Buckeyes survive landmine vs. Cincinnati

CINCINNATI -- Ohio State tight end Ben Hartsock knew Saturday's game with 17-point underdog Cincinnati had a chance of blowing up in the Buckeyes' faces.

Never mind the cautionary words he probably heard over and over again from his coaches during the week. The message came through loud and clear over a college football Web site.

"One of them called it one of the non-conference 'landmine' games of the year," said Hartsock, a look of relief on his face after sixth-ranked OSU survived a 23-19 scare from their fiesty hosts.

"People who know football knew this was a dangerous game for us. They knew that everybody in Cincinnati has had this game circled on the calendar for a long time."

It had been even longer since Ohio State last played an in-state road game vs. an Ohio opponent (1934) and longer than that since the Buckeyes had lost to an Ohio opponent (1921, 7-6 to Oberlin).

But it wasn't until nickel back Will Allen's interception in the end zone, on a tipped fourth-down pass by middle linebacker Matt Wilhelm, that the Buckeyes sealed the victory with 26 seconds left before a city-record crowd of 66,319 in Paul Brown Stadium.

"I was nervous," said Wilhelm, who fell after deflecting the pass, "because a tipped ball is almost like a Hail Mary. But I looked over my shoulder and saw Will make a basket catch."

Playing without freshman sensation Maurice Clarett, the Buckeyes (4-0) beat Cincinnati (1-2) at its own game, scoring nine unanswered points to prove the Cardiac Cats don't have a patent on fourth-quarter comebacks.

The karma appeared bad most of the afternoon for the Buckeyes. They came back from a 12-7 halftime deficit to take the lead, only to fall behind 19-14 on a three-yard TD catch by Tye Keith with 2:36 left in the third quarter.

With a chance to take the lead early in the fourth quarter, the Buckeyes were penalized for having 12 men on the field on fourth-and-goal from the 2 and had to settle for a 24-yard field goal from Mike Nugent.

That seemed to be playing into the hands of UC's sophomore quarterback Gino Guidugli. Normally he does his best work late, having already engineered four comeback victories in his short career with the Bearcats.

This time, the hero's cape was worn by counterpart Craig Krenzel. While Guidugli threw two interceptions and fumbled once in the final period, Krenzel scored the game-winner with 3:44 to play on a spinning, six-yard run through three defenders that had CLARETT written all over it.

Defensive end Darrion Scott made Krenzel's tremendous run possible by separating Guidugli from the ball on a blind-side sack. Tackle David Thompson recovered the ball at the UC 47.

"We were hoping they'd cover Michael Jenkins man-to-man and we could beat them on a slant route," Krenzel said of the aborted pass play on second-and-goal. "But I decided at that point to break out of the pocket and make something happen."

Coach Jim Tressel was glad it wasn't something bad.

"It was an excellent effort by Craig, and the best thing about the play is that he didn't try to force (the ball) to someone that wasn't open," Tressel said. "A turnover would have really hurt us there."

Krenzel's TD run capped a performance that saw him negate two first-half interceptions with a pair of second-half TD passes to Hartsock and flanker Chris Vance. Krenzel also scampered 29 yards to the 6 to set up Nugent's field goal, while Lydell Ross rushed for 130 yards on 23 carries in Clarett's absence.

"Any hard-fought victory is a good one," Tressel said. "I'd rather learn lessons that way than after hard-fought losses."

For the second week in a row, the Buckeyes trailed at halftime. They fell behind 9-0 and then 12-7 at the break, and it could have been much worse.

OSU committed three turnovers (two interceptions and a fumble) and also had a 96-yard kickoff return by Chris Gamble negated by a holding penalty -- all before the intermission.

The interceptions, both by cornerback Blue Adams, gave UC possession at the UC 45 and the OSU 38, but the Bearcats failed to capitalize on either opportunity.

They also came up empty on a fumble by Maurice Hall at the OSU 37 and settled for a 44-yard field goal by Jonathan Ruffin after a 46-yard burst by tailback DeMarco McClesky had given them a first down at the OSU 18.

But Ohio State wasted field position as well. The Buckeyes did nothing after Hall returned the opening kickoff 45 yards and then looked helpless as UC took the ensuing punt and drove 80 yards in nine plays for a 7-0 lead.

Guidugli completed passes on the first five plays of the drive and then hit Keith for 36 yards to the 1, setting up McClesky's TD on an option pitch. Ruffin missed the PAT, breaking his streak of 65 in a row, but his 44-yard field goal made it 9-0 with 6:24 left in the first quarter.

OSU cut the deficit to 9-7 when Krenzel lobbed a 20-yard pass over the middle to wide-open tight end Ben Hartsock, but the Bearcats answered with a 49-yard field goal by Ruffin for their halftime cushion.

"We take no solace in losing," UC coach Rick Minter said. "We had a chance to win and didn't. You never, ever want to be satisfied with losing."

Originally published Sunday, September 22, 2002