It would've been like the deck hands throwing Columbus overboard as the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria bumped into the docks.

''There were a lot of parallels between this (2002) team and our team,'' said Dirk Worden, a linebacker and co-captain on the 1968 national championship team and a graduate of Clearview. ''We had a lot of fairly close games and became a rags-to-riches story.''

The turning point for this 2002 national championship came at last year's Outback Bowl. Down 28-0 in the third quarter, the Buckeyes fought back to tie the game at 28 before Dan Weaver's 42-yard field goal as time expired gave the Gamecocks the win. But at that point, the loss didn't really matter. The attitude had been set for 2002.

''When a team comes together,'' Worden said, ''you can just feel it.''

That moment for the '68 team came halfway through the '67 season, when Woody declared ''Operation: Constipation'' at Michigan State. When the Spartans pounded the Buckeyes, 32-7 on Ohio State's last trip to East Lansing in '65, Michigan State fans showered the field with rolls of toilet paper following each score.

Hayes wanted to make sure that wouldn't happen again.

''Woody called us into the locker room before the game and he starts talking to us for about five or 10 minutes,'' Worden said. ''Then he just stops and says ÔYou know what we'll call today? This is Operation: Constipation. We're going to take that toilet paper and show them where to stuff it.'''

The Buckeyes won, 21-7, to start a school-record 22-game winning streak that extended throughout the perfect 10-0 season of '68.

''We felt like we became a team in '67 and that set the stage for '68,'' Worden said. ''Looking at these kids, a number of them commented that even with the bowl loss last year, they really put it together and became a football team. I know what they meant, because that's how we felt.''

Along with winning a national championship, this was also the first time an Ohio State team went undefeated since Worden's crew did it. Only this time they had four more games.

''You don't just line up and beat people with talent,'' Worden said. ''You have to stay away from injury, you have to have depth for when you do have an injury and you have to be lucky. You have to have all that in place, so it's not an easy thing to do.

''But having said that, something tells me we're not going to have to wait 34 more years for another championship. Jim Tressel is stockpiling enough talent down there that I think we can look for big things for at least the next three or four years.''

jlloyd@morningjournal.com