The Associated Press

COLUMBUS - 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.

Looking at the big picture, the Hurricanes have a chance of passing the Buckeyes. Their strength of schedule will go up with games at Tennessee (5-3) this week, then No.22 Pittsburgh (7-2), Syracuse (3-6) and No.8 Virginia Tech (8-1).

But the Buckeyes have gone 10-0 by looking at the small picture - their next game - and the 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.

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," Nugent 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 was 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.

Both of those teams - like this one - said they were sealing out distractions and only concerned with the next opponent.

"Some teams can get caught up in looking ahead at bigger games," cornerback Dustin Fox said.

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.

While the Buckeyes dwell on Purdue, here's what lies beyond.

Should the Buckeyes and Hawkeyes win out, they would share the Big Ten title, with Ohio State winning a tie-breaker to determine bowl affiliation because it was unbeaten in the nonconference and Iowa lost to Iowa State.

No. 1-ranked Oklahoma plays at Texas A&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.

	U-E	Avg.	Avg.	Str	Rank	QW	Tot.
1. Oklahoma	2	1.5	1.00	6	0.24	-.7	2.04
2. Ohio State	3	3.0	2.33	21	0.84	-.6	5.57
3. Miami	1	1.5	2.67	46	1.84	0	6.01
4. Texas	4	4.0	4.67	9	0.36	0	10.03
5. Wash. St.	5	5.0	6.33	23	0.92	-.2	13.05
6. Georgia	8	7.5	6.33	5	0.20	0	15.03
7. Notre Dame	10	9.5	4.67	4	0.16	0	15.33
8. Iowa	6	6.0	8.17	28	1.12	0	16.29
9. USC	9	9.5	7.83	1	0.04	0	19.37
10. Va. Tech	7	7.5	10.50	47	1.88	0	20.88
11. Michigan	11	12.0	16.42	30	1.20	0	31.62
12. NC St.	13	13.5	14.50	85	3.40	0	32.40
13. Fla. St.	18	17.5	13.17	2	0.08	0	33.75
14. Florida	17	20.0	14.33	3	0.12	-.5	36.95
15. Kansas St.	12	12.0	21.92	62	2.48	-.2	38.20

	AH	RB	CM	KM	NYT	JS	PW
1. Oklahoma	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
2. Ohio State	2	3	2	3	2	3	2
3. Miami	3	2	4	2	4	2	3
4. Texas	6	4	6	4	6	4	4
5. Wash. St.	5	8	7	7	9	5	6
6. Georgia	7	7	5	6	7	6	7
7. Notre Dame	4	6	3	5	5	7	5
8. Iowa	8	10	8	9	8	8	8
9. USC	9	12	9	8	3	9	9
10. Va. Tech	10	5	10	14	14	13	11
11. Michigan	13	19	17	17	17.5	20	15
12. N.C. State	17	13	13	16	20	14	14
13. Florida St.	12	31	12	11	19	12	13
14. Florida	14	17	15	15	11	15	16
15. Kansas St.	33	25	29	18	24.5	17	18

Explanation Key

Poll Average - The average of The Associated Press media poll and USA Today-ESPN coaches poll. Others receiving votes are calculated in order received.

Computer Average - The average of Anderson & Hester, Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey, New York Times, Jeff Sagarin and the Peter Wolfe rankings. The computer component will be determined by averaging six of the seven rankings. The lowest (worst) ranking will be disregarded.

Schedule Rank - Rank of schedule strength compared to other Division I-A teams of actual games played divided by 25. This component is calculated by determining the cumulative won/loss records of the team's opponent (66.6 percent) and the cumulative won/loss records of the team's opponents' opponents (33.3 percent).

Losses - One point for each loss during the season.

Quality Win Component - The quality win component will reward to varying degrees teams that defeat opponents ranked among the top 10 in the weekly standings. The bonus point scale will range from a high of 1.0 points for a win over the top ranked team to a low of 0.1 for a victory over the 10th-ranked BCS team. The final BCS standings will determine final quality win points. If a team registers a victory over a team more than once during the regular season quality win points will be awarded just once. Quality win points are based on the standings determined by the subtotal. The final standings are reconfigured to reflect the quality win point deduction.

Note: Teams on NCAA probation (i.e. not eligible for postseason competition) are not listed in the BCS Standings. Teams with victories over teams on probation will receive appropriate quality win points.