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Defense leads way as Ohio State football cruises to blowout win over Purdue
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- Defense leads way as Ohio State football cruises to blowout win over Purdue
Ohio State coach Ryan Day tried all week to make the case that Purdue was no pushover for the No. 2 Buckeyes .
But no amount of coach-speak can hide the truth. The Boilermakers are the worst team in the Big Ten, and only a disastrous effort by Ohio State could have kept Saturday's game at Ohio Stadium from being a blowout.
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The Buckeyes might not have been at their absolute sharpest, but they were plenty solid in a 45-0 win in front of 103,463.
Ohio State got its first shutout in Big Ten play since 2017 while holding Purdue to only 206 yards.
Ohio State quarterback Will Howard completed 21 of 26 passes for 260 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another score in just over three quarters of play.
Ohio State improved to 8-1 (5-1 Big Ten). Purdue fell to 1-8. Its only win came in the opener against FCS opponent Indiana State . Since then, the Boilermakers have been outscored 340-113.
Against such an opponent, the Buckeyes wanted to avoid a letdown after their emotional 20-13 win last week at Penn State .
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"We're going to go back on the film and figure out the things that we've got to clean up and get better at across the board," Day said. "It wasn't all clean today. It wasn't. But I thought guys played hard and it was good to see us respond coming off an emotional win."
Ohio State quarterback Will Howard (18) celebrates with tight end Gee Scott Jr. (88) after Scott scored a touchdown against Purdue on Saturday.
Ohio State defense shines again
Ohio State's defensive resurgence following the "re-engineering" of that unit following the loss to Oregon continued. The Buckeyes last blanked a Big Ten opponent in 2017 against Rutgers.
"It's big," senior defensive end Jack Sawyer said. "But I think we have a lot of things we can improve on from that game. This is a good game to build off of."
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Purdue's best drive came before the missed chip-shot field goal when linebacker Cody Simon was the only starter in the front seven for most of the possession.
The Boilermakers moved into OSU territory on their next possession after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on freshman defensive tackle Eddrick Houston, who started in place of Tyleik Williams . But the drive ended when defensive end Jack Sawyer and defensive back Jordan Hancock sacked Hudson Card on fourth down.
Ohio State receivers Carnell Tate (17) and Jeremiah Smith (4) celebrate a touchdown by Smith on Saturday.
Purdue threatened on its first possession of the second half, but Lathan Ransom intercepted a pass in the end zone.
The coup de grace came on the Boilermakers' next possession. J.T. Tuimoloau knocked the ball from running back Reggie Love III. Sawyer scooped up the ball and ran 11 yards for the touchdown.
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"I haven't scored a touchdown since my junior year of high school," said Sawyer, a Pickerington North grad. "So five years. A long time.
"There was no chance in hell I was diving on that ball. I was trying to scoop and score no matter what. It was a special play. J.T. made a big-time play punching it out."
Nov 9, 2024; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Purdue Boilermakers quarterback Hudson Card (1) is pressured by Ohio State Buckeyes safety Sonny Styles (6) during the first half of Saturday’s football game at Ohio Stadium.
That was the last series for the starting defense. It allowed only 143 yards, 3.3 per play. Purdue was only 2 of 9 on third down and failed on its two fourth-down attempts.
Ohio State offense chugged along
Ohio State's starting offense managed only one first down on its first possession before scoring five touchdowns and kicking a field goal on their final six.
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The Buckeyes' reshuffled offensive line featuring Donovan Jackson at left tackle and Carson Hinzman at left guard took another step forward.
TreVeyon Henderson had only six carries, but the senior averaged 14.2 yards on them in gaining 85 yards, including a 19-yard touchdown. He also had a 32-yard catch to set up a touchdown.
He was one of eight Buckeyes to catch passes.
"That means everybody's clicking," Howard said. "That means that the (backups) are ready to step in when they have to.
"It fires me up. That's a good sign. That means everybody's locked in and there's really not much of a dropoff from the (starters) to the (backups)."
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But the Freshman Jeremiah Smith had six catches for 87 yards and a touchdown, all in the first half. Sophomore Carnell Tate also had six receptions for 56 yards. The Buckeyes rolled without a big game from senior Emeka Egbuka . He didn't have a catch until catching a 10-yard touchdown pass in the starters' final possession. OSU starters gained 390 yards, averaging 7.2 per play.
Ohio State did not commit a turnover a week after Howard threw a pick-six and lost a fumble at the goal line against Penn State.
"If you look at the stats, you could say mistake-free and turnover-free, but it was definitely not mistake-free," Howard said of his performance. "There are probably five or six plays I'd like to have back.
"I'm proud of how I took care of the ball today. That's a big, big emphasis for us. So coming off last week, this is a solid performance, but not perfect by any means."
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Special teams proved pivotal early
Special teams had been a liability in recent years and it cost Parker Fleming his job after last season. Though Ohio State hadn't made inexcusable errors in the kicking game this season, neither had it given the Buckeyes much of a boost. Day lamented that this week.
But the kicking game provided the biggest game-changing plays early against Purdue.
The game was scoreless midway through the first quarter when Ohio State forced a punt after a three-and-out at the Boilermakers' 13-yard line. Defensive end Caden Curry came unblocked and got his hand on the punt by Keelan Crimmins. The Buckeyes took over at the 8. Howard's fourth-down carry from the 1 gave Ohio State the lead.
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"We went back and changed some stuff on (punt) personnel," Day said. "We put Caden and Mitch (Melton) off the edge there, which we felt was a good matchup for us in the moment. "We put a lot of work into it, but those guys have to go execute, and they did."
Purdue then drove 80 yards in 13 plays to the OSU 3 – almost all against a Buckeye front seven comprised mostly of backups – before Ryan Walters decided to settle for a field goal. But Spencer Porath's 21-yard field goal was wide right. Ohio State then went 80 yards to take a 14-0 lead.
Jayden Fielding , who made two field goals in last week's win over Penn State, kicked a 42-yard one to open the scoring in the second half.
Porath hooked a 38-yard field goal attempt wide left with 9:50 remaining to keep OSU's shutout alive.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football cruises to 45-0 victory over Purdue
