COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) \u2014 Chris Gamble began the game as Ohio State\u2019s first two-way starter in 39 years. He left with the record crowd chanting his name.
\nOn a day when freshman running back Maurice Clarett missed most of the game with a shoulder injury, Gamble\u2019s performance was something to shout about.
\nThe wide receiver made a stellar debut as a starting defensive back by returning an interception for a touchdown and preventing a score with a tackle in No. 4 Ohio State\u2019s 13-7 victory over No. 18 Penn State on Saturday.
\n\u201cIt feels good to get my name chanted by the crowd,\u201d the soft-spoken Gamble said after he was hailed by 105,103 at Ohio Stadium.
\nThe victory helped the Buckeyes (9-0, 4-0) stay on course for the Big Ten title. They don\u2019t play Iowa (8-1, 5-0) this season, but they have the inside track to the Rose Bowl, since they have a better overall record.
\n\u201cThey\u2019re the best team we\u2019ve played. It\u2019d be close between them and Iowa,\u201d said Penn State coach Joe Paterno, whose team lost in overtime to the Hawkeyes. \u201cDo they play Iowa? That would be a pretty good game.\u201d
\nIndeed it would. And if Penn State could have knocked off the Buckeyes, Iowa would have a clear path to Pasadena. But the Nittany Lions (5-3, 2-3) managed just five first downs and 179 total yards.
\n\u201cWe got licked,\u201d Paterno said.
\nClarett, who missed a game earlier this season with a knee injury, hurt his left shoulder six plays into the game and did not return. He\u2019d been averaging 140 yards a game and was off to another fast start Saturday, gaining 39 yards on four carries to give him 1,019 yards in just over seven games.
\nOhio State coach Jim Tressel said he was unsure of the nature or the severity of the injury.
\n\u201cI can\u2019t tell you if it\u2019s a one-day thing or a five-day thing,\u201d he said.
\nGamble picked up the slack by becoming the first Ohio State player since Paul Warfield in 1963 to start on both sides of the ball. Gamble entered the game as the Buckeyes\u2019 second-leading receiver, and lately he\u2019d been called on more and more to help out the thin, inexperienced cornerbacks.
\nBefore Saturday, he had played just five snaps on defense, with two interceptions.
\nWith Ohio State trailing 7-3 early in the third quarter, Gamble picked off an underthrown floater by quarterback Zack Mills. Gamble raced down the right sideline, cut to the inside briefly and then sidestepped a tackler to slide into the end zone for a 40-yard score.
\n\u201cI saw Zack Mills rolling to the left, the one dude running the post and the other dude running the wheel (pass route),\u201d Gamble said. \u201cI saw him throw it to the wheel, and I just attacked it.\u201d
\nGamble\u2019s other huge play came during the turnover-plagued first half. On third-and-goal from the Penn State 5, Buckeyes quarterback Craig Krenzel fumbled while trying to get the ball across the goal line. Anwar Phillips scooped up the ball at the 1 and raced 58 yards before Gamble brought him down.
\n\u201cChris Gamble\u2019s a great player, but he\u2019s a smart player,\u201d Tressel said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of talented players in the world, but they all don\u2019t have a feel for the game. He\u2019s blessed with talent, and he pays close attention to what\u2019s going on the field.\u201d
\nOhio State\u2019s defense dominated for most of the second half. The Nittany Lions \u2014 who had been averaging 37 points a game \u2014 punted on their next four possessions after Gamble\u2019s interception return.
\nPenn State took over at its own 15 with 3:02 left after Andy Groom, who was averaging 49 yards a punt, boomed a 55-yarder.
\nMills completed a 7-yard pass to Tony Johnson but was then sacked by Kenny Peterson for a 10-yard loss. After another 7-yard pass to Tony Johnson, Mills\u2019 pass for Bryant Johnson in the left flat was incomplete.
\nBryant Johnson, Mills and Paterno \u2014 who has been very critical of Big Ten officiating \u2014 all protested that Johnson had been interfered with by Gamble, but the play stood, and the Buckeyes ran out the clock.
\n\u201cI tapped him a little early and was relieved when there was no flag,\u201d Gamble said.
\nPenn State\u2019s Larry Johnson said, \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t have come down to us hoping to have a pass interference called.\u201d
\nComing off a school-record 257 yards rushing a week ago in a rout of Northwestern, Johnson was limited to 66 yards on 16 carries.
\nKrenzel, who completed 13 of 20 passes for 112 yards, was intercepted twice. He added 39 yards rushing on 15 carries.
\nMills, who had a school-record 418 yards of total offense a year ago in a 29-27 comeback win over Ohio State, struggled all day. He completed 14 of 28 passes for 98 yards and was picked off three times \u2014 equaling his total in 199 pass attempts in the Lions\u2019 first seven games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) \u2014 Chris Gamble began the game as Ohio State\u2019s first two-way starter in 39 years. He left with the record crowd chanting his name. On a day when freshman running back Maurice Clarett missed most of the game with a shoulder injury, Gamble\u2019s performance was something to shout about. The wide receiver […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47919\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}