COLUMBUS - Almost every time that Michael Jenkins appears in public - at a mall, a pizza joint, walking to a class - someone stops him.

''They say, 'Great catch!''' Jenkins said with a grin. ''And you probably know the one they're talking about.''

In a season of close calls, the closest for last year's Ohio State Buckeyes came at Purdue. Trailing 6-3 and faced with fourth and 1 at the Boilermakers 37 and 97 seconds remaining, the Buckeyes salvaged their unbeaten season with one flick of the wrist, one over-the-shoulder grab.

Two months later, after Ohio State beat Miami in the Fiesta Bowl to capture its first national championship in 34 long seasons, fans and players alike looked back at what was otherwise a wounded-duck of a pass.

''We needed a first down,'' quarterback Craig Krenzel said. ''The play came in, our guys executed and protected well, they picked up the blitz and Mike ran a good route. Nothing special.''

In was special but not because it was executed perfectly.

The blocking wasn't very good. The primary receiver was covered and the two wide-outs didn't run the patterns they were supposed to. Krenzel was being crushed by a collapsing pocket and had to sidestep several massive linemen just to get rid of the ball.

Ohio State's 10-6 victory is still talked about and debated a year later as the No. 4 Buckeyes get ready for a reunion with No. 10 Purdue on Saturday.

Maybe the biggest stunner is that when the play came in from the sidelines, no one was surprised that the Buckeyes would throw the ball instead of trying to advance it 3 feet on a running play. Caught up in the moment, almost none of the players questioned the call.

''It wasn't as big, I guess, as it should have been,'' said tight end Ben Hartsock, who was the primary receiver of Y Shallow, the play Krenzel relayed in the huddle. ''I remember people saying last year, 'Do you wish they would have taken a timeout to think through what play you should have run?' I'm really glad they didn't because you're in such a flow of the game at that point that you don't really realize.''

While everyone else was caught up in the suspense, the Buckeyes didn't even think about what was at stake.

''I didn't realize it was fourth down,'' Jenkins said.

''I was thinking, 'Just don't let my man touch Craig,''' offensive lineman Shane Olivea said with a grin.

With a capacity crowd at Ross-Ade Stadium screaming and a national television audience tuned in to watch the nation's No. 3 team in peril, Krenzel took the snap from center and dropped back. Purdue was blitzing. Sensing the pocket caving in, he stepped forward to avoid the blitzers zeroing in on him from the periphery.

Meanwhile, Hartsock was blanketed by a linebacker.

''I wasn't open,'' he said. ''I'm GLAD I wasn't.''

Chris Gamble, Ohio State's two-way star, was supposed to run a dig route but instead avoided a defender by running a post. He couldn't shake the defensive back. Jenkins, at the left sideline, was supposed to run a post and instead feinted and took off, beating Antwaun Rogers to the end zone.

''He was in a press and I just kind of got off the line and got by him. I don't really think he was expecting the ball,'' Jenkins said. ''It was in the air - too late.''

Krenzel was sandwiched by tacklers the instant he released the ball. For an instant, 65,250 fans held their breath as the ball wafted in the frigid Indiana air.

After Jenkins caught it in stride over his shoulder, he was mobbed in the end zone. The players on the Purdue sideline looked down in stunned silence. Just two years before, the Boilermakers had shocked Ohio State 31-27 on the same field with similar suddenness, a 64-yard bomb with 1:55 left from Drew Brees to Seth Morales.

Ohio State survived the rest of the 2002 Purdue game, then won in overtime the next week at Illinois before beating Michigan on the final play. Those were all just practice for the high drama of two overtimes in the desert at the Fiesta Bowl.

Hartsock doesn't mind that he wasn't the hero.

''I wouldn't trade away the way it worked out,'' he said. ''I didn't need those yards that bad.''

Jenkins has seen the replays hundreds of times. He and Krenzel even flew to California for the ESPY Awards this year, where the long pass was shown before the greatest luminaries in all of sports.

Jenkins doesn't dwell on the catch that will likely be his epitaph as an Ohio State player.

''I really don't think much of it,'' he said. ''It was just a normal play for me. But it was a big play, of course, for our team - fourth down with a championship on the line.''