By Rusty Miller
The Associated Press

COLUMBUS - Troy Smith learned a lot in his first game as Ohio State's starting quarterback. Maybe coach Jim Tressel did, too.

"I've learned with just one start that you can't please everybody," Smith said Tuesday during preparations for the Buckeyes' game this weekend against Penn State. "Because it was Indiana, people want to slide us and say, 'It was just Indiana.' But a win is a win."

Tressel learned that Smith can handle the job in Saturday's 30-7 win over Indiana, ending a woeful three-game losing skid. That's why he came out Tuesday to say that Smith will again get the start, even if Justin Zwick has recovered from a mildly separated right (throwing) shoulder.

Smith - who didn't even get on the field two weeks earlier in a loss to Wisconsin - completed 12 of 24 passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns in addition to running for 58 yards on 11 carries.

"He did the most important thing that any quarterback can do and that's lead an attack that didn't turn the football over," Tressel said. "And for the historians out there, I haven't found a game where the Ohio State quarterback had zero interceptions and rushed for more than 50 yards that we've ever lost."

Ohio State (4-3, 1-3) had foundered offensively with Zwick at the controls, ranking near the bottom of all I-A teams in production.

After Zwick was injured at Iowa, Smith came on to throw a late touchdown pass for the Buckeyes' only points. Against Indiana, the Buckeyes appeared to be in step on offense. Freshman Tony Pittman rushed for 144 yards and a touchdown, the passing game moved the ball and the line played perhaps its best game to date.

As Smith learned, though, there are many who say the turnaround was due more to the opponent - Indiana lost its fifth game in a row and is winless in the Big Ten - than to a revived Ohio State attack.

"People say a lot of things, and it all depends on how you react to what they say," said Smith, a sophomore from Cleveland. "It's not like Indiana goes out there with nine people and everybody else has 11. Indiana is a team just like everybody else."

Smith didn't know he was the No. 1 quarterback until Tressel announced it. Now he said he hopes to build on his scant experience to continue the Ohio State about-face.

"I sort of have to be like a robot, just getting ready for Penn State in every aspect that we can as far as the team goes," he said. "We're 1-3 in the Big Ten and we're looking forward to having a winning record."

Tressel said he had yet to see Zwick even throw a football - he's limited to tossing a tennis ball on the sidelines during practice. Todd Boeckman will again be Smith's backup.

The only question about Smith before the Indiana game was his decision-making, Tressel said last week. It appears that Smith answered that question as well.

"In order to have no turnovers, you have to do a good job making decisions," Tressel said. "If you make great decisions, you're going to have a chance to make big plays. The decision-making he did was solid. We talk about tempo and velocity across the board in everything we ask from our players, and I thought he did a good job in all those areas."