OSU FOOTBALL Tressel keeping players focused

At 10-0 and ranked No. 2 in the BCS, the Buckeyes can't afford to overlook anybody.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- The longest season in Ohio State football history is starting to look as if it might also be the most successful.
As each week passes in the program's first 13-game schedule, the No. 3-ranked Buckeyes just keep rolling along. They climbed to No. 2 in the latest Bowl Championship Series rankings, narrowly bypassing Miami to move in behind Oklahoma.
"We are proud of what our young men have done to date," coach Jim Tressel said Monday. "But we know if we don't play our best road game of the year at Purdue, we won't be No. 2 next week."
That was vintage Tressel. His players have mouthed almost exactly the same sentiment, if not the same words, every week this season.
The Buckeyes have gone 10-0 by looking at the small picture -- their next game -- while almost everyone who follows them is talking about the panoramic national view: BCS rankings, Iowa, Miami, Oklahoma, the Fiesta Bowl and the Rose Bowl.
Tunnel vision has served the Buckeyes well so far.
"If you get out there and get cocky about it, that's one thing you can't do," kicker Mike Nugent said after Ohio State's 34-3 rout of No. 23 Minnesota on Saturday.
Nugent was talking about the mindset of being a kicker on a hot streak, but he might as well have been speaking of the growing pressure on a team running out of big games.
After a mediocre freshman season, Nugent has been one of the most startling surprises of the year for Ohio State. He has converted a school-record 20 consecutive field goal attempts this season. His string of 21 in a row over two seasons is also a record.
Next game, next threat
Like all of Tressel's players, though, it has been hammered home to him that the next game and the next threat is just around the corner. Pride goeth before an upset.
"If you're doing well and having a good year, you can't get cocky or you can go 20-for-28 and miss the last eight," he said.
Ohio State fans know that feeling well. The last two times the Buckeyes have been in the chase for a national championship, they broke a lot of hearts. They won their first 10 games in 1996 and were ranked No. 2 when they played at home against a Michigan team that came in at 4-3 in the Big Ten.
That all came tumbling down when cornerback Shawn Springs came up on a pass play, slipped, and the Wolverines' Tai Streets streaked 69 yards to break the Buckeyes' backs, 13-9. It was the only loss in a season where Ohio State would end up No. 2 -- and left to wonder what might have happened if Springs had kept his footing.
Of course, that's not the end of the pain for Ohio State fans. The 1998 team lost 28-24 to 171/2-point underdog Michigan State (again at home) to ruin an 8-0 record, a No. 1 ranking and a shot at the national championship.
On the road for two
Ohio State hits the road the next two weeks for games at Purdue (4-5) and Illinois (3-6) before the annual season-ending joust with No. 13 Michigan (7-2). The Buckeyes are 5-0 in the Big Ten, a notch below No. 6 Iowa's 6-0 mark.
Iowa has games remaining against Northwestern at home on Saturday and at Minnesota to close the regular season on Nov. 16.
* As far as Ohio State's top two challengers in the BCS rankings, No. 3 Miami has games remaining at Tennessee on Saturday, Nov. 21 at home against Pittsburgh, at Syracuse on Nov. 30 and at home against Virginia Tech on Dec. 7.
No. 1-ranked Oklahoma plays at Texas A & amp;M, at Baylor, Texas Tech at home and at Oklahoma State before a possible rematch with Colorado in the Big 12 championship game Dec. 7 in Houston.