By JON SPENCER
(Mansfield, Ohio) News Journal

COLUMBUS - A reporter, hungry for a headline-grabbing declaration, thrust his tape recorder in Justin Zwick's face and asked the author of a 318-yard, three-touchdown performance - complete with fourth-quarter brain cramps and heady, last-minute play - if he became Ohio State's quarterback on Saturday.

Um, wasn't that already obvious?

Zwick, about as outspoken as a circus mime, deferred to head coach Jim Tressel, who answered that question in the opener against Cincinnati by sticking with his hot-and-cold sophomore after two interceptions and three fumbles.

He answered that question again Saturday by not yanking Zwick after two badly-thrown fourth quarter interceptions, the first of which led to a game-tying touchdown by two-TD underdog Marshall.

Zwick rewarded Tressel's faith against UC by rebounding to direct a pullaway touchdown drive and against Marshall by keeping his wits in the last 25 seconds, completing three passes with no timeouts remaining and putting the Buckeyes in position to win it on Mike Nugent's walk-off 55-yard field goal.

"You know you're going to make mistakes," wide receiver Bam Childress said, "but after mistakes are you going to put your head down and berate yourself or are you going to keep on pushing? Justin made mistakes, but he kept pushing and kept on going."

Wave goodbye to a quarterback controversy, debate or derby. Short of reciting marriage vows, Zwick is Tressel's guy, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until the NFL draft do them part.

Troy Smith becomes the new Scott McMullen, a backup with perhaps more raw talent than the starter but destined to play caddy unless pressed into service by injury.

Smith says he's willing to wait for something "severe" to get his chance. He directed only one second-quarter series against Marshall and was never summoned again even though circumstances turned dire - or to use Smith's word, "severe" - in the fourth quarter.

Trying to extend a 21-14 lead, Zwick overthrew Ted Ginn Jr. on an interception by safety Chris Royal, setting up Marshall's tying touchdown with 8:40 to play.

On OSU's next series, Zwick played pitch-and-catch with Royal again on an attempted bomb to Santonio Holmes. But Marshall's Ian O'Connor missed a 35-yard field goal that would have put the Herd in front with 3:17 left.

It was three-and-out for the Buckeyes on the ensuing series, but Tressel stuck with Zwick when they got the ball back at their own 45 with 25 seconds left and no timeouts remaining.

Three completions, totaling 22 yards, and a spike to stop the clock left two seconds for Nugent to perform his history-making heroics.

His kick as time expired tied the longest in Ohio Stadium history and helped the Buckeyes avoid their first loss to a Mid-American Conference team in 109 years. Nugent, however, thought the difference was the second-half maturation of a quarterback.

"The best part about the game was how Justin just kind of handled the adversity he saw and took the guys down the field on that last drive," Nugent said. "That was unbelievable."

Center Nick Mangold, with his back to Zwick the whole game, sensed the same thing.

"Having two interceptions, he was able to shrug if off, say those things happen, they put us in a bind, but let's go out and get it done," Mangold said. "He got it done."

Zwick's progress chart Saturday read like a bad Etch-a-Sketch drawing or Mick Jagger's EKG after a hard night of partying - a graph of tremendous highs and thudding lows.

There were the TD strikes of 80 and 47 yards to Holmes, balanced by the two interceptions.

There was the last-minute, game-winning drive, balanced by the bad habit of locking in on one receiver and forcing throws into coverage.

There was the 20-yard TD pass to Roy Hall, beating a safety blitz, balanced by the 11-yard sack he took instead of throwing the ball away.

After four games, his ledger reads four TD passes, four interceptions, four fumbles.

We know Zwick has become OSU's quarterback. A better question: Is he ready for the Wolfpack?

"I don't know if he went through more (growing) pains than the rest of us, but that's the life of a quarterback," said Tressel, whose Buckeyes are on the road for Saturday's 3:30 p.m. kickoff at North Carolina State, a team that took OSU to triple overtime here last year.

"The ball's in your hands and you have to make decisions and hopefully you learn from them ... but (Zwick) handled it all. There were some times where it just didn't work out for him, but he wasn't going to stop competing."

Or playing. Tressel saw to that. He could have given Zwick the thumb, but didn't.

End of story. End of controversy.