COLUMBUS, OHIO ? Learning not to think so hard has made Ohio State kicker Mike Nugent an All-American.

A year after sharing the kicking job — and a large part of the blame for four of the Buckeyes’ five losses — Nugent is one of the standouts as No. 2 Ohio State heads into the national championship game against top-ranked Miami in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 3.

Nugent owes his success to not using his head.

“I was thinking way too much,” the sophomore said. “I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m out here? I can’t believe it. I’m so shocked.”‘

Nugent had come in as an all-state placekicker in high school. Dan Stultz had graduated after the 2000 season, leaving the job wide open to either Nugent or fellow freshman Josh Huston.

Nugent was brimming with confidence as he approached his first collegiate game. But it also was clear he’d spent a lot of his time worrying about the immensity of the job.

His mental approach wore him down. He missed his first field-goal attempt, a 35-yarder in the season opener against Akron. The next week at UCLA, he shanked a 28-yarder and Huston missed from 32 yards — errors that loomed large in a 13-6 loss.

“I was excited to just be on the team,” Nugent said. “I thought about that way too much more than I should have, instead of just going out and doing my job.”

He later missed a 34-yarder in a 29-27 loss to Penn State. At the same time, Huston also was struggling, and the close losses started to mount. It got so bad that when the field goal unit came onto the field at Ohio Stadium, they were met with boos.

Over time, Nugent realized what he was doing wrong: Like a golfer overanalyzing a 3-foot putt, he never allowed himself the freedom to simply make contact with the ball. Instead, he was afraid of what would happen if he missed.

This season he resolved to let his body take over and to push all thoughts out of his head. The result was stunning.

After beating out the injured Huston for the job, Nugent converted a 45-yard field goal in the opener against Texas Tech, and the successes kept coming. He converted his first 23 attempts — several of which went a long way toward keeping Ohio State’s record spotless.

He set seven Ohio State records in 2002, including most points by a kicker (113), most field goals in a season (24), most consecutive field goals made (24), most consecutive games with at least one field goal (12) and most field goals of 40 yards or longer in a season (9).

Nugent ended up being Ohio State’s first kicker to be chosen first-team All-America.

“Last year, we were a little inconsistent,” quarterback Craig Krenzel said of the Buckeyes’ kicking game. “This year we were darned near perfect.”