Ohio State vs. Purdue By Tony Gerdeman

Purdue (2-3) and #12 Ohio State (5-1) have met 50 times previously since their first game back in 1919 and Ohio State holds the 36-12-2 advantage overall.

Purdue comes into this game with a 12-36 mark against ranked opponents in Head Coach Joe Tiller’s tenure, and just 3-18 against ranked opponents on the road. Tiller is just 2-5 against the Buckeyes.

The Boilermakers have lost 16 consecutive games against ranked opponents.

The last time Purdue beat the 12th-ranked team in the nation was back in 2000, when they beat the #12 Buckeyes 31-27 on their way to the Rose Bowl.

Joe Tiller is Purdue’s all-time winningest football coach, compiling an 85-57 record at Purdue, including a 51-38 mark against the Big Ten.

Jim Tressel has built a 78-17 record while at Ohio State and is 4-1 against the Boilermakers.

Purdue hasn’t won in Columbus since 1988, though the last time these two teams met in Ohio Stadium (2003), the Buckeyes came away with a 16-13 win in overtime.

The Boilermakers’ all-time record in Columbus is 5-24-2

When Purdue Has The Ball

The Boilermakers will be bringing a spread passing attack into Ohio Stadium on Saturday. Quarterback Curtis Painter is averaging 245 yards passing per game, but has only thrown five touchdowns. His five interceptions are an indicator of the accuracy and decision-making issues that he has been having.

It was so bad last week against Penn State that Painter was benched in favor of Joey Elliott in the fourth quarter. Elliott then went on to lead the Boilermakers to their only touchdown drive of the game. Despite Painter’s struggles and Elliott’s successes, Painter will get the starter’s nod against the Buckeyes, but Joe Tiller’s patience may be about as thin as a Nittany Lion alibi.

Purdue’s offensive line has given up eight sacks in five games. For a quick passing attack, that’s more sacks than they would like. This is a fairly rebuilt offensive line from the previous year, though the same five players have started all five games so far.

The Ohio State defensive ends should be able to win a share of the battles on Saturday, and though they may never actually sack Curtis Painter, just the fact that they are getting pressure on him will cause him to be erratic with the football. Painter already has enough pressure on him from his own team, so if the Buckeyes can get to him as well, then good things should happen for Ohio State.

Painter has three primary receiving options. Greg Orton leads the team with 30 catches for 330 yards. He is the possession receiver and chain-mover for Painter. He provides a bigger target for Painter-similar to Brian Robiskie-though he is not counted on to take quick passes the distance.

Desmond Tardy is second on the team in receptions with 25, but leads the team in yards (393) and touchdown receptions (2). Tardy is similar to the departed Dorien Bryant in that he can take a quick pass, make a move, and pick up 40 yards pretty easily.

Running back Kory Sheets (17 receptions) also gets involved in the passing game.

The Buckeyes will likely be in a nickel package for most of the game, which means the “Star” position will be manned by sophomore Jermale Hines. This is the type of offense that Hines was built to play against. He will be up towards the line looking to blow up screens and don’t be surprised to see him come after Painter a time or two as well.

But the Boilermakers aren’t strictly a throwing team, because Sheets is one of the best running backs in the conference. He is Purdue’s all-time leader in touchdowns, is averaging 99.6 yards rushing per game and has scored eight touchdowns this season. One of the more impressive statistics is that he has only lost ten yards rushing in his 93 carries out of a spread offense.

Sheets will get the bulk of the carries and if the Buckeye defense wants to avoid having to deal with him, they may want to ask the Ohio State offense to put a couple of quick touchdowns on the board and get Purdue passing the ball as quickly as they can.

The Buckeyes will rotate linebackers Marcus Freeman and Ross Homan to play alongside middle linebacker James Laurinaitis. We will also likely see some three-man fronts with three linebackers in which one or more defenders will come on a blitz.

With the way the Ohio State front four has struggled in the pass rush this season, blitzing may be the only way to get to Painter. But if they do blitz Painter, the Buckeyes will need to tackle because this Purdue offense can execute the short passing game and block downfield for it very well. One missed tackle could lead to six points anywhere on the field.

If the game is close, the advantage will likely go to the Buckeyes because Purdue is breaking in a new place-kicker after benching Chris Summers for his poor effort last week where he missed two field goals and an extra point. The missed extra point snapped a streak of 111 consecutive extra points made by Summers. It’s probably not fair to say Summers got benched just for his performance last week. He is just 5-10 in field goals this season. In his place will be freshman Carson Wiggs, who is mainly used as a kickoff specialist.

Summers will keep his punting duties. However, he is only averaging 41.1 yards per kick, and who knows if his demotion in placements will affect his punting.

Purdue only has four punt returns on the season, though Desmond Tardy is the main returner and he is capable of big things. Tardy also returns kicks and has done so to the tune of 31.8 yards per return so far. Kory Sheets also returns kickoffs and he is just as capable returning the ball as he is taking handoffs. Fortunately, the Buckeyes have been covering kicks much better this year than they were last year. Now however would be no time to get caught napping.

When Ohio State Has The Ball

Purdue’s defense is giving up 436 yards of offense per game, and they are as equally generous to the running game as they are to the passing game. The Boilermakers are giving up 240 yards through the air, so if there was ever a time to let quarterback Terrelle Pryor throw it around, this looks to be it. Last year, Jim Tressel unleashed quarterback Todd Boeckman a bit, but that ended up leading to three interceptions. Boeckman had a season-high 29 attempts in that game last year, and it would not be a surprise if Pryor throws 25 passes on Saturday.

With more attention given to the passing game for the Buckeyes, expect receivers Brian Hartline and Brian Robiskie to continue to get better this season after slow starts. Purdue has a very experienced secondary, and has returned two interceptions for touchdowns already this season, but despite their experience and big-play ability, this unit has still allowed some fairly prolific numbers.

The Boilermakers have nine sacks through five games, but don’t have one player that is a consistent pass-rush terror like they seemingly have for the last half-decade. They do get some pressure inside, but the interior of the Ohio State offensive line seems to be getting better with the addition of freshman center Mike Brewster and the move to left guard of Jim Cordle. The offensive line is more mobile than they have been in the past and they are able to get to necessary spots in order to get their blocks taken care of. Yes, the return of Chris Wells has helped the running game immensely, but so has the adjusted offensive line.

Purdue loves to blitz, but it has not been as effective for them this year as it has been in the past. Middle linebacker Anthony Heygood had 15 tackles for loss playing on the strong side last year, but has started slow in that regard, and only has two tackles for loss to this point. He was just moved to the middle last week against Penn State, so there may be some issues here this week.

Weak side linebacker Joe Holland was moved from safety right before the season started. He has proven to be an effective linebacker, averaging nearly seven tackles per game. With Holland and Heygood, the Boilermakers have speed at linebacker, but that speed also makes them very susceptible to the cutback, something Beanie Wells does well.

The Boilermaker defense is allowing 196 yards rushing per game. Chris Wells carried the ball 22 times last week against Wisconsin, and that was probably more than the coaches wanted. With Wells still dealing with a foot injury, the coaches may want to limit his workload this week. More passing would help, but there is also likely to be a series or three in the first three quarters where Wells stays on the bench.

The problem with that scenario, however, is that back-up running back Boom Herron is sitting this week out with a concussion, so any carries would go to Maurice Wells and Brandon Saine. Both backs have proven effective at times in the new read-option scheme, but both backs have also had their issues finding positive yardage.

The x-factor in the running game will be when Terrelle Pryor keeps the ball on the various option plays, draws, scrambles and the like. And with the introduction of the triple-option out of the Pistol formation last week, look for it again this week as we are likely just starting to see what is under the hood of this offense.

The Buckeyes had a pretty decent week in the special teams last week. Punter A.J. Trapasso had a fantastic week in Madison and he has been solid for three or four weeks after a slow start to the season.

The kick return game still has its issues, but the blocking appeared to be a little better last week because Brandon Saine was actually able to get to about the 15-yard line before running into tacklers. Saine excelled in the return game in high school, so he only needs one seam to be open and he can take it the distance. For the past few seasons those seams have proven elusive.

And receiver Ray Small is probably due again for a big punt return after having the bobbles last week.

How It’ll End Up

Jim Tressel will let Terrelle Pryor throw early, but will try to keep him out of situations where the Buckeyes would go three and out, so don’t expect three straight passes to be called too often.

Pryor will throw short, long and everywhere in between. There will be more zip on the ball than he has exhibited at times this season. Because of this, some of his passes may sail. He will still be safe with the ball, but some accuracy issues may appear.

Chris Wells will again rush for over 100 yards, making it his sixth-straight 100-yard game.

Wells won’t be the only running threat for the Buckeyes. Terrelle Pryor will also approach 100 yards rushing, though it wouldn’t be the first quarterback to go over the century mark against the Boilermakers this year. Central Michigan’s Dan LeFevour rushed for 112 yards earlier in the season.

Curtis Painter’s struggles will go away for a while, but eventually come back to him by the second half. His errant throws will lead to two interceptions in the second half and allow the Buckeyes to stretch a safe lead into an even safer one.

In the end, even though the Buckeyes will try to establish a passing game, their running game will prove too effective to keep the ball in the air.

And what a terrible problem to have.

Ohio State 30 - Purdue 13

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