Buckeyes get heart-stopping, last-minute win at Purdue

Ohio State's thrilling yet chilling game of "Beat The Clock" stopped hearts but kept the pulse of a perfect football season thumping as the Buckeyes escaped Ross-Ade Stadium with a 10-6 victory Saturday.

With no timeouts remaining, OSU rushed its field goal unit onto the field for Mike Nugent's game-tying 22-yard field goal as time expired in the first half. And the Buckeyes were racing the clock again when Krenzel delivered the game-winning 37-yard touchdown pass to Michael Jenkins with 1:36 remaining.

That Ohio State opted not to burn one of its two remaining timeouts on that decisive fourth-and-one call simply added to the suspense.

"We called the play at the line of scrimmage," Krenzel said. "No one was thinking about our season hanging on one play."

So focused was tight end Ben Hartsock on the task at hand that he didn't even realize the third-ranked Buckeyes (11-0, 6-0 in the Big Ten) had no margin for error.

"It was fourth down, wasn't it?" Hartsock said, incredulously. "Looking back, that is the play of the year right now. Looking back, I'm glad we didn't (call a timeout) because then maybe we start thinking, 'OK, this is it.'

"We just went out, called the play and it worked. If you do take a timeout there, you might seize up."

Krenzel had three options on the play. The first was Hartsock running an underneath pattern over the middle. Chris Gamble ran a 15-yard dig route down the right side and Jenkins adjusted his post route, turning outside toward the left sideline when pressed by cornerback Antwaun Rogers of Middletown, Ohio.

"My read was if Ben was open to get him the ball for the first down," Krenzel said. "I couldn't hit him today to save my life. Thank God he wasn't open.

"I think they thought maybe we'd run the ball since it was fourth-and-one, so they went straight man-to-man, with no deep safety. They brought the blitz off the edge, but the line did a great job of picking it up and Mike ran a great route. He got a step on his man and I just got him the ball."

The late-game heroics masked an otherwise awful performance by the Ohio State offense. Krenzel fumbled twice (both recovered by the Buckeyes), and his first quarter interception on a deflected pass led to a 21-yard field goal and 3-0 lead by the Boilermakers.

Purdue (4-6, 2-4) outgained Ohio State 341-267 in total yardage, holding the Buckeyes to 101 yards in the second half. The running game got nowhere, especially after freshman tailback Maurice Clarett (52 yards, 14 carries) aggravated his left shoulder stinger and left the game for good in the third period.

It was Ohio State's lowest scoring output since the 13-6 loss to UCLA in the Rose Bowl in last season's second game. The last time the Buckeyes scored as few as 10 points in a winning cause was in 1987, when they lost by the identical score at Illinois.

"This may or may not be hard to believe, but the game played out exactly as we had hoped," Purdue coach Joe Tiller said. "Ohio State has the best defense in the Big Ten and one of the best in the nation, so we just wanted to be in position to win the game in the fourth quarter.

"We just didn't get the key stop on a fourth down play and then didn't operate the two-minute offense. Those two things were the deciding factor in the game."

A 58-yard pass from relief quarterback Brandon Kirsch to Ray Williams led to a 32-yard field goal by Berin Lacevic, giving Purdue a 6-3 lead with 7:50 to play. Those were the first second-half points surrendered by the Buckeyes in five games.

But with the clock starting to work against OSU, Purdue punter Brent Slaton made the critical mistake of outkicking his coverage. Chris Gamble returned Slaton's 57-yard punt 22 yards to set up the Buckeyes' winning TD drive and the two-way starter then sealed Purdue's fate by intercepting a deep pass from starting quarterback Kyle Orton at the OSU 11 with 45 seconds left.

"Our guys wouldn't fold; they kept slugging away," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said. "We always talk about if you keep banging away, something good is going to happen."

Asked how he would rate Saturday's dramatic victory, Tressel deadpanned, "It's the best win of the day."

Originally published Sunday, November 10, 2002