Ohio State registered a first round knockout Saturday in West Lafayette, scoring 28 first quarter points against Purdue, before finishing off the punchless Boilermakers 56-0. Braxton Miller threw four touchdown passes in the first half, and took the rest of the day off, as the Buckeyes went to halftime with a 42-0 lead and coasted home to their 21st consecutive victory.
On the game’s second play, OSU cornerback Doran Grant picked off Purdue’s Danny Etling, and returned the interception 33 yards for the score. The first time they had the ball, it took the Buckeyes offense just two plays to score again, this time on a 40-yard strike to tight end Jeff Heuerman, and the Boilermakers were essentially finished with the first quarter barely underway.
Miller was once again extremely sharp, completing 19 of 23 pass attempts, for 233 yards and the four TD’s in just two quarters of work. He threw one interception deep in Purdue territory in the early going, but that was about the only thing slowing down this offensive juggernaut. For the second straight game, OSU rolled up over 600 yards of offense, out-gaining the Boilermakers 640 yards to 116.
The OSU offense came out determined to throw the football, specifically to the tight ends, it appeared. Heuerman had just 15 receptions for 139 yards coming into the game, but by halftime he had five grabs for 116 yards and a TD, and had receptions of 18, 24 and 34 yards in addition to the 40-yard touchdown catch. His tight end running mate Nick Vannett added two receptions and a touchdown to make it by far the season’s most productive day at the position.
So intent were they on tuning up Miller’s precision passing game that their bread-and-butter running back Carlos Hyde was almost an afterthought. With just over three minutes to play in the half, it was already 35-0, and Hyde had just 19 yards. So they turned him loose. Hyde rambled for runs of 21, 9 and 42 yards on the next OSU touchdown drive, and came back after the half just long enough to bolt 20 yards on the first play of the 3rd quarter. That earned him his fourth consecutive 100-yard day as well as a seat on the bench for the rest of the afternoon. He finished with 111 yards on just eight carries.
It was a long afternoon for Purdue’s freshman quarterback Danny Etling. The OSU defense hounded him mercilessly, holding him to 89 yards passing on 13 of 29, and sacking him six times. The Boilermaker rushing game was practically non-existent as well. They rushed for 83 yards, but 49 yards in sacks resulted in a net 27 yards on the ground on the day. Florida A&M would give these guys a game.
Kenny Guiton was on the scene as Miller’s backup even before halftime, throwing a 1-yard jump pass to Chris Fields for a touchdown before the break, and then rushing for two more TD’s to account for all the second half scoring. Miller had just one rushing attempt, but Guiton racked up 98 yards on the ground on 11 carries in mop up duty. Miller took the team lead in TD passes away from his backup with 15 for the season, but Guiton is right behind him with 14 of his own.
Linebacker Ryan Shazier led the Buckeye defense with two of the six sacks and seven total tackles. Michael Bennett, Noah Spence and Steve Miller had a sack apiece.
The only bad news all day was a knee sprain (MCL) suffered by starting right tackle Taylor Decker, who was helped off the field in the 3rd quarter, long after the issue had been decided. Word after the game was that he should be fine, especially since the Bucks have a week off before traveling to Illinois.
---
Box Score and Complete Statistics
---
on Twitter at @dwismar
---
(photo credits: all photos by Brian Spurlock - USA Today Sports)