COLUMBUS, Ohio — No. 1 Ohio State got a scare, but avoided being yetanother upset victim.

The Buckeyes built a comfortable lead and then gave up two touchdowns offturnovers late in the third quarter — and almost lost another fumble deep intheir own territory on the next play — to slip past Michigan State 24-17 onSaturday.

All week, both sides had talked about what happened in the 1998 meeting,when the unbeaten Buckeyes were 26 1/2 -point favorites and had a 24-9 lead in thethird quarter yet unraveled to lose the No. 1 ranking when the Spartans pulledoff a 28-24 shocker.

Michigan State (5-3, 1-3 Big Ten) almost pulled off a repeat of thatperformance from nine years ago.

The Buckeyes (8-0, 4-0) rolled for most of the first three quarters,building their big lead on two touchdown passes by Todd Boeckman, the running ofChris Wells and a bruising defense that thoroughly shut down Michigan State.

Ahead 24-0 late in the third quarter, they were seemingly in command andlooking ahead to next week’s test at Penn State.

In the span of four plays, it was 24-14 and Michigan State blew a chance torecover another Ohio State turnover on the very next play when two defenderstouched Wells’ fumble, but the back ended up recovering.

The comeback started when Boeckman flipped a pass under pressure that safetyOtis Wiley picked off and returned 54 yards to put the Spartans on the board.

After the ensuing kickoff, a short run and two penalties gave the Buckeyes afirst down at their own 15. But Boeckman was sacked by Jonal Saint-Dic andfumbled, with linebacker Sirdarean Adams swooping in to scoop up the ball andrun 25 yards to make it 24-14.

Suddenly, a crowd of 105,287 was so silent you could hear a nationalchampionship trophy drop.

After the next kickoff, the Buckeyes took over at their own 22. On firstdown, Wells fumbled when hit by Jeremiah Antonio and the ball bounced loose.Wiley and end Ervin Baldwin each had a clear shot at falling on the ball butfailed to grab it.

Boeckman, who completed his first 10 passes in the game and tied aschool-record with 12 straight completions, now had trouble even getting time topass, much less complete one.

After an Ohio State punt midway through the fourth quarter, Brett Swensonkicked a 43-yard field goal to tighten it to 24-17 with just 3:42 left.

It got so bad that on the kickoff that followed, the Ohio State coach JimTressel even instructed returner Brandon Saine to take a knee to avoid turningthe ball over with another fumble.

The Buckeyes took no more chances. Wells carried on the final seven playswhile Michigan State exhausted its timeouts, gaining 36 yards as Ohio Stateplayed keepaway to stay perfect.