OSU's Coleman soaks in victory

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Ohio State players Nate Oliver (15), Kurt Coleman (4), Doug Worthington (84), and Ray Small (82) celebrate their 20-10 win over Michigan in an NCAA football game in Ann Arbor, Mich., Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009.

AP Photo/Carlos Osorio Ohio State players Nate Oliver (15), Kurt Coleman (4), Doug Worthington (84), and Ray Small (82) celebrate their 20-10 win over Michigan in an NCAA football game in Ann Arbor, Mich., Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009.

By Tom Archdeacon, Staff Writer Updated 10:38 AM Sunday, November 22, 2009

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The final sheet of statistics from this one will show Kurt Coleman had two interceptions, but in truth, he had three.

Thanks in part to his two picks, the Ohio State football team pushed aside Michigan 21-10 on Saturday, Nov. 21, at Michigan Stadium.

As soon as the game ended — before he and his teammates began the traditional serenade of their followers with “Carmen Ohio” — the senior safety and team captain out of Northmont High School hurried to the south end of the stadium.

He pulled himself over the blue grandstand railing and made his way up into the small knot of red-clad fans among the mostly blue-and-maize minions in this crowd of 110,922.

“I knew where my family was — I’d seen them all during warm-ups — and I just wanted to be with them,” Coleman said. “It meant a lot that my dad and mom, my brother and two sisters were all here to see me play my final game in the Big House and then to have it come out so good.”

His dad — Ron Coleman — a Stebbins High assistant principal, just beamed: “What a way to go out. He made us so proud ... Again.”

In the stands, that pride, Kurt said, translated into “a bunch of hugs and kisses and I-love-yous.”

Actually, there was a little more than that. He gave his folks the red rose someone had handed him — a fragrant reminder of the team’s upcoming Rose Bowl — and then he made his last big pick of the day.

He snatched the scarlet newsboy cap his dad was wearing and plopped it backwards on his own head.

Uniform change

He calls his dad “Pops,” and their special bond was accentuated Saturday when the Bucks took the field in uniforms that resembled those of the 1954 team — except each bore a small patch that included the initials S.S. in black.

It was a remembrance of Stefanie Spielman, the wife of former OSU great Chris Spielman, who died of breast cancer Thursday.

“It’s a close subject to me because my dad had breast cancer,” Kurt said. “I spoke to Chris a lot about it.”

Before finally heading out the stadium tunnel to the dressing room, Coleman lingered a bit on the field. In four OSU seasons, he’d never lost to Michigan.

“We had a great speaker last night. (Author) John Maxwell told us to basically make every play our masterpiece, and that’s what I did today.”

He intercepted his first Tate Forcier pass in the second quarter and then picked the Michigan quarterback again — this time with an acrobatic, backwards leap alongside a lunging receiver on the sideline — in the fourth quarter.

Although part of a five-turnover game by Michigan, the undercurrent was about neither team giving any quarter.

“The Michigan game is a season in itself,” Coleman said. “You could feel that going out for the coin toss. We didn’t want to shake each other’s hand and a lot of words were being flown. And as the game wore on, little fights were breaking out. It’s that intense.

“That’s why I wanted to make a lasting imprint here. I wanted to leave this game with a little legacy of my own.”

Wearing that jaunty red cap, he was leaving with that ... and a lot more.

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