2002 OSU Football Season In Review

Game 1 (home) OSU 45 Texas Tech 21
TB Maurice Clarett, the 2001 National High School Offensive Player Of The Year, scored three touchdowns (59, 45 and 2 yards) and ran for 175 yards on 21 carries in his sensational Buckeye football debut. The Bucks, as a team, rushed for 318 yards.

Seniors Mike Doss and Matt Wilhelm did their share in the dominating victory over the pass-happy Red Raiders with a combined 19 tackles.

QB Craig Krenzel, starting in only his third collegiate game, was very efficient in completing 11 of 14 passes for 118 yards and no interceptions.

Game 2 (home) OSU 51 Kent State 17
This one was over early with the Buckeyes racing out to a 38-0 advantage midway through the second quarter and cruising the rest of the way in the blowout victory over their in-state opponent from NE Ohio and the MAC.

Defense set the tone for the easy win with two INTs returned for scores. Safety Mike Doss returned a Josh Cribbs pass 45 yards for a TD in the first quarter and freshman LB A.J. Hawk returned another Cribbs pass 34 yards for another touchdown in the second quarter.

Game 3 (home) OSU 25 Washington State 7
Trailing 7-6 at halftime, Ohio State responded in a big way, outscoring the Cougars 19-0 in the second half. The win was Ohio State's first over a top-10 team (WSU was ranked 10th at the time) since the 1999 Sugar Bowl victory over Texas A&M.

TB Maurice Clarett stole the show with one of the best halves by a RB in OSU football history, as he ran for 194 yards in the second half and 230 on 31 carries and two TDs (3 and one yards) for the game.

Superb sophomore placekicker Mike Nugent kicked three field goals, all from 40+ yards (43, 43 and 45).

The Buckeye defense held the high-scoring WSU offense (40 points a game) to just 74 yards after intermission.

Game 4 (away) Ohio State 23 Cincinnati 19
OSU ran its record to 4-0 with a tight victory over the Cincinnati Bearcats at Paul Brown Stadium (home of the Cincinnati Bengals of the NFL) in the first Ohio State road game in the state of Ohio since 1934.

The Bearcats lead most of the contest until a Craig Krenzel touchdown on a six yard run put OSU up to stay, 23-19, late in the 4th quarter.

Cincinnati had one last drive in them and were driving with under a minute to play when Buckeye DB Will Allen intercepted a 4th down Gino Guidugli pass in the end zone with 26 seconds left, a ball that was tipped by LB Matt Wilhelm that helped the Bucks survive a huge scare from the talented Bearcats (Conference USA). UC was trying to become the first Ohio school to beat the Buckeyes on the gridiron since 1921.

With freshman star TB Maurice Clarett unavailable due to knee surgery, sophomore TB Lydell Ross made his first collegiate start and responded well with a career high 130 yards on 23 carries.

Game 5 (home) OSU 45 Indiana 17
Ohio State's outstanding freshman TB Maurice Clarett returned after sitting out the UC game and responded with 104 yards on 21 carries and three touchdowns (2, 1 and 4 yards).

The key play in this contest was a 43 yard TD run by Chris Gamble on a wide receiver reverse in the third quarter when OSU's lead was just 21-10. After Gamble's touchdown, the Bucks cruised the rest of the way.

Game 6 (away) OSU 27 Northwestern 16
Ohio State's second road game in the past three weeks almost again proved too much to handle. Maurice Clarett struggled holding on to the pigskin, as he lost three fumbles on the night that kept the Wildcats in the game, but he made up for putting the ball on the ground by rushing for 140 yards on 29 carries and two scores (2 and 20 yards).

With the excellent field position the Wildcats had in the first half (two of the three Clarett fumbles were deep into OSU's territory in the first half), the Buckeye defense rose to the occasion and held NW to three FGs in a 14-9 lead at the half.
Clarett's last fumble, late in the 4th quarter, gave the ball-stripping 'Cats one last shot on offense for QB Brett Basanez and company. That last-gasp effort came up short when LB Cie Grant intercepted a Basanez pass to put the nail in the coffin in a hard-fought, 27-16 victory.

Game 7 (home) OSU 50 San Jose State 7 (Homecoming)
Just when the Spartans looked like they were going to cut Ohio State's lead to three in the second quarter, LB Cie Grant blitzed and just leveled QB Scott Rislov of SJSU who didn't see him coming, causing Rislov to fumble the football away to OSU's Mike Kudla, who scooped-up the loose pigskin and returned it 17 yards to get the OSU offense away from its own goal line. After that play, the rout was on. Eight plays later, Clarett scored on a five yard run to put the Bucks up 24-7, which was the score at halftime.

The Buckeyes scored on five of its first six possessions in the second half. The Ohio State defense forced four Spartan fumbles, recovering all four.

OSU PK Mike Nugent kicked three field goals (36, 29 and 28 yards). Maurice Clarett ran for 132 yards on 18 carries and scored three TDs on runs of one and five yards and took it to the house on a seven yard screen pass from QB Craig Krenzel. The OSU offense rolled to 567 yards total in this snoozer.

Game 8 (away) OSU 19 Wisconsin 14
Ohio State's third road game of the season was just like the previous two, a nail-biter down to the wire, as the second half of the season, and the toughest part of the schedule, started with this contest.

The Bucks, down 14-13 at halftime, rallied to a five point victory by shutting out the Badgers in the second half. Chris Gamble replaced CB E.J. Underwood in the second half and came up big with an interception in the end zone in the 4th quarter.

Other key plays that lifted Ohio State to the victory were: TE Ben Hartsock caught a three yard TD pass from Craig Krenzel with 9:59 to play for the game-winning score. On the game-winning drive, WR Michael Jenkins helped set-up the score with a leaping 45 yard grab from Krenzel in between two defenders, and Krenzel scrambled for 16 yards on 3rd and 2.

Maurice Clarett rushed for 133 yards on 30 carries; Jenkins had 114 yards on 5 receptions and a touchdown; Krenzel was 12 for 19 for 204 yards and no INTs; and DB Mike Doss had 14 tackles.

Game 9 (home) OSU 13 Penn State 7
Ohio State survived four turnovers and played almost the whole game without Maurice Clarett, who was sidelined with a shoulder stinger, an injury that started bothering him towards the end of the UW contest.

DB/WR Chris Gamble started the first game of his Buckeye career at cornerback and responded well playing both ways. He is OSU's first two-way player since Paul Warfield in the early 1960's. Gamble returned a Zack Mills pass for a TD in the 3rd quarter that put the Bucks in the lead for good at 10-7.

Clarett had only four carries for 39 yards, but still went over the 1,000 yard mark for the season with 1,019 yards. PK Mike Nugent made two 37 yard field goals to give him 19 consecutive successful attempts. Punter Andy Groom boomed a 59 yard punt late in the fourth quarter when the Buckeyes were backed up to their own six yard line.

Game 10 (home) OSU 34 Minnesota 3
The Bucks held one of the nation's top offenses to 112 total yards. The Golden Gophers came into this contest averaging over 270 yards a game on the ground. Minnesota was only able to gain 53 yards rushing on 36 attempts.

The Bucks, playing without injured star TB Maurice Clarett, struggled on offense for much of the first half. OSU sophomores Maurice Hall (14 carries for 93 yards and a TD) and Lydell Ross (20-89 and two scores) filled in admirably for M.C. and picked up the offense in the second half on the way to the blowout victory.

Defense and special teams won this contest for Ohio State. The Bucks held Minnesota to seven yards of total offense in the second half. OSU blocked one punt and tackled the punter on another. This game would be the last breather for the Bucks, as the next four games would go down as four of the closest and most exciting contests in Ohio State history on the road to the 2003 (2002 season) national title game victory.

Game 11 (away) OSU 10 Purdue 6
In a game that looked like an OSU loss on the road, where every game in Ohio State's 2002 season was a struggle, the Buckeyes prevailed in a game that will forever be known as "Holy Buckeye" and "The Catch".

On 4th down and one yard to go for the first down at the Purdue 37 yard line with 1:36 remaining in the game, Buckeye QB Craig Krenzel avoided a fierce Boilermaker pass rush and threw a perfect strike (a quick, high-lobbing pass over Purdue DB Antwaun Rogers) to WR Michael Jenkins for a touchdown in the play of the year for the 2002 Buckeye football season.

With under a minute to play and deep in his own territory, Purdue QB Kyle Orton threw a bomb that looked like it was going to be complete deep into OSU territory, but WR/DB Chris Gamble came out of nowhere to intercept the pass and seal the win in a hard-fought contest with the Boilers.

Maurice Clarett played a little more than one half of the game, but struggled as his shoulder problems continued. He left the game for good in the 2nd half with 14 carries for 52 yards, but stats were not what this contest was all about for Krenzel's offense. It was about finding a way to win in this tremendous defensive battle.

Game 12 (away) OSU 23 Illinois 16 (OT)
Illinois placekicker John Gockman tied the game at 16 with a 48 yard FG on the last play of regulation to force OSU to its first overtime game in the football program's history.

The Bucks got the ball first and on 3rd down and 10 at the 25 yard line, Craig Krenzel, as he's done all season, scrambled 14 yards to the 11 to keep the drive alive. Two plays later at the eight yard line, TB Maurice Hall ran eight yards for the go-ahead touchdown.

After the Fighting Illini got one first down to keep its drive alive, QB John Beutjer threw three consecutive incomplete passes on 2nd, 3rd and 4th down to the end zone with two catches in the end zone being ruled out-of-bounds on close calls, and the Bucks prevailed in its fifth game decided by one TD or less.

Injured star Maurice Clarett didn't play and PK Mike Nugent, although he made 3 out of 5 field goals, had his consecutive FGs made streak stopped at 24. Absolutely outstanding to make that many in a row without missing. Illini QB John Beutjer passed for 305 yards in the devastating defeat. OSU LB Matt Wilhelm had 12 tackles and a sack and was named Big 10 defensive player of the week.

Game 13 (home) OSU 14 Michigan 9
After trailing 9-7 for most of the 2nd half, the Bucks took the lead for good when Maurice Hall scored on a three yard run on an option play (one of the very few, if any, during the season) with 4:55 left in the game. Junior DB Will Allen intercepted UM QB John Navarre's pass on the last play of the game at the goal line to seal the victory and the trip to the Fiesta Bowl to play for the national championship.

TB Maurice Clarett didn't start, but played most of the game and responded with 119 yards on 20 carries and a touchdown. Michigan had 361 yards of total offense and controlled the clock for almost 35 minutes, but the OSU defense did not allow a touchdown and shut out the Wolverines in the 2nd half.

Game 14 (neutral) The 2003 Fiesta Bowl BCS National Championship Game, Jan. 3, 2003 in Tempe, Arizona. OSU 31 Miami 24 (2OT).
OSU shocked the college football world by defeating the defending national champions, the Miami Hurricanes, for the 2002 national championship in one of the biggest upsets in title game history. Ohio State, 13 point underdogs, took home their first national championship since 1968 with a heart-stopping, double overtime victory in a classic, one of the all-time great college football games.

QB Craig Krenzel was the game's offensive MVP after finishing as the game's leading rusher with 81 yards on 19 carries and two one yard TD runs, one in the first overtime, and one on 4th down late in the first half. He completed a 17 yard pass to WR Michael Jenkins, on 4th and 14, in the first OT. Four plays later, again on 4th down, Krenzel threw a pass to Chris Gamble that fell incomplete, in what appeared to be a Hurricane victory for the national championship, but there was a late flag for pass interference on Miami, keeping OSU's drive alive.

With the help of five Miami turnovers, Ohio State held a 17-14 lead late in regulation, but was forced to overtime when Hurricane PK Todd Sievers kicked a 40 yard field goal as time expired, much to the disappointed 50,000+ Buckeye fans out of the 77,502 announced attendance at Sun Devil Stadium.

After both teams scored a TD in the first OT, OSU got the ball to start the 2nd overtime and responded with a Maurice Clarett five yard touchdown run (no 4th down heroics this time) that put the pressure on the Hurricanes. After getting a pass interference call to put the ball on the one yard line, QB Ken Dorsey and the Canes couldn't punch it in and Columbus, Ohio became Titletown for the first time in 34 years.

Whoever came up with that line, "Good things only come to those who wait", certainly had Buckeye fans and the whole Buckeye Nation in mind. THE WAIT IS OVER!!!!!