The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio - With a win at Illinois on Saturday, No. 2 Ohio State would become the first team in the school's 113 years of football to be 12-0.Quite an accomplishment? Nope, just a stop along the way.

"12-0 is not going to be as sweet as 13-0, so we've got to focus on the moment," linebacker Matt Wilhelm said. "In the snap of a finger, it could all be taken away. We realize that."

After playing the Illini (4-6, 3-3 Big Ten), the Buckeyes close out the regular season the same way they've closed out every one since 1942: against rival Michigan.

Ohio State (11-0, 6-0), the No. 1 team in the BCS rankings, has its season in its hands. The Buckeyes don't need help from anyone else. It's simple: win two more and they're assured of no worse than a share of the Big Ten title and a trip to the BCS national championship game in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 3.

"It would be nice making history as a 12-0 team," wide receiver Michael Jenkins said. "But 13-0 is a big goal and we have to focus in on being 12-0 first."

It was Jenkins who helped keep the Buckeyes perfect, catching a 37-yard touchdown pass from Craig Krenzel on fourth-and-1 with 1:36 left at Purdue on Saturday. That gave the Buckeyes yet another close win on the road, 10-6.

"We still have a chance to be thought of as an extraordinary group," coach Jim Tressel said. "We'll see how it works out."

As always, Tressel said his concentration is only on the next game. He said earlier this season that he didn't know where his team was ranked in the BCS. He has said he doesn't have any idea about how good other teams or players are around the country.

Despite living most of his life in Ohio - and following the Ohio State program closely in his 15 years as the head coach at Youngstown State - Tressel said he hadn't considered what a watershed event it would be to have the first 12-0 record at the school.

"All I know is I'd rather be 12-0 than the other," he said. "That's what we're working on. I haven't given it any thought."

Ohio State went 11-0 in 1975, 1979 and 1995 - and each time lost the next game. The first two perfect seasons were ruined in the Rose Bowl and the 1995 team lost at Michigan.

Illinois won the Big Ten title a year ago but started this year by losing five of its first six. The Illini have righted themselves to win three of their last four. All but one of their wins has come at Memorial Stadium - which is not good news for the Buckeyes.

The average score of Ohio State's home victories is 38-11. On the road, it is 20-14.

"We're just plugging along," Wilhelm said. "We may not play our best game on the road, but we find a way to win. We're undefeated in the Horseshoe this year. We don't plan on losing a game. We'll keep working the way we have all the way through the season. Good things are happening for us."

Tressel won four Division I-AA championships at Youngstown State and said his current team has several things in common with those title teams.

"It's a smart group of football players," Tressel said. "It's a group that's pretty focused on the task at hand, that doesn't have any misconceptions as to who we are and where we are and what needs to be done. They like to go to work and prepare. Those are all things you need to do. I think you need to be an unselfish group, if you're going to be an extraordinary group - and I have found this group to be very unselfish."

The Buckeyes may be on the verge of big things, but they refuse to spend much time thinking about it or discussing it.

"We've got a very tough opponent coming up in Illinois," Jenkins said. "We lose that game and it (the BCS) doesn't mean anything at all. So we have to finish out these two games and see where we are at the end of the season."

Wilhelm said all that the Buckeyes have hoped for is in sight.

"We control our own destiny," he said. "We have two weeks left. If we can't sell out and give everything - you know, every effort possible towards this goal of ours and to play in a national championship - then you don't deserve to be an Ohio State Buckeye."