywhere.
ESPN readers voted on their top 12 college bowl games past and present and the network responded by offering extended highlight videos free on its web site. And mercifully, two glorious triumphs from Buckeye bowls past topped the list.
Coming in at #2 was Ohio State's stunning upset of Miami in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl (above). The Buckeyes won a double-overtime thriller 31-24 over a defending champion Hurricane team that had cruised to 34 straight victories. While the Ohio State defensive line dominated the contest, it took a critical fourth down conversion and a heaven-sent pass interference call in the end zone to help the Bucks tie the game at 24 after the first OT session. Still, it took a tenacious goal-line stand in the second overtime session to secure the Buckeyes' first national championship since 1968.

ESPN's eighth place finisher was another Buckeye heart-stopper, the come from behind victory over Arizona State in the 1997 Rose Bowl. Ohio State withstood a blocked field goal, a blocked PAT and the heroics of ASU quarterback Jake Plummer to eke out a 20-17 win and deny the previously undefeated Sun Devils a national title. (The late Pat Tillman also starred on that ASU team.) The Buckeyes' miraculous drive in the final two minutes, capped by a Joe Germaine to David Boston touchdown pass with seconds remaining, helped ease the pain of a bitter 13-9 loss to Michigan that cost Ohio State the number one ranking.
At the Fiesta Bowl on January 5th, Ohio State and Texas will play the rubber game of their three-set match. (In 2005, the Longhorns beat the Bucks in Columbus 25-22 on their way to a national championship. The following year, Ohio State got its revenge 24-7 in Austin.) But whatever happens Monday, thanks to ESPN's holiday gift, Ohio State die-hards will always have the 2003 Fiesta Bowl and 1997 Rose Bowl.