BUCKEYES Seeds sown in 2001 led to unbeaten turnaround

Twelve starters returned, but there were gaping holes to plug.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Even though Ohio State's record was just 7-5 a year ago, the seeds were sown for what has been a magical 2002 season.
The Buckeyes, who will play Miami in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, weren't considered a top threat to win the Big Ten, let alone a national title this season. Yet the players felt they were on the verge of something special.
"This team right here is loaded with talent, loaded with guys who can definitely make something happen," defensive lineman Kenny Peterson said in August.
As the season wore on, the momentum built. The Buckeyes won six games by a touchdown or less -- a year after losing four games by the same margin. Along the way, the players said there were several turning points in what became a championship season:
The Gambler
Jim Tressel might look like an accountant, but he turned into a high-stakes gambler when the situation called for it this season.
How many other coaches, in the second half of a game they were trailing on the road, would throw deep on third and 6 from their own 16 or sign off on a bomb on fourth and 1 with less than two minutes left?
In both cases, the pass was completed. The first went for 45 yards from Craig Krenzel to Michael Jenkins to set up the go-ahead touchdown in a comeback win at Wisconsin. The second was a season-saving 37-yard touchdown throw from Krenzel to Jenkins that beat Purdue.
The Two-way Player
Tressel's biggest gamble was Chris Gamble. Early in the season it became apparent that Richard McNutt wouldn't be able to play at cornerback because of a degenerative condition in his right ankle that ended his career. Tressel offered one of his top offensive players as a stopgap on defense.
Gamble had played some cornerback in high school but none in his first year at Ohio State. The Buckeyes' second-leading receiver at the time, he started working out part time with the defense in man-to-man coverage.
The move paid benefits almost immediately.
He picked off a pass in the end zone against Cincinnati, ended the Purdue game with another interception and finished the season as Ohio State's leader with four interceptions.
"It was a gutsy move," linebacker Cie Grant said of Gamble's shift to become Ohio State's first two-way player in 40 years. "But I think this is a gutsy coaching staff. At times they do things that make you wonder, but it seemed to work all year."
The Freshman
Maurice Clarett came in as one of the most acclaimed recruits in the country. He was Ohio's Mr. Football and USA Today's national offensive player of the year as a senior at Warren Harding.
Freshmen seldom start at tailback at Ohio State, however. And the Buckeyes appeared to be stocked with replacements for the graduated Jonathan Wells, with backups Lydell Ross and Maurice Hall returning and JaJa Riley coming off a redshirt season.
As spring progressed, it became increasingly apparent that Clarett would play -- and right away.
Big (6-0, 230) and tough, yet quick enough to outrun tacklers on the corner, he had an instant impact after becoming the first true freshman in recent memory to start his first game at tailback for the Buckeyes.
He rushed for 175 yards and three touchdowns in the opener against Texas Tech and 230 with two scores two weeks later in the Buckeyes' first big test, against Washington State.
Despite missing some games because of knee surgery and a shoulder injury, he added a dimension to the Ohio State offense that was clearly lacking.
"He just has that spark," Jenkins said. "It's a rare commodity -- and he has it."