It would be a gross understatement to say that Craig Krenzel was being 'thrown into the fire' in his first start as Ohio State's quarterback last season.

No, it was more like he was thrown into an erupting volcano, or being tossed into shark infested waters without knowing how to swim.

Before the Buckeyes played Illinois in their tenth game last season, Krenzel had only thrown nine passes in his career, all of them the season before. However Buckeyes starter Steve Bellisari was arrested for drunken driving and suspended, so someone else had to be the Buckeyes' signal caller.

Then-sophomore Scott McMullen got the start but completed just four of his 13 passes, so Krenzel was put in the game. He completed 11 of 23 passes for 164 yards and a touchdown.

That earned him his first start the following week. Of course, it was the last week of the regular season, and everyone who knows anything about Ohio State knows what that means.

Michigan.

And this year, just to pack on a little more pressure, it was in Ann Arbor.

The Buckeyes were unranked at the time and Michigan was No. 11, but the Michigan game is the Michigan game. ESPN.com rated it as the biggest rivalry in not just the Big Ten, not just college football, but all of sports. His lack of success in the game is one of the biggest reasons former coach John Cooper was run out of Columbus. Jim Tressel, then in his first season as head coach, had promised in January that Ohio State fans would be proud of their team "in the classroom, in the community, in 310 days in Ann Arbor, Mich., on the football field."

Krenzel was nervous coming into the game. It would be impossible not to be, but the Buckeye offense also gave him a lot of athletes to work with.

Tailback Jonathan Wells took over that day, rushing for 129 yards and three touchdowns. Krenzel only threw 18 passes, completing 11 of them for 118 yards, but that was enough for his team to get a 26-20 victory.

"I've always had confidence in myself that I could get the job done and play well," Krenzel said.

With Bellisari graduating, Krenzel became the favorite to inherit the starting job, and that game assured him that he would have enough talent around him not to have to do everything himself.

"That really carried over," Krenzel said. "It gave me a lot more confidence in the team and the system and what we believe in."

Wells graduated, but leading receivers Michael Jenkins and Chris Vance both returned, and dazzling freshman tailback Maurice Clarett assured Krenzel that he wouldn't have any less firepower to work with.

This season, he has been able to get by once again without making huge plays all of the time, but by being smart. He ranks last in the Big Ten in passing yardage with 1,275 yards, but he has the conference's second highest pass rating, the fifth highest in the nation at 158.6, and a Big Ten best 62.3 completion percentage.

"He's matured every game," Jenkins said. "The chemistry between him and the receivers has come a long way."

After starting his Ohio State career as he did, the rest of the maturation process comes easy.