COLUMBUS — Football Saturdays in this historic gridiron fortress have forever been among the biggest events on any Ohioan's social calendar. But something this leaden gray late-October afternoon was different.
You knew it was big, bigger, biggest when you walked into one of Ohio State's more famous watering holes, The Four Kegs, and the usually beerily-optimistic, trash-talking frat boys and young alums were about as light-hearted as cancer surgeons.
You knew it was huge when a 6-feet, 8-inch Penn State interloper named Happy Valley Hugo intoned "This is going to be one of college football's great rivalries very soon, if it isn't already -- and I'm not being politically correct because I'm in Columbus."
But as you walked through the hallowed gates of Ohio Stadium, and joined an all-time record crowd of 105,103 and some 800 media, along with the Westwood One radio network and the A.B.C. football first team of Brent Musburger and Bob Griese, you began to think the only elements missing were Grantland Rice and Wayne Woodrow Hayes.
Penn State-Ohio State -- only the 17th renewal of a rivalry dating back to 1912 but played only intermittently until the Nittany Lions joined the Big Ten officially in 1993 -- was now, officially, Larger Than Life Itself.
When the 225-piece Ohio State band trundled down the north ramp onto the field, unfolding its classic "Script Ohio" formation and played its signature songs -- "Buckeye Battle Cry," saluted Penn State with "Hail to the Lions," then broke into "Across the Field," and the riveting "Carmen Ohio" alma mater, Ohio Stadium was up-for-grabs like it hadn't been since the Woody Hayes years.
What significance are we to attach to Ohio State 13, Penn State 7? Apparently not much, suggest the always-political Associated Press pollsters, some of whom deserted the Buckeyes for lacking "style points" and pushing them from No. 4 to sixth, replacing O.S.U. with Notre Dame, in contrast to the more sensible coaches, who kept the Bucks at No. 4.
What Oct. 26, 2002 will be remembered for is a fascinating nostalgia trip back to the days of Wayne Woodrow Hayes and Rip Engle, when Ohio State and Penn State were mud-splattered, spit-in-your-eye pit battlers who gave ground grudgingly and made every play hurt.
That the Buckeyes (9-0 overall, 4-0 Big Ten) remain perfect is attributable largely to the final result of an off-field coachly session that produced yet another throwback feature: The two-way player.
In a game that began with the uproarious cheering of regular wide-receiver/part-time cornerback Chris Gamble's introduction in the defensive starting lineup, one touchdown and one spectacular prevented touchdown later, it ended with the thunderous chanting of his name.
"Mark (Dantonio, defensive coordinator) and Mel (Tucker, defensive backs coach) asked if they could start him," O.S.U. coach Jim Tressel said. "You know me; I say yes to anything."
Yes sir. And all the 6-feet, 2-inch, 180-pounder did was create an impact the size of the Grand Canyon and quite possibly insert his name in the middle of the Heisman Trophy discussion.
Two events, in effect, defined the game. The Buckeyes had taken the opening kickoff and driven it 79 yards to the Nittany Lions' 1, where Penn State's grudging defense dug in for a third-and-goal smash, likely from 15-touchdown scorer Maurice Clarett, the nation's most celebrated freshman.
But instead, Bucks quarterback Craig Krenzel stepped back in a classic q.b. draw position, and began his thrust, only to have an agile Penn State wide receiver/goalline pass defender Anwar Phillips knock the ball loose, scoop it up and begin running through the dazed Bucks.
He was 20 yards upfield before the Buckeyes could refocus. All except Gamble, that is. "All's I knew was somehow I had to catch him," Gamble said, still shaking his head. And why not? Gamble's companion on the chase was 6-5, 260 pound fullback and goalline linebacker Sean McHugh, who walled him off for 30 yards.
But somehow, Gamble both outran and outmaneuvered McHugh around midfield and threw himself at Phillips, downing him at the Ohio State 41. Three plays later, the Buckeyes' outrageously tough defense did the rest, forcing the Lions' resourceful Zack Mills into a hurried throw that was intercepted by A.J. Hawk.
"Give them credit," Mills said graciously. "We never got a handle on what they were doing or how to answer it."
To Penn State's credit, though, the offense did rebound after a stout defensive stand to drive 80 yards and score on Larry Johnson's five-yard bolt to the right pylon with 2:38 left in the first quarter.
But under constant pressure from defensive end Will Smith, linebackers Matt Wilhelm and Hawk, along with defensive tackle Tim Anderson, Mills rarely had anything resembling respectable time to deliver the ball to his talented receiving corps downfield.
Last year's 518 yards' given up morphed into a paltry 179 Saturday.
"We couldn't make a play when we had to," said Lions coach Joe Paterno, whose team is 5-3, 2-3 and slipped to from No. 18 to 20 A.P. and 17 to 21 in the coaches' poll. "We couldn't come up with a catch or Zack was a little off. A couple of times we had some running room and got tripped up."
This wasn't the defense that played a step slow at Cincinnati, nearly allowing the huge-underdog Bearcats to pull off the season's biggest upset, only winning when U.C. receivers dropped two passes in the end zone. It wasn't the defense that Northwestern's first-string quarterback Brett Basanez strafed for major yardage, his team suffering a lost touchdown on a phantom holding call in the Buckeyes' 28-17 escape from Ryan Field.
But in any 9-0 record are always a few elements of luck. Not all of it good. Ohio State suffered the loss of Clarett, one of the leading Heisman candidates, to a recurrent right shoulder dislocation on the Bucks' first drive.
And other key players have been in and out of the lineup.
But Penn State had been a cause. "We'd been hearing all week about how good Penn State's offense can be -- and it IS good," Will Smith said. "But we took it upon ourselves to get in there and shut 'em down and play good ol'-fashioned smashmouth football."
Despite giving away 71 pounds to Penn State's gigantic left tackle Gus Felder (6-5, 321), Smith's elusiveness recalled the successes of Purdue's speed rusher Rosevelt Colvin against bigger tackles and created consistent nightmares for Mills, who simply couldn't implement assistant Fran Ganter's sophisticated pro-style West Coast offense.
"I thought it would be a good matchup for us," said Mills, who completed 14 of 28 passes for 98 yards against O.S.U.'s baffling cover-3 and two-deep zone defenses. "Maybe we underestimated them a little bit; their defense played a terrific game. Give their coaches credit for a great game plan."
One that included one helluva Gamble. He'd already played virtually every play as the Lions kicked off to start the third quarter, trailing 7-3 on the first of two Mike Nugent field goals, which give him a total of 19 straight.
"I was cramping up a lot in the second half," Gamble admitted.
Under yet another rush from Smith, Wilhelm and Anderson, Mills rolled left in desperation, looking downfield for any white jersey downfield. He thought he spotted Gerald Smith, but the long sprint had taken its toll on the pass, which Gamble easily intercepted at the Lions' 40 despite the hurts.
"I was going to carry him off the field (in the fourth quarter when Gamble nearly doubled over during Penn State's last desperate drive)," said Wilhelm.
He had a major league convoy for the first 26 yards, but evaded two Lions at the 14, then seemed hemmed in at the 10, but Gamble's spin-a-rama was a piece of sheer athletic artistry that should embellish any season highlight package. Suddenly, he had a free 10-yard sprint to the end zone.
"If I don't throw that interception, we win the game 7-6," Mills said glumly. "It was a terrible pass; maybe I tried to force it."
Actually, were it not for Gamble, the Lions might have left Ohio Stadium with a 14-6 shocker.
But Tressel is grateful he was able to somehow pull Gamble out from under the clutches of Florida's Big Three.
"Chris Gamble deserves to be known as a two-way player by the nation," he said proudly. "A lot of talented guys in this world don't have a feel for the game. Chris Gamble has a feel for the game."
Saturday, in final analysis, Chris Gamble WAS the game. And despite what any number of unimpressed non-frostbelters think, Chris Gamble and Ohio State are as legit a contender for the national title game showdown as anybody.
Any billybobs, bubbas or margaritaville doubters, go argue with those 105,103 lunatics. Bring your running shoes, by the way.
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