What They're Saying: Ohio State-Purdue Aftermath

Game Recaps

Wisconsin who? 'Angry' Ohio State crushes Purdue, 49-0, while still lamenting loss in Madison | cleveland.com
Ohio State's 49-0 dismantling of Purdue on Saturday was so effortless, it had to produce one obvious reaction among the Buckeyes and their fans. What happened at Wisconsin last week? "Obviously, I think Wisconsin is a little bit better [than Purdue]," Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor said, "but I think we should have beaten [the Badgers]. We walked in like we were going to beat them without a problem and we got a reality check. Nine out of 10 times, we beat Wisconsin, but on that one day when it all mattered, they beat us."

With 20 minutes of hard running, Dan Herron had the Buckeyes on the move: On The Clock | cleveland.com
Putting the Buckeyes and Boilermakers on the clock during Saturday's game. 12:02 p.m.: The football was on the ground inside Ohio State's 5, OSU return man Jordan Hall was watching it spin, and Buckeyes' coach Jim Tressel was thinking Hall is a genius. 0Share 2 Comments "Jordan Hall showed great patience on that opening kickoff, letting it kind of spin out of bounds and we got to start the game on the 40," Tressel said later after Ohio State's 49-0 win over Purdue. It looked a little strange at the time, Hall seeming to force the ball onto the sideline with his mind, but it was exactly what Tressel wanted and the Buckeyes needed to get the momentum in their favor. Tailback Dan Herron took care of the rest.

Ohio State 49, Purdue 0: Simply smashing | BuckeyeXtra
It was all downhill for Purdue yesterday after the coin flip. Ohio State won the toss and elected not to give up a touchdown return on the opening kickoff, as happened the week before in a loss at Wisconsin. This time, the Boilermakers' kick rolled out of bounds. The scoreboard still read 0-0. The Buckeyes were safe. They proceeded to take out their frustrations on the Boilermakers, stomping on them early and often and finishing with a 49-0 victory in a subdued and less-than-full Ohio Stadium. Does the opening-kickoff theory sound too simplistic? It was the first thing out of coach Jim Tressel's mouth afterward. "Jordan Hall showed great patience on that, letting it kind of spin out of bounds, and we got to start the game on the 40," Tressel said. "Before you know it, it's 7-0."

Purdue Boilermakers vs. Ohio State Buckeyes - Recap - October 23, 2010 - ESPN
Ohio State (No. 10 BCS, No. 11 AP) wanted to heal a pair of wounds, one of them a year old, the other just a week. Terrelle Pryor threw for three scores and Dan Herron ran for two as the Buckeyes steamrolled Purdue 49-0 on Saturday, earning redemption for a stunning 26-18 upset a year ago at Purdue and for last week's 31-18 defeat at Wisconsin that toppled them from No.1.

Side Stories

Kerrigan's whereabouts never unknown | BuckeyeXtra
Ryan Kerrigan might not have known it, but he was under surveillance by the Ohio State offense from the time he stepped onto the field yesterday. The Buckeyes had his name, they had his face, they had his number, and they were looking for him. "Every single play," fullback Zach Boren said after Ohio State's 49-0 win over Purdue. "Every time I got down in my stance, I knew where No.94 was."

After the defensive end blew up so many plays in the Boilermakers' 26-18 upset win a year ago, it would have been inexplicable for the Buckeyes not to know his whereabouts yesterday. And it wasn't just because of the havoc he might cause by himself. "He's the one they built their defense around," Boren said. "When they were bringing different blitzes and stuff, he was the one that tipped them off. So we just looked at him and knew where he was the whole time." The Buckeyes even ran some plays that took advantage of Kerrigan's aggressiveness, flipping a couple of screen passes over his head and letting him run wide on the pass rush, only to send running back Daniel Herron or another back underneath him on a draw play.

OSU notebook: Safety savors first pick | BuckeyeXtra
Getting his first career interception made Ohio State safety Orhian Johnson feel good yesterday, but why he got it made him feel even better. Interceptions can be fluky, after all, such as a ball batted into the air. Or they can result simply from being the closest defender when a quarterback makes a mistake. But when Johnson picked off Purdue's Rob Henry late in the second quarter of Ohio State's 49-0 win, it was validating to Johnson, a sophomore making his sixth career start. He made the play for the right reason - he anticipated the pass and broke on it. "It felt right," said Johnson, a sophomore. "I was reading my keys. I saw the ball coming, and I just went after it."

A difficult read for Purdue | BuckeyeXtra
Remember how Ohio State stopped Oregon's zone-read option offense in the Rose Bowl? Obviously, Purdue didn't, based on its 49-0 loss to the Buckeyes yesterday. The Boilermakers' version of the zone-read option, which emphasizes getting to the outside before cutting upfield with the ball, was stuffed all game long. It was redemption for the OSU defense, which had been pushed around by Wisconsin's power running game a week before in a 31-18 loss. Purdue rushed for 30 net yards on 27 attempts and gained just 118 total yards, the fewest allowed by Ohio State this season. "Last week, we weren't that aggressive; this week, we were," said linebacker Andrew Sweat, who had eight tackles, including 2.5 for loss. "Even though it was a different offense (from Wisconsin's), we've faced it before."

Buckeyes receive some freshman flash from speedy Corey Brown | cleveland.com
It was a basic crossing pattern, 14 yards out, then snap it sharp across the middle. The kind of route in which a receiver usually takes one in the chin. Except the Purdue safety backed off. Seeing that, Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor zipped the ball, finding true freshman Corey Brown, who reached up high to grab it for a touchdown and a 42-0 lead just before halftime.

Grades

Defense, special teams elevate their grades vs. Boilermakers: Ohio State Report Card | cleveland.com
Some quick grades on the Buckeyes' report card after Saturday's game. A -- Defense 0Share 3 Comments The Buckeyes got their first shutout in almost a year, since blanking New Mexico State, 45-0, on Oct. 31, 2009. That was one of three shutouts last season and after some near zeroes early this year, the coaches left the first-team defense in a little bit longer than the first-team offense as they nailed this one down against the Boilermakers. "It means a lot. That's what you strive for every game," senior safety Jermale Hines said. "That's what you work for and it feels great to get a shutout. We just want to come out and do what we're capable of."

Plenty of bright moments for the OSU defense: Saturday's best and worst | cleveland.com
The best and worst from Ohio State's rout of Purdue on Saturday. Best interception: Ohio State's defensive backfield is severely hobbled, with starters C.J. Barnett and Tyler Moeller out for the year and Christian Bryant sidelined after foot surgery. But the patchwork Buckeyes shut down the Boilermakers' passing game, allowing just 88 yards and no completion longer than 14 yards. Ohio State also picked off two passes, including a nice interception along the Buckeyes' sideline near midfield late in the first half by sophomore strong safety Orhian Johnson. It was his first career pick.

Scarlet & Gray Matter | BuckeyeXtra
Short-attention-span synopsis: Purdue payback. Everyone into the Ohio State scoring pool. After laying egg at Wisconsin, defense lays goose egg on PU. Pregame buzz: Certainty is in short supply whenever the Buckeyes come off a loss. So no one was sure whether they would roll over the Boilermakers or roll over and play dead, as they did last season at Purdue. Answer: Buckeyes rolled up 415 of their 489 yards by halftime. 'Nuff said. The $70 question: The white-suited, bushy sideburned impersonator dotting the "i" in "Script Elvis" soothed fans who were all shook up about last week's loss -- for about the same price you'd pay in Vegas. As for the opening act, the Buckeyes put up 49 on Purdoo-doo and called it a day.

Bob Hunter commentary: Defense spits out foul taste of loss | BuckeyeXtra
Some of the Ohio State players tended to sanitize what happened last week against Wisconsin.. Holes in the defensive front that looked big enough to drive a herd of Wisconsin dairy cows through seemed to shrink when some of the players talked about them. It was a lack of execution. It was one man out of position. Hey, one guy is out of position and, the next thing you know, John Clay was rambling across the wide-open plains of Kansas, you know? But there was a sense that we weren't getting the straight story, that behind closed doors the ugliness had been scrubbed clean for public consumption.

That seemed to be made clearer by the obvious delight of the defensive players yesterday after Ohio State beat Purdue 49-0. So when defensive tackle Dexter Larimore said, "We were in the film room more than we ever have been," it seemed natural to ask what it was like to watch those tapes. He thought for a moment and smirked. "Kind of like the puke feeling you get when you start thinking about something really sickening," he said. "That's something, as a D-line, you take really personally. If a team can just jam it down your throat like that, I mean, it makes me personally - and I know all our guys felt it, too - it just makes you almost sick."

The Bottom Line | BuckeyeXtra
Was it revenge for laying an egg last year or redemption for dropping the No.1 cake last week? Could have been both, or neither. The truth is, OSU had the hot knife for Purdue's butter no matter the mind-set. Leaves are awarded on a zero-to-five basis. Offense (4 leaves) The temptation is to knock off a leaf because of TP -- two picks -- but it's easier to be generous in a 400-yard, six-score, this-game's-over first half. The Buckeyes racked up 19 plays of 10 yards or more, none delivered via the legs of Terrelle Pryor. That's a "good on ya" for the offensive line. Defense (4 leaves) The problem at Purdue isn't agents dealing with players but doctors, so banged up is the offense. Still, the Buckeyes couldn't have asked for a better prescription after getting their hats handed to them a week ago. OSU dealt the punishment this time and earned its first shutout, which barely was in doubt.

Three points | BuckeyeXtra
Star of the game The whole Ohio State defense. A week after getting sliced and diced by Wisconsin, the defense achieved its first shutout since a 45-0 win over New Mexico State last season. It limited the Purdue offense to 118 yards, the fewest by an opponent this season, and put a stranglehold on the Boilermakers' zone-read option offense. Turning point Jermale Hines' recovery of a muffed punt by Purdue at 9:23 of the first quarter. Purdue, trailing 7-0, had forced a three-and-out, but when the return man ran into his blocker and couldn't field the punt, it bounced off the helmet of Chris Carlino, and Hines pounced. Moments later, Daniel Herron had his second touchdown, and the rout was on.

The Future

Ohio State earns some payback vs. Purdue, but a real payoff must wait for Iowa City: Bill Livingston | cleveland.com
In Ohio State's terminology, Purdue defensive end Ryan Kerrigan is called the "big stick" blitzer. The Buckeyes made him speak softly in a rout of the Boilermakers Saturday afternoon. Ohio State's 49-0 victory might not do much to refurbish the Buckeyes' national reputation, as reflected in their plummet from the top of the polls to 10th after being bulldozed by Wisconsin's offensive line last weekend. The Purdue victory might be seen as just another workout on a bop bag of a team.

P.M. Ohio State football links: Win and hope for help, Week 2 | cleveland.com
Ohio State began the "Win-and-hope-for-help" portion of its schedule with Saturday's 49-0 rout of Purdue in Columbus. The win moves Ohio State (7-1, 3-1 in the Big Ten) in the various national rankings from No. 11 to 10 in the Associated Press top 25; has the Buckeyes stay at No. 10 in the USA Today/coaches rankings; doesn't help OSU in the BCS standings, where it falls from No. 10 to 11. The Buckeyes will try to improve their major bowl chances and Big Ten title hopes on Saturday night at Minnesota. Most likely, any manner of OSU win won't impress poll voters, as the Golden Gophers are 1-7, 0-4.

Is there some Sugar in Ohio State's future? Buckeye Leaves | cleveland.com
Some leftover news and notes from the Buckeyes' weekend. Since this matters to the Buckeyes, we're using this space for BCS bowl projections this week. The Buckeyes went from No. 10 to No. 11 in the BCS standings, but they obviously remain in the hunt for an at-large BCS bid. 0Share 0 Comments Ohio State bounced back well enough against Purdue to lead me to believe, for now, that the Buckeyes will win out and finish 11-1. We'll reserve the right to change that opinion from week to week. Last week I was thinking Capital One Bowl.