69 Days to Purdue Football: Recapping All 69 Points Scored in the 2018 Purdue/OSU Game

Normally on the countdown, we feature players whose number corresponds to how many days are left until Purdue’s first game. There is not #69 on the roster, but we don’t want to waste a nice opportunity, so we’re going to talk about the best game in Jeff Brohm’s career so far: the 49-20 (69 point total) win against Ohio State, which kept them out of the playoffs (oops).

First Quarter 1:10 | Purdue 7, Ohio State 0

The first scoring drive of the game began for Purdue inside their own 5 yard line. Given Ohio State’s power throughout the season, I think most of hoped to at least get down the field far enough so the punter wasn’t too backed up. But of course, Purdue was able to chip away at OSU’s defense and get into the red zone. A big help came from DJ Knox’s big run on 2nd and 20+ after a penalty. My heart skipped a few beats when he fumbled the ball, and all I could think was “welp, here we go again, typical Purdue.” Thankfully, it bounced out of bounds passed the first down marker! Two plays later, Blough finds Zico in the corner of the endzone for a beautiful touchdown, thus beginning the bloodbath.

2nd Quarter 14:14 | Purdue 7, Ohio State 3

This ended up being a typical drive for Ohio State that evening. Their offensive weapons were able to pick apart Purdue’s defense with ease...until they got into the red zone. One thing we should note with this score is the time: just at the start of the 2nd quarter. Ohio State entered the red zone just as the first quarter came to a close, but switched sides of the field between quarters. This meant that OSU was no longer in the open ended South Endzone filled with Ohio State fans on both sides, but were now sandwiched between the student section and press box, which bounced any noise back onto the field. Without a doubt, noise was a factor in Ross-Ade that night, as all of Ohio State’s failed red-zone drives occurred in front of the student section.

2nd Quarter 1:51 | Purdue 7, Ohio State 3

Obviously, no scoring here, but we should still highlight the missed scores that allowed us to get to 69 points! Also, we get our first Urban reaction of the game!

2nd Quarter 0:27 | Purdue 14, Ohio State 3

This is when we knew that that night could be a special night. After this score, ESPN shifted the game odds to Purdue’s favor. It seemed like a normal touchdown, but it was following quite a few great plays, including the fake field goal:

While we talk about Schopper running for his life and pushing his way for that first down, Evans gets some credit too. I didn’t realize it until I saw a replay of this for the 1,465,736th time, but you’ll notice that Evans goes through with the kick, fooling quite a few Ohio State players, buying Schopper some time to run for the first down marker.

While it didn’t show in the gif, after the touchdown we got a happy reaction from the late Tyler Trent in the press box. Given all that he went through during his short life, it was great to see him beaming with joy as Purdue put on a show.

3rd Quarter 12:25 | Purdue 14, Ohio State 6

Another red zone drive for Ohio State, another one that ends with just a field goal. Sorry, no gif for this one.

3rd Quarter 8:36 | Purdue 21, Ohio State 6

The big, bad, burly Boilermakers are putting on a show, and Knox got his first touchdown of the night. Hopkins nearly had the touchdown one play sooner, but was tackled short at the 1-yard line. Additionally, this drive looked dead early on, but an Ohio State player roughed punter Joe Schopper, giving Purdue life again.

Poor Schopper, he was the only player Ohio State was able to tackle that night.

3rd Quarter 4:42 | Purdue 21, Ohio State 6

Another long drive into the red zone for Ohio State, and another one that ended in a dud (well, for them). At this point, Urban Meyer had to put Ohio State’s offense into overdrive if they wanted a chance to win. They opted to go for it on 4th and goal at the 1 yard line, but Blackmon was there once again to end another Ohio State red zone drive.

4th Quarter 11:39 | Purdue 28, Ohio State 6

Don’t you love it when your team is just trying to run down the clock, maybe get a first down or a field goal, and they just stumble into the end zone? Well, that happened 3 times for Purdue in the 4th quarter, and boy was it wonderful. You could see the camera shaking during Knox’s run, and my friends at the game can confirm they felt Ross-Ade shake. It was at that point where we thought “hell, we might actually win this!” Not so fast, my friend...

4th Quarter 9:36 | Purdue 28, Ohio State 13

Congrats, Ohio State! You did it! You finally made it to the end zone! Is it time for you to make a comeback? Not so fast...

4th Quarter 6:46 | Purdue 35, Ohio State 13

Yet again, a play that was probably meant to burn some time ended up in the endzone for Purdue, giving Knox a hat trick that night. The previous play, we almost saw Moore light up the Ohio State defense again, but his foot had juuuuuuust stepped on the line. While I was excited about this, I was also a bit nervous with Ohio State taking the field with so much time left...

4th Quarter 4:40 | Purdue 35, Ohio State 20

I’m not gonna lie, I was nervous at this point. Both of Purdue’s touchdowns had been quickly answered by Ohio State. They were still within two scores and now looked unstoppable. All it took was two onside kick recoveries and this game was tied up. Thankfully, Bailey recovered the onside kick, and Moore had our backs...

4th Quarter 3:37 | Purdue 42, Ohio State 20

This is when I knew FOR SURE that Purdue was going to win this game. I think it’s the first time I cheered out loud all night while watching at home (I’m normally a bit quiet when I watch games, saving my yelling for Twitter). I couldn’t believe what I was watching. Once again, Moore threw off the Ohio State players trying to tackle him, leaving them shell-shocked as he made his way into the end zone. If we were to rank the best Purdue plays since 2000, this one is probably in the Top 10 (I would say last decade but, come on, there’s not much competition there).

At this point, I figured Ohio State would score on their next drive. Well, I was right about the scoring part...

4th Quarter 2:08 | Purdue 49, Ohio State 20

The dagger of the dagger. The exclamation point. This pick-6 was the cherry on top of a very sweet sundae. Even rewatching this play gives me chills. As soon as he caught it, we knew Bailey would take it to the house, it was the only option.

Fun fact: the over/under for this game was somewhere between 65-68 points (depending on your source). Regardless, Bailey probably pissed off a lot of people in Vegas that evening.

Worth it.

BONUS ROUND: URBAN MEYER REACTIONS

HAPPY RETIREMENT, URBAN. Don’t forget to return our text message.