COLUMBUS, Ohio —— One play, one touchdown. Too bad San Diego State's offense couldn't have called it a day 11 seconds into its football game Saturday afternoon.

Others will insist the Aztecs did exactly that. The offensive showing over the final 59 minutes, 49 seconds was one of the worst in school history, and it led to a 27-6 loss to No. 9 Ohio State before 104,533 at Ohio Stadium.

The Aztecs had only three first downs, the lowest output since the program began Division I play in 1969.

Take away the first play —— an 80-yard touchdown pass from Kevin O'Connell to Brett Swain —— and the Aztecs produced 99 yards of offense.

"We really felt it was going to be a big challenge for us —— their defense against our offense," coach Tom Craft said. "We got exposed in a couple areas. That was a pretty electrifying start that didn't have any follow-up."

The defeat leaves the Aztecs 0-3 for the second time in Craft's four seasons as coach. His 2002 team lost its first five games before notching a win.

But never has a Craft-coached team been so ineffective on offense. The Aztecs were 1-of-12 on third-down conversions and ran only 41 offensive plays, exactly half the number run by the Buckeyes (2-1).

"Obviously, after the first play of the game, our defense dominated the football game," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said. "They created field position for us and made for some short fields for the offensive team."

The Buckeyes' three touchdown drives were 20, 32 and 1 yards. But Ohio State held the ball for 38:14 because the Aztecs couldn't maintain possession. Nine of San Diego State's drives were of the three-and-out variety.

"Three first downs —— you have to look in the mirror," said guard Taylor Schmidt, a graduate of Escondido High. "You can't point fingers anywhere else. It comes down to the O-line, and we're dedicated as a unit to help our team out and we don't like letting our team down. I take it really personal, and I can say Jasper (Harvey) and Chris (Pino) do as well."

The one shining moment happened on the well-designed first play.

The Aztecs charged onto the field from the sidelines into a shotgun formation with a four-receiver set. The personnel grouping caught the Buckeyes off guard, prompting several players to look around at one another just before the snap.

Once O'Connell caught Harvey's shotgun snap, he faked a handoff to Lynell Hamilton and tossed a pass to Swain in the right flat.

Receivers Chaz Schilens and Robert Ortiz each delivered seal blocks, which left the sideline open for Swain. The Carlsbad High graduate sprinted down the sideline untouched for an 80-yard touchdown that stunned the Ohio State faithful.

"I was going through a checklist," Swain said. "Don't fumble was one of them, (and) make sure you get into the end zone before you start celebrating."

Garrett Palmer missed the extra point, but the Aztecs had an improbable 6-0 lead.

The advantage held up most of the first quarter. But a 50-yard sequence on a punt return —— Santonio Holmes' 35-yard return was followed by a 15-yard late hit penalty on the Aztecs' Marcus Demps —— placed the Buckeyes on the Aztecs' 20 with two minutes left in the quarter.

Three plays later, Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith scored on a 14-yard run. Josh Huston's extra point gave the Buckeyes their first lead of the game.

Ohio State was on the verge of adding to the lead with a bit more than 10 minutes to go in the half, but Jonathan Bailes forced Buckeyes fullback Brandon Schnittker to fumble just shy of the goal line and Donny Baker recovered.

The Aztecs, however, couldn't move the ball and Ohio State started its next drive at the San Diego State 32. Eight plays later, Smith sneaked in from the 1 to make it 14-6.

The Buckeyes made it 17-6 on the opening drive of the second half. Ohio State went 62 yards on 13 plays before stalling at the Aztecs' 7 and settling for Huston's 25-yard field goal.

At that point, Ohio State had run 50 offensive plays to the Aztecs' 20. San Diego State went three-and-out on its first two second-half possessions and got its only second-half first down with 3:16 to play in the third quarter on a 21-yard pass from O'Connell to Schilens.

Any chance the Aztecs had of making a game of it dissipated on the final play of the third quarter. An option pitch from O'Connell to Hamilton went awry, and Ohio State linebacker Anthony Schlegel recovered the ball at the Aztecs' 1. Schnittker dove in on the first play of the final quarter to make it 24-6.

From that point, the only suspense was whether the Aztecs would continue their pace of one first down per quarter. They fell short.

"That defense was fast," said O'Connell, who was 12-of-17 passing for 159 yards. "They fly around and make plays, and they run their schemes to perfection. We knew we had to be perfect, or close to, and I think we fell a little bit short today."

Contact staff writer Mike Sullivan at (760) 739-6645 or msullivan@nctimes.com.