Nugent ends career with more records

How could you possibly measure up to a guy who won the Groza Award this season as the nation's best kicker, became a two-time first-team All-American and set 21 school records in his career?

The latest two marks came in Wednesday night's 33-7 Alamo Bowl victory over Oklahoma State when Nugent kicked four field goals and three PATs for 15 points. He overtook Dan Stultz as the all-time point producer among Ohio State kickers and then passed fullback Pete Johnson as the school's all-time leading scorer.

Nugent, who finishes his career with 356 points, topped Stultz (342 points) with a 37-yard field goal in the first quarter and then eclipsed Johnson's 28-year-old record (348) with an extra point after Lydell Ross' one-yard run gave the Buckeyes a 20-0 lead with 10:26 left in the second quarter.

Even though Nugent has set the bar at a stratospheric level, that hasn't deterred fellow kicker Josh Huston from petitioning the NCAA for a sixth year. It's usually granted to players who can prove a significant medical problem kept them out one season.

Injuries sidelined Huston for two seasons, but if things work in his favor the Findlay native who arrived at OSU one year before Nugent will be leaving one year after the two-time All-American and possibly filling his shoes.

Huston has been around so long he can remember when his holder (in high school) was Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. He expects a decision from the NCAA sometime in February.

"I don't want to make it tough on any future players here," Nugent said. "Maybe (my successor) will say, `He did a good job. Hopefully, I can say that about my career.' "

That was Nugent's mindset as successor to Stultz.

"I kind of thought about Dan Stultz and the incredible job he did before I got to start playing," Nugent said. "I thought to myself, if I can have a career anything like Dan's, it will be a success. I looked at following him as a good thing."

FINAL BOW: Beating Oklahoma State made this year's senior class only the second in school history to finish with three bowl victories and three wins over Michigan. The seniors on the 1984 squad were the first to do it.

"I heard David Pollock (Georgia defensive end) say on the ESPN awards show `I'm not going to cry because it's over. I'm going to smile because it happened.' You can't put any better words on it than that," said fifth-year fullback Branden Joe, whose class finished with a 48-15 record, including the 2002 national championship and consecutive BCS bowl victories at the 2003 and 2004 Fiesta Bowl.

SPLIT ALLEGIANCE: The Alamo Bowl carried special significance for Ohio State wide receiver Tony Gonzalez and his family. Gonzalez' brother Joe, a former Indiana University star, is a graduate assistant at Oklahoma State. Their father, Eduardo Gonzalez, is a long-time friend of Cowboys head coach Les Miles. The elder Gonzalez and Miles were college roommates and teammates at Michigan during the 1970s.

Tony Gonzalez set Wednesday's victory in motion with a 23-yard scoring reception on Ohio State's opening drive.

RECORD ATTENDANCE: The sellout crowd of 65,265 was the largest in Alamo Bowl history for a game not involving a school from Texas. Temporary seating was erected and standing-room-only tickets were sold. It was the fourth sellout and second biggest turnout in the game's 12-year history, topped only by the 65,380 that attended Penn State's 24-0 win over Texas A&M. The smallest was in 1994, when Washington State beat Baylor 10-3 in front of 44,106.

Originally published Thursday, December 30, 2004