Tempe, Ariz ? Troy Smith outplayed Brady Quinn, and Jim Tressel outfoxed Charlie Weis.

Fourth-ranked Ohio State jumped on No. 5 Notre Dame with big play after big play Monday night in a 34-20 Fiesta romp, sending the Irish to their eighth consecutive bowl defeat.

“I been hearing a lot about how are you guys going to beat a Notre Dame team when you give Charlie Weis four weeks to prepare for it,” Buckeyes senior linebacker A.J. Hawk said. “That kind of upset me, because I thought, ‘What about giving coach Tressel four weeks to prepare for you?'”

So make it four straight bowl victories for the Buckeyes, three of them at the Fiesta.

Suspended from last year’s Alamo Bowl for taking $500 from a booster, Smith earned a measure of redemption with an offensive-MVP performance, hooking up on a pair of long touchdown passes.

Santonio Holmes set a Fiesta Bowl record with an 85-yard TD catch, then said he was forgoing his senior season to enter the NFL draft. Ted Ginn scored on a 68-yard end-around and caught a 56-yard touchdown pass for the Buckeyes (10-2).

Darius Walker scored all three touchdowns for Notre Dame (9-3). The Irish fell to 13-14 overall in bowls, a disappointing end for Weis in his first year as their coach.

Smith also sat out this year’s opener, but has improved steadily since then. He completed 19 of 28 passes for a career-high 342 yards and ran for 66 in 13 attempts.

“As you watched Troy throughout his career, every day in practice, he learns a little something and gets better, and he learns from every ball game,” Tressel said. “He’s very passionate about being a great quarterback, and each day he’s taking a step closer to it.”

The junior from Cleveland capped his performance with a pair of third-and-long completions on the Buckeyes’ final scoring drive. Antonio Pittman, who rushed for 136 yards in 21 carries, broke free on a 60-yard touchdown run to seal the victory with 1:46 to play.

Forget the stereotype of plodding but powerful Ohio State; the Buckeyes won with sheer speed.

Ohio State had a Fiesta Bowl-record 27 first downs. The Buckeyes’ 617 yards were third-most in the bowl’s 35-year history.