For more Purdue football, visit Hammer & Rails.
Currently, the Big Ten Conference has three teams that are undefeated in league play. Michigan State and Iowa are expected to be there, but after losing to Toledo in non-conference play, Purdue is the surprise third team atop the league standings at 2-0. The Boilermakers face a stiff test this week when they head to Ohio State, but Purdue was the lone team that knocked off the Buckeyes last year in a stunning 26-18 win in West Lafayette.
Purdue has not won in Columbus since 1988, and that win was their only victory in the Horseshoe since 1966. The Boilermakers have a chance though thanks to Ryan Kerrigan. the All-American Defensive End has had his best games against the Buckeyes, notching five sacks, seven tackles for loss, and two forced fumbles in the last two games against Terrelle Pryor. He has been an nightmare for the talented Buckeye quarterback, and it was the defensive line of Purdue that made the difference in last season's upset. Purdue harassed Pryor into two interceptions, two fumbles, and generally did not allow him to create with his legs.
Wisconsin borrowed from this strategy in last week's upset of the Buckeyes. That is why Hammer & Rails is excited for another upset:
Wisconsin borrowed from our game plan to beat Ohio State last week, and they were incredibly successful. That is why we have a great chance to win on Saturday. We have three of the same four defensive linemen that dominated the game last year, and Bruce Gaston has been a solid fill-in for Mike Neal. We still have Ryan Kerrigan, who in two games against Terrelle Pryor has five sacks, seven tackles for loss, and two forced fumbles. Of the 21 sacks Kerrigan had coming into this season almost a quarter of them have come against the Buckeyes. If the defensive line can replicate what it did last season it allows the linebackers to play in pass coverage and totally limit what Pryor can do.
Any chance that Purdue has at a victory will come from its defense. Ohio State has proven multiple times that they are not a team that plays well from behind. Give them a lead like they had against Miami and they can swarm you. If you punch them in the mouth, get a lead, and force Pryor to stay in the pocket while containing his running ability they are an average (at best) offensive team.
Purdue's Rob Henry, the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Week, is now 2-0 as Purdue's starter and has showed a lot of poise despite being a redshirt freshman. He has lead Purdue two five consecutive games of 200+ rushing yards, which has not happened for the Boilermakers since 1973. Dan Dierking has been over 100 yards rushing in two of those games, making him one of the surprise Big Ten performers this year. Antavian Edison and O.J. Ross also helped Henry out in the passing game last week.
The game was never in doubt Saturday as Ohio State cruised to a 49-0 rout of Purdue on its Homecoming. The Buckeyes racked up 490 yards of total offense and limited Purdue to 117 yards in dominating both sides of the ball. The injury bug continued to bite Purdue as well, as quarterback Rob Henry left the game with an injured finger and true freshman Sean Robinson was forced to finish the game.
Hammer & rails has already commented on the game, saying the Purdue needs to simply burn the tape and move on next week at Illinois:
Once again, it is up to the coaching staff to turn this thing around. It has had its good moments and bad moments over the first 19 games of Danny Hope’s tenure. The redshirts of Gabe Holmes and Reggie Pegram were burned today, so they are more players we can use if they are willing to make a difference. I can’t help but think you can’t hide from a loss like this, however. I am not ready to join the “Fire Hope” bandwagon, but a game like this certainly raises a lot of questions.
There is no question Ohio State is better than us. They were better than us last year though and we rose tot he challenge. Today we were just dominated in a fashion few expected.
For now, we just need to get one more win before the Indiana game. This season is about improvement, and has been for some time. Get the two wins you need and get to a bowl game. That is still very possible.
Purdue travels to Champaign next week to face Illinois in the battle for the Purdue Cannon.
Things have gone from bad to worse for Purdue, which is getting crushed at halftime 42-0 by Ohio State. The Buckeyes have completely dominated on both sides of the ball. Terrelle Pryor has thrown for 270 yards and three touchdowns as the Buckeyes scored 28 second quarter points. Ohio state has 415 yards of total offense to Purdue’s 47.
Few things have gone right for Purdue. Will Lucas has an interception for the Boilermakers, but the Buckeye defense has allowed just three first downs and has intercepted Rob Henry once.
After one quarter of play Ohio State is comfortably in control against Purdue. Dan Herron has already rushed for 63 yards and two touchdowns as the Buckeyes lead 14-0. Ohio State took advantage of a Special Teams error, recovering a muffed punt to set up their second touchdown.
The Buckeyes are also already on the doorstep again, facing 2nd and goal from nine as the second quarter begins.
Purdue Averages Just 1.1 Yards A Rush, 30 Total Against Ohio State
Columbus, OH (Sports Network) – Dan Herron set the tone with a 10-yard touchdown run on the first series and Terrelle Pryor threw for 270 yards with three scores, as 11th-ranked Ohio State bounced back from last week’s loss at Wisconsin with a dominant 49-0 rout of Purdue at the Horseshoe.
Herron carried on all five plays of the first scoring drive, and finished with 74 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries for the Buckeyes (7-1, 3-1 Big Ten), who were the top-ranked team in the nation before last Saturday’s 31-18 setback in Madison.
Pryor completed 16-of-22 passes with a pair of interceptions while playing into the third quarter. Dane Sanzenbacher, DeVier Posey and Corey Brown each caught a touchdown pass in the victory.
“The only thing after a tough loss is to come back with a win,” Sanzenbacher said. “I’ve never been a part of this team where we had to come off a loss straight into a team that beat us last year. We all had a lot of emotions coming into the game. Not a lot needed to be said; everyone was ready.”
Purdue (4-3, 2-1) entered the game after opening the conference schedule with wins at Northwestern and at home against Minnesota, but the Boilermakers never threatened the Ohio State defense. Purdue managed just 118 total yards and its deepest penetration offensively was the Ohio State 39 late in the fourth quarter.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Rob Henry completed just 9-of-18 passes for 58 yards with an interception and was Purdue’s leading rusher with 26 yards on five carries.
“We talked about a lot of things we wanted to do today. Of course we didn’t play well,” Purdue head coach Danny Hope said. “There were several things we did wrong and we need to make sure we pull together next time. We gave up a lot of big plays and big chunks of yardage. A lot of times we had three or five freshmen in there against one of the best teams in the country.”
The Buckeyes dominated from the start, taking the opening kickoff and marching 60 yards for a touchdown. Herron ran for 17 yards on the first play from scrimmage and never stopped. After a facemask penalty on the initial play added 15 yards, Herron added eight, three and seven yards on the next three plays before powering into the end zone from 10 yards away for a 7-0 lead just under two minutes into the contest.
Ohio State was forced to punt after its second series, but Joe Holland fumbled it away and the Buckeyes regained possession at the Purdue 39. Pryor keyed the short six-play set with a 23-yard pass to Posey, and Herron capped it with a two-yard scoring run.
Jordan Hall scored on a one-yard run in the first minute of the second quarter to finish a 91-yard march, and the Buckeyes were in prime position to score on their next drive before Pryor was picked off by Will Lucas at the Purdue 16.
The Boilermakers, though, quickly punted it back to Ohio State and Pryor directed a 61-yard drive in six plays for another score. A 26-yard pass to Sanzenbacher on 3rd-and-17 moved the chains and Pryor hit Posey with a 22-yard touchdown pass to make it 28-0.
Pryor and Sanzenbacher hooked up twice on Ohio State’s next series. The first was a 56-yard play that set up a seven-yard TD connection between the two. An interception on the next Purdue offensive play gave the Buckeyes one more chance and Pryor cashed in with a 15-yard scoring pass to Brown for a 42-0 cushion heading to the intermission.
The Buckeyes outgained the Boilermakers, 415-44, in the first half.
Purdue failed to cross midfield until its first possession of the third quarter and turned the ball over on downs after reaching the OSU 47. An interception of Pryor gave the Boilermakers good field position at the Ohio State 41 late in the third, but they went backward from there and again turned it over on downs.
Pryor’s afternoon was done after the pick and Joe Bauserman threw a 23-yard TD pass to Spencer Smith midway through the fourth to cap a 10-play drive that featured eight rushes.
The Boilermakers reached the Ohio State 39 on their final drive and set up for a 56-yard field goal in hopes of avoiding the shutout, but Carson Wiggs’ kick wasn’t close.
Ohio State hasn’t dropped back-to-back games since a three-game stretch with losses to Northwestern, Wisconsin and Iowa in October 2004…The 42 first-half points were the most for the Buckeyes since a 45-point output in 2007 against Northwestern…Herron has scored at least one touchdown in seven straight games…Sanzenbacher finished with four catches for 86 yards…The Buckeyes compiled 489 total yards, including 184 on the ground…Ohio State leads the all-time series, 38-13-2, including a mark of 25-5-2 in Columbus…The Buckeyes improved to 65-19-5 on Homecoming.
Oct 24 9:06a by Brad Wells - 0 comments