In a game in which Purdue needed near perfection to win they got nothing close to that in the first quarter. After that things improved slightly, especially on offense, but Purdue simply couldn’t stop the runaway train that was the Ohio State offense. Purdue held Ohio State to a field goal on one drive and one other punt going deep into the fourth quarter. The only other possession that Ohio State didn’t score on was ended by kneel downs at the end of the game. While that says something about the Purdue defense I think it says more about the Ohio State offense.
In the first quarter alone Purdue had a 16 yard punt, an offensive fumble, and a kickoff return fumble. Things just didn’t start out well for this team and this is the type of game that for Purdue to win they needed to punch Ohio State in the mouth early and try to keep them off balance. That obviously didn’t happen.
Look, Ohio State is good They are the best team that Purdue has faced this year, and likely will face all year regardless of who they see in a bowl game. It’s hard to hang your head after a game like this. Sure, it’s ugly. Sure, you’d like to see the Purdue defense make this Ohio State offense a bit more uncomfortable but ultimately a loss is a loss. There was some positive to take away from this game despite the ugly score. The Purdue offense continues to put up more points and since halftime against Nebraska really seems to have found something. Also on offense, Milton Wright continues to play well and really slot himself into the obvious WR1 for next season. Anthrop continues to establish himself as a great weapon.
The changes to this offense bode well for the next two games against teams that don’t have even close to the weapons that Ohio State has. Purdue now sits at 6-4 on the season as they head to Wrigley Field, for some stupid reason, to face Northwestern. Much more to come on this game tonight and throughout next week.Now, let’s go root for Purdue soccer and Purdue volleyball the rest of the weekend.