Written by Dan Wismar

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The Buckeyes took an early 7-0 lead over Purdue with a touchdown off a blocked punt, and then used a stifling defense to hold off the Boilermakers and win their fourth straight game, moving to 6-1 and remaining tied for the Big Ten lead with a 3-0 mark. The OSU offense failed to score a touchdown against the 11th ranked defense in the Big Ten, but still managed to down the Boilermakers 16-3, in a game that may give "winning ugly" a bad name.  Buckeye Dan recaps the win.

The Buckeyes took an early 7-0 lead over Purdue with a touchdown off a blocked punt, and then used a stifling defense to hold off the Boilermakers and win their fourth straight game, moving to 6-1 and remaining tied for the Big Ten lead with a 3-0 mark. The OSU offense failed to score a touchdown against the 11th ranked defense in the Big Ten, but still managed to down the Boilermakers 16-3, in a game that may give "winning ugly" a bad name. 
 
It was difficult to tell if the Purdue defense was playing inspired ball, or if the Buckeyes were just a bit flat, but the OSU offense never did hit its stride, averaging just 3 yards per rushing attempt, and failing to break 100 yards in passing yardage for the game. Even at that, they looked better than the Purdue offense, which was limited to just 70 yards rushing, and had to throw the ball 51 times to amass 228 yards passing, an average of just 4.5 yards per attempt. 
 
The Buckeye defense executed the game plan to near perfection, following the same script that shut down QB Curtis Painter and the Purdue offense last season. They controlled Purdue tailback Kory Sheets, and forced Painter to throw short all afternoon, using man-to-man coverage by All-American cornerback Malcolm Jenkins to take away any deep threat for the Boilermakers. 
 
The senior captain Jenkins had the kind of dominant game that could cement his first-round draft position. He blocked the Badgers' first punt of the game, leading to a 20-yard return for a score by Etienne Sabino, and intercepted a Curtis Painter pass in the second quarter. He contributed four tackles, broke up two passes, and his man coverage on the deep receivers helped keep Painter from having any success throwing the ball long.  
 
After trailing 13-0 at the half, Purdue took their first second half possession and drove to the Buckeye 36-yard line, where they scored their only points of the game on a 53-yard field goal by Carson Wiggs. Purdue would not reach Ohio State territory again until less than two minutes remained in the game, and the outcome was no longer in doubt. The Boilermakers turned the ball over on downs at the OSU 26 with 0:28 on the clock, and as it ticked down to their sixth victory, the Buckeyes were left to contemplate how an offensive performance like this might play in East Lansing next Saturday against the 6-1 Spartans. 
 
 
"Offensive" Attack 
 
 
Reading the first five paragraphs of this game story without seeing the words "Terrelle Pryor" should be a clue to how unexciting the Buckeye offense was on this day. The freshman phenom was relatively highlight-free against a Purdue defense that had surrendered over 400 yards per game coming in to the Horseshoe. That's not the way it was supposed to be.  
 
In Pryor's defense, it should be noted that we were seeing ultra-conservative 'Tresselball' in its purest form once the Buckeyes got a 10-0 lead after one quarter, and the Purdue offense had given no indication they could move the ball consistently against the OSU defense. At that point, Tressel had to figure the only way he could lose was for his freshman quarterback to make big mistakes, so he limited what he asked of Pryor to the bare minimum.  
 
Pryor threw the ball just 14 times in the game, completing 10, for just 97 yards. He also rushed 14 times, and had 50 positive yards to go with 23 yards in sacks and losses, for a net of 27 yards rushing, a 1.9 yard average. He had his longest run (22 yards) and his longest pass completion (22 yards to DeVier Posey) on consecutive plays on the Bucks' second possession of the game. That drive ended with a punt, and the Pryor highlight reel was essentially completed for the afternoon.  
 
The Buckeyes couldn't be accused of blowing numerous scoring opportunities, because they simply didn't create very many of them. Their one good first quarter drive stalled inside the Purdue 10-yard line after Chris Wells' two best runs of the day, (16 and 24 yards) set them up at the Purdue 18. Already up 7-0 as a result of the special teams score, Ryan Pretorius made it 10-0 with a 24-yard field goal in the final minute of the first quarter. 
 
Jenkins' interception at the start of the second quarter had the Bucks in business at the Purdue 30-yard line, but they couldn't muster a first down, and Pretorius missed badly on a 38-yard field goal attempt. After that, the Buckeyes would not revisit the Purdue "red zone" until the end of the third quarter, and would have only a 49-yard field goal by Pretorius to show for the middle two quarters of the ball game.  
 
It didn't get any better for the OSU offense in the fourth quarter. Pryor & Co. went through the motions on their two possessions, and got only one first down in the entire quarter...and that came on a pass interference penalty. Tapes of the Buckeye offense from this game are being readied for insomnia clinics at this very moment. And if the object of games against these "lesser" Big Ten opponents is to get the young quarterback ready to face the big boys like Penn State down the line, well...that didn't happen. 
 
Chris Wells had a workmanlike 94 yards on 22 rushes, and demonstrated the trademark stiff-arm a few times, but 10 of his 22 carries resulted in gains of one yard or less, as the Boilermaker defenders got good penetration, and consistently kept him from breaking away.  
 
The receiving statistics for the Buckeyes don't take long to run down. Pryor spread his 10 completions around to seven different receivers, with Posey, Brian Robiskie and Chris Wells getting two each. Freshman Lamaar Thomas made an appearance, and had a nice 16-yard pickup on one of the rare 3rd down conversions for Ohio State. Pryor and the offense were able to convert just one of seven 3rd down plays in the first half, and although they were 3 of 7 in the second half, they managed just three points after halftime.  
 
Ugly. 
 
 
Counting on the D 
 
 
The performance on the other side of the ball for the Buckeyes was a different story, as Tressel counted on his punter and his defense to win the game for him, and they came through. The much maligned defensive line had an active day, with Doug Worthington, Rob Rose, and Thad Gibson playing particularly well, and tackle Todd Denlinger came off of the injury list to make an impact against both the run and the pass. Lawrence Wilson was active too, but left the game with what appeared to be a knee injury, and did not return. 
 
Gibson led the linemen with six total tackles, and he added two tackles-for-loss, a sack and a forced fumble in what was probably the best game of his young career. Linebacker James Laurinaitis had a quiet 10 tackles and Marcus Freeman chipped in with nine. Chimdi Chekwa played well at the corner opposite Jenkins, breaking up two passes and making four solo tackles. As suggested earlier, Malcolm Jenkins was clearly the best player on the field for Ohio State on either side of the ball. 
 
The Buckeye strategy of preventing the "big play" at all costs works especially well against teams that are devoid of "big play-makers", and Purdue certainly qualifies in that category. The only time Purdue got inside the OSU 35-yard line in the first half (to the 32), they were sacked and fumbled the ball back to the Buckeyes. The only time they got inside the OSU 35-yard line in the second half was in the final two minutes of a 16-3 game. They just have no one to worry a defensive coach, and it's tough to project more than one or two conference wins for them.  
 
Ohio native Joe Tiller was coaching his last game in his home state before retiring as Purdue's all time leader in coaching victories.  
 
Buckeye fans had hoped to see Terrelle Pryor and the Buckeye offense build on last week's big road win at Wisconsin by taking another step forward in their growth and maturation against the Boilermakers. Even in light of their fourth consecutive win, and an positive defensive performance, it's hard to come away from this one without feeling that it may have been a step back.  
 
 
 
Links: 
 
 
OSU Athletic Dept. Official Game Stats