College Football

Quick Wrap: Purdue 7 Ohio State 41

The Buckeyes wash out the Boilers during a rainy day in West Lafayette as Purdue slips to 2-5 on the season.

By JedWilkinson@PurdueWilkie Oct 14, 2023, 4:28pm EDT

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: OCT 14 Ohio State at Purdue

Purdue’s offense looked like they would have an effective day on their first drive as they took the ball down to the OSU 31-yard line before Card missed a receiver and Purdue field goal kicker Julio Macias missed a field goal wide left. Immediately after that miss, it was apparent that the speed and talent of the OSU offense was a head above anything Purdue had seen up to this point in the season.

Marvin Harrison Jr. caught 3 passes for 63 yards and a touchdown on the first drive to give OSU a 7-0 lead. After a Purdue 3 and out on the next possession, OSU continued their dominance on offense by driving down the field and scoring on a Devin Brown keeper to make the score 14-0. Purdue again went 3 and out and with OSU inside the 10-yard line, Devin Brown nearly scored again but a Markevious Brown forced fumble allowed Purdue to recover a touchback to prevent another OSU score.

Purdue again went 3 and out, their third consecutive drive going 3 and out, and OSU drove 73 yards in 11 plays to push the score to 20-0 with a Cade Stover touchdown catch. Purdue was unable to generate anything on their next drive but were able to gain a first down, their first since the opening drive of the game. The Buckeyes were forced into a 3 and out and their first 3^rd down they did not convert after being pushed back to 3^rd and 25.

In their last possession of the first half, Purdue drove the ball down to the 1-yard line behind the hard running of Devin Mockobee but instead of going quickly and trying to push the ball into the endzone, Graham Harrell called an inside run to Mockobee in the gun and lost yardage. On 2^nd down, a holding penalty pushed Purdue even further back while Hudson Card took a sack on 3^rd down. With a chance to get points on the board before halftime, kicker Julio Macias hit the left upright and Purdue went into halftime down 20-0. A frustrating end when Purdue could have been down just 20-10.

The second half for Purdue started off poorly as Ohio State quickly went down the field and scored on a Dallan Hayden run up the middle after Markevious Brown was called for two pass interference. That initial scoring drive of the second half took only 2:36 seconds and the game was pushed to 27-0. Purdue’s defense just couldn’t get any sort of stops on third down throughout the game as OSU went 8-13 for the game (Purdue went 3-17).

On Purdue’s first possession of the second half, they were able to drive down the field off a long pass completion to Mershawn Rice for 35 yards and a pass interference call on a 4^th down. They are unable to again get points after Julio Macias misses his third kick of the game, again hitting the upright. Caleb Krockover would take over for Macias the rest of the game after that third miss.

OSU’s next drive of the second half would go for another touchdown after Stover grabs his second touchdown of the game. Cam Allen got isolated in a one on one situation against true freshman Carnell Tate and the Buckeye receiver went 55 yards before being tackled at the 14-yard line. Stover was able to catch his touchdown pass on the following play to push the score to Ohio State 34-0.

After Purdue had two consecutive possessions of going 3 and out with an OSU 3 play offensive series sandwiched between, Nic Scorton forced a Kyle McCord fumble and Purdue recovered but they fail to take advantage again. Purdue ended up forcing two Ohio State turnovers and won that battle 2-0 but did not capitalize any of those opportunities into points. Purdue was able to finally put the ball into the endzone after Hudson Card found Deoin Burks across the middle following Purdue driving to the 1-yard line again but getting called for a false start that pushed them back to the 6-yard line.

Purdue was able to get another stop on defense after Nic Scourton forced Kyle McCord into an intentional grounding penalty but a great punt by OSU forced Purdue to start from their own 2-yard line. Purdue was forced to punt after getting two first downs, a day in which Jack Ansell punted 7 times for an average of 37.9 yards. Poor numbers from a Purdue special teams’ unit that struggled to help the Purdue offense and defense consistently throughout the game.

For their final score of the game, OSU backup QB Devin Brown found Brandon Inniss for a 58-yard touchdown after getting behind Cam Allen with 7:35 left in the fourth quarter. That score would be the final score for either team, with the Buckeyes winning 41-7. Bennett Meredith did get his first action as a Boilermaker today on the final two drives for Purdue and went 1-3 for 8 yards.

On the day, this looked like a game against an established elite team under the direction of one of the landscapes best head coaches with the talent that can beat anyone in the country versus a first-year head coach at a school that is struggling to adjust to new concepts on both sides of the ball. Purdue is obviously severely lacking at important positions such as offensive line, wide receiver, and defensive back as Ryan Walters pointed out as a need in the offseason. When those positions are also the ones dealing with heavy amounts of injuries along with likely the best offensive weapon the Boilers have in Tyrone Tracy, it may not have mattered today if Purdue had played their best game of the season.

OSU was led by Kyle McCord who 16-28 (57%) for 276 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions while Marvin Harrison Jr. had 6 receptions for 105 yards and 1 touchdown. The Buckeye rushing attack had 163 total yards between 5 legit rushing threats with Dallan Hayden leading the way with 76 yards on 11 attempts and 1 touchdown. OSU’s defense generated only 2 sacks on the day but had 9 tackles for loss and 5 pass breakups.

Purdue was led by Hudson Card who struggled again this week going 13-32 (41%) for 126 yards and 1 touchdown. Devin Mockobee rushed for 110 yards on 18 attempts and became the first player Ohio State has allowed to break 100 yards all season. The receiving corps struggled to get open and Card failed to throw his receivers open to force OSU’s defensive backs into a backpedal. Mershawn Rice led the Boilers with only 50 yards receiving.

Ohio State moved to 7-0 on the season with one of the biggest games of the college football season looming against #6 Penn State next season (who should move to 6-0 after their game against UMASS). Purdue dropped to 2-5 on the season with the bye week ahead and a chance to hopefully get some key players healthy. Purdue will now see their schedule ease up as they finish with Nebraska, #2 Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, and Indiana. Other than Michigan, those opponents are a combined 11-13.