OSU could be better team in 2003 season

The Buckeyes return 18 starters from last year.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
COLUMBUS -- Last year's national championship team scared its share of teams, but Ohio State senior defensive end Will Smith wants you to hear something really scary.
"We can be better," Smith said.
Better? Really? After Ohio State's first national title in 34 years? After a school-record 14 wins? After losing five players to the NFL?
"There were a lot of areas where we weren't at our best," Smith said. "I really think we can improve."
The numbers certainly back him up.
The Buckeyes return 18 starters, including senior quarterback Craig Krenzel and two-way standout Chris Gamble. Sophomore tailback Maurice Clarett is a frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy, although he has been held out of preseason practice because of an NCAA investigation.
Marked team
"I know we'll be a marked team," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said. "But when you come to Ohio State, you're marked to begin with."
The Buckeyes will start the season ranked No. 2 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll and are preseason No. 1s in several publications, including Sports Illustrated.
"We should be a more mature football team, and a lot of that has to do with the number of seniors," said Tressel, who returns 51 lettermen.
Added senior offensive tackle Shane Olivea: "I don't see why we can't be dominant, not just in our conference but in the whole country."
Tressel knows what it's like to try to repeat as national champions, having won Division I-AA national titles at Youngstown State in 1991, 93, 94 and 97.
"I've told the guys that the teams we've seen on film are not the teams we'll play," he said. "They'll play so much better than that."
The Buckeyes, expected to use the 2002 season as a building year, stunned nearly everyone by winning every game and toppling defending champion Miami in double overtime in the Fiesta Bowl.
Won close games
Last season's team was rarely dominant, instead developing an uncanny knack for winning close games.
This year's team could be different.
"We have to develop our swagger," senior tight end Ben Hartsock said. "We didn't have that much last year. We just found a way to win games."
And while Ohio State's opponents will be looking to take down the defending champions, junior running back Maurice Hall doesn't expect the Buckeyes to change their approach.
"You still try to be the hunter, rather than the hunted," he said. "You definitely don't want to see someone take away your title."
scalzo@vindy.com