A dead-eye Buckeye

If the punt is the most important play in football, the field goal is right on its heels in Jim Tressel’s heart of hearts and soul of soles.

In Saturday’s kick-a-thon at North Carolina State, Ohio State’s no-frills coach left little doubt he is more inclined at this stage in their careers to ride the strong, accurate right foot of senior co-captain Mike Nugent instead of the strong, unpredictable right arm of sophomore quarterback Justin Zwick.

If you thought Tressel’s main objective on offense was to score touchdowns, boy, are you in for a rude awakening.

“They know their No. 1 task was not to turn it over,” Tressel said in a less-than-ringing endorsement of his offense after the 22-14 victory. “There’s one thing we tell our quarterbacks all the time. When you get to a certain point, we say, ‘Hey, you understand, we’ve got three (points). So don’t foul up our three.’ Now, if we can go get seven, let’s go do it.”

But not all coaches have the luxury of such a steady kicking game.

Three weeks into the college football season, kickers have provided many of the most memorable moments — both good and bad.

Defending BCS champ LSU has been at the center of the kicking follies.

The Tigers opened the season with the luckiest of victories, gift-wrapped by Oregon State redshirt freshman kicker Alexis Serna.

In his first game as the Beavers’ starter, Serna missed three extra points. The final shank came in overtime with a chance to tie. LSU avoided a loss that could have derailed its hopes of a repeat.

Another kicker looked like he would succumb to the Tigers’ hex on Saturday, when Auburn’s John Vaughn knocked a game-tying PAT attempt wide left with just over a minute left.

But LSU was apparently out of luck. A penalty gave Vaughn another attempt, which he made to give Auburn a 10-9 victory and the early lead in the SEC West.

In the SEC East, Tennessee’s James Wilhoit went from goat to hero against Florida. The first missed extra point of the sophomore’s career left the Volunteers trailing 28-27 with less than four minutes left.

Like Vaughn, Wilhoit got a chance to redeem himself, but in far more dramatic fashion. Wilhoit nailed a game-winning 50-yard field with 6 seconds left.

Officials’ goof gives Vols extra time

The Southeastern Conference’s supervisor of officials said the crew working the Tennessee-Florida game erred in handling the clock, allowing the Volunteers more time on their final drive, which ended with a game-winning field goal.

The mistake occurred when Florida receiver Dallas Baker was called for unsportsmanlike conduct after DeShawn Wynn was stopped on a third-down run with 55 seconds left in the game, with the Gators leading 28-27 Saturday night.

After the penalty, the officials placed the ball on the ground and began running the clock on the snap for Florida’s fourth-down punt.

Bobby Gaston, the SEC supervisor of officials, said because it was a running play, the clock should have started on the “ready” — when the referee winds his arm — and not the snap.

LSU out, Auburn into top 10

LSU fell out of the top 10 Sunday while Auburn moved in, the result of a one-point game decided by a second-chance extra point.

Defending BCS champion LSU dropped eight spots to No. 13 in the Associated Press media poll after losing 10-9 at Auburn on Saturday. Auburn moved up five spots to No. 9.

The top four teams in the rankings were unchanged with Southern California in first, Oklahoma second, Georgia third and Miami fourth.