It was a game that, technically, never existed.
Now, the Ohio State and Arkansas teams that met in the January 2011 Sugar Bowl are tied together in infamy.
It was the Ohio State tattoo and memorabilia scandal a year ago at this time that ultimately cost Jim Tressel his job and led to Ohio State's win in that Sugar Bowl being vacated by the NCAA. Now, Arkansas has fired coach Bobby Petrino for lying about an inappropriate relationship with a woman he hired on staff.
Taking over as interim head coach at Arkansas is Taver Johnson, a Tressel assistant at Ohio State who was actually hired on Urban Meyer's new staff as cornerbacks coach in January before leaving to become assistant head coach and linebackers coach at Arkansas.
Johnson's most direct tie to the Arkansas staff is new defensive coordinator Paul Haynes, who spent the past seven seasons at Ohio State and was the co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach under Luke Fickell last season. Haynes was the first assistant to depart Columbus last December before Meyer officially took over. Haynes' tie to Petrino came from one year they spent together on the staff of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Johnson spent five seasons as an assistant at Ohio State following one year (2004) as an assistant with the Cleveland Browns and another as the assistant head coach at Miami of Ohio. He's a native of Cincinnati and a graduate of Wittenberg University, where he also coached in the late 90's.
Tressel was forced out at Ohio State last May. It was announced before that Sugar Bowl that five Ohio State players were suspended for selling memorabilia, but all five suspensions were pushed back to 2011 and those players were allowed to play in that game. It turned out to be the final college game for then-Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor.
In another bizarre tie between the Sugar Bowl teams and stories, Paul Petrino, Bobby Petrino's brother, remains on staff as an assistant coach at Arkansas. Dick Tressel, Jim's brother, remained on Ohio State's staff last season.
