It's easier to balance without the hardware weighing things down.

Without the services of tailback Maurice Clarett this season, the Ohio State offense has tried to feature more balanced play calling. The trend has given quarterback Craig Krenzel more of a chance to throw the football and an opportunity to lead.

While the senior signal caller has yet to throw for more than 275 yards in a single game this season, Krenzel has topped the 270-yard mark three times and has more than 1,100 yards passing despite missing games against Bowling Green and Northwestern with an elbow injury.

He says the scheme hasn't changed drastically but that there have been alterations because the running game has slowed down to a jog.

"We still have the exact same offense; we're still a run-first football team," Krenzel said. "In the passing game, we're called upon and we must be better, we must be more efficient. ... In that respect, we are throwing the ball earlier on first and second down."

It has translated into some moderate success as the passing offense is averaging 23 yards more a game than it did last season. However, the Buckeyes are still ranked 88th nationally in passing offense and have stumbled without their star tailback.

The Buckeyes finished last season ranked 31st in rushing offense, averaging more than 190 yards a game. Much of that total came from the legs of Clarett, who rushed for 1,237 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2002 to take the Big Ten Freshman of the Year title along with selections to the All-American freshmen and All-Big Ten teams.

That attack has been absent this season as the heralded tailback's season stopped before it began. After inflating the cost on an insurance report of several items stolen from a car he was driving and after an investigation into his academic work, Ohio State decided to suspend Clarett for the entire 2003 season.

Without his services at tailback, the Buckeyes are currently 88th nationally in rush offense with slightly more than 121 yards a game. The team's leading rusher is tailback Lydell Ross, who is averaging just 51 yards per outing. He broke the 100-yard mark for the first time this season against Indiana last week.

Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel said the task of helping that struggling offense has fallen to Krenzel a great deal.

Tressel said the quarterback may switch the play at the line on as many as a third of all plays, something that allows the offense to work around defensive alignments.

"The thing Craig always says to me is that he wants to get the play in early so he has time to change it," Tressel said, laughing.

"I always say, 'Change it to whatever you want as long as it works.'"

At 6-foot-4, 225-pounds, Krenzel looks almost like a linebacker. Some say he plays like one, too, routinely running with abandon and serving as a gritty guide for the offense.

He says he also has more time to work with the team as his class work is winding down. Krenzel, a molecular biology major, says class work this term hasn't been very difficult, which has allowed him to focus more on the football team.

While praise for Krenzel's throwing skill and athletic prowess are uncommon, Tressel lauded the quarterback's intelligence as the key to his recent success.

"Where I might have to read a book six times to understand it, he may only have to read it once," Tressel said. "I think it's because his focus is so sharp [that] makes him able to be so successful across such a broad front."

That's an easier workload.