COLUMBUS -- Unless the cops suddenly post speed limits inside the Alamodome, Ohio State wide receiver Santonio Holmes doesn't see how the Buckeyes can be stopped in the Dec. 29 Alamo Bowl.

Holmes likes the chances of an attack that has generated 676 yards in its last six quarters, matched against an Oklahoma State defense yielding an average of 396 yards -- 226 of that through the air.

"They're pretty suspect to the deep ball; I think a lot of guys can run past them," Holmes said of the showdown between 7-4 OSU teams in San Antonio. "Even with the quickness of their defensive backs, I think we can expose their secondary a lot."

Michigan had two first-team All-Americans in its secondary in safety Ernest Shazor and cornerback Marlin Jackson, but you would have never known it in Ohio State's 37-21 victory over the Wolverines in the regular-season finale.

Redshirt freshman Tony Gonzalez caught a 68-yard touchdown pass from Troy Smith less than two minutes into the game and Holmes put the game out of reach with a 12-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter as the Buckeyes sped past their stunned archrivals.

Between them, Gonzalez, Holmes and freshman Ted Ginn Jr. had 10 catches for 214 yards and two scores against the Big Ten co-champions.

It took almost the entire season for coach Jim Tressel to park the Yugo and pull the Corvette out of the garage, but don't look for him to take the foot off the pedal now even though Smith will sit out the Alamo Bowl for breaking team and NCAA rules.

Smith was 4-1 as a starter after taking over for an injured and ineffective Justin Zwick and, thanks to his mobility, had become the Buckeyes' most effective rusher.

The 6-4, 225-pound Zwick, his throwing shoulder healthy again, will start in place of Smith. He's less likely to turn a broken play into a big gain, but Zwick did throw for 1,020 yards and five touchdowns in his six starts and showed some running ability, with a long gain of 22 yards.

"Anytime you gain some yards and score some touchdowns, it gives you some confidence," Tressel said of OSU's late-season progress. "Philosophically, we always say that if the quarterback will step up and make things happen when nothing is there, it's a bonus. Justin did that early in the year in a couple of games."

It was the late-season emergence of Gonzalez that has given the Buckeyes a speedy complement to the equally speedy Holmes and enabled OSU to move Ginn around, making the 175-pound blur even more elusive.

It was in a 24-17 loss to Purdue - one week before the Michigan stunner -- that the Buckeyes began moving Ginn into a backfield set. It gave the defense something else to think about and helped result in 230 second-half yards.

The Boilermakers didn't stop the Buckeyes. The Buckeyes stopped the Buckeyes with Smith committing four turnovers after halftime.

"Purdue is when we really started clicking," said Gonzalez, who had a 38-yard catch in that game. "Up until then it seemed like we were rotating guys in, trying to find something. Maybe they felt they found something in me, I guess."

With Ginn returning four punts this season for touchdowns and Holmes leading the team with seven TD catches, it's easy to overlook Gonzalez. It doesn't help his cause that he's only about 5-9 (though listed at 6 foot), balding and devoid of muscle.

Nevertheless, Gonzalez is averaging 22.3 yards on his seven catches.

"I don't think I look very fast; I don't even look like an athlete," Gonzalez said. "Plus, everybody's so concerned with speed, maybe that's how I sneak up on people."

Holmes said Gonzalez isn't sneaky fast. He's fast, period.

"I'd give us a 97 (out of 100) overall for speed," Holmes said, speaking for Gonzalez and Ginn. "We've got pretty good defensive backs on this team and we run past them every day in practice. I don't think there are many defensive backs out there faster than ours."

Cornerback Ashton Youboty agreed with Holmes, while also sticking up for his teammates in the secondary.

"Overall, they're a fast group (of wideouts) and they might have their plays, but I think our receivers and DBs are pretty much even," Youboty said.

"We were running sprints (in a recent practice) and one of the last ones was a full sprint. When I looked to my left and right there were Ted and Tony right next to me."

It's the other OSU defensive backs, the ones wearing orange, who have to worry about keeping up.

"if I were defending our guys, I'd say don't get beat deep," Youboty said. "They run good routes; they're going to get open. You just have to eliminate big plays."

Originally published Wednesday, December 22, 2004