No. 19 Purdue Spoils Road Trip, Fails to Rout No. 4 Ohio State in 59-31 Loss
COLUMBUS, Ohio — On an evening where Purdue football looked to earn its third top-five victory of the year after catapulting itself to No. 19 on the College Football Playoff rankings, all it managed to do was spoil its own trip to Ohio Stadium.
Junior wide receiver David Bell’s expression spoke for itself. On fourth down, trailing four touchdowns in the final quarter of the game, he let a perfectly-placed throw fall through his outstretched arms. All he could do was sit up and look straight down at the turf before somberly walking back to the sideline.
The missed opportunity was all but a last-ditch effort to remain anywhere close to the No. 4 Ohio State football program Saturday evening.
The Boilermakers offered little resistance to the Buckeyes’ elite offense, giving up touchdowns on all but one drive in the first half of a 59-31 loss while dropping to 6-4 on the season. It was the most points this improved defensive unit has allowed all season.
Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud completed 31-of-38 passes for 361 yards and five touchdowns. Junior wide receiver Garrett Wilson torched the Purdue secondary for 177 total yards and four scores. The Buckeyes totaled 624 yards of total offense.
“That's a really good football team we played, and they were hitting on all cylinders today,” Purdue coach Jeff Brohm said after the game. “It's a playoff-caliber team, and we tried to do our best to come in here and give them a game. We had a couple of turnovers early, and our defense couldn't get stops. We did hang in there until the end, but they outplayed us and outmanned us — and really beat us in every category.”
The Purdue offense looked promising in the opening quarter, matching Ohio State’s opening touchdown with its own trip to the end zone. Fifth-year senior quarterback Aidan O’Connell orchestrated a seven-play, 75-yard drive that was capped by a 25-yard pitch and catch to redshirt fifth-year senior wide receiver Jackson Anthrop.
Anthrop’s touchdown grab was his third of the year, and it tied the game 7-7 with 8:56 still to play in the opening quarter. But the Boilermakers’ defense struggled all afternoon, allowing the Buckeyes to march down the field 78 yards in six plays for another score.
“They know how to score points, and know how to move the ball,” Brohm said of the Ohio State offense. “They know how to get into the best play they can by looking at the defense and adjusting. In order to beat them, you've got to match up to them, and you've got to challenge them, and you've got to get up and guard them and try and create some turnovers.”
Looking to equalize once again, O’Connell was putting together a solid drive and looked to put the offense in scoring position. He completed a 16-yard pass to junior wide receiver Milton Wright on 3rd and 10. The ball was placed on the Ohio State 38-yard line.
That was before disaster struck for Purdue. Brohm put junior quarterback Jack Plummer into the game, and he turned to hand the ball to junior running back King Doerue. They fumbled the exchange, and it was recovered by the Buckeyes.
Brohm said the play was supposed to be a reverse that would end in a throw-back to Plummer, but it obviously wasn’t executed properly. On the subsequent possession, running back TreVeyon Henderson took the first handoff of the drive 57 yards for a touchdown and gave Ohio State a 21-7 lead.
“They have tremendous weapons and a quarterback in a good system with a really good offensive line,” Brohm said. “They're running what they need to. So I think they have a great system, and they executed at a high level today. I think that they can go as far as they want to go.”
The Buckeyes could not be stopped in the first half, scoring touchdowns on six of its seven drives to take a 45-17 lead into the locker room. The Boilermakers turned the ball over twice in the first two quarters, resulting in an insurmountable deficit.
Purdue put 10 more points on the board during the second quarter. O’Connell lobbed a 12-yard pass to junior wide receiver Broc Thompson for his second passing touchdown of the game.
On the team’s next drive, it reached the Ohio State 14-yard line before stalling. Graduate kicker Mitchell Fineran booted a 32-yard field goal to give the Boilermakers their final points of the half.
Buckeye kicker Noah Ruggles made an appearance on a kick that wasn’t an extra point to secure a 30-yard field goal of his own before Purdue attempted a fake kneel-down that went for one yard to end the second quarter.
“We came in, we thought we understood the assignment, but Ohio State got the better of us,” Bell said. “They showed why they're a top-four team in the country. We'll get there eventually, we just gotta go back, regroup and practice.”
Ohio State picked up right where it left off to start the third quarter. Stroud completed an eight-play, 75-yard drive with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Wilson, his fourth of the game. It wasn’t until the Buckeyes’ ninth drive of the game, with 6:11 remaining in the third quarter, that they were forced to punt.
The Boilermakers managed to match the Buckeyes’ 14 points in the second half. O’Connell completed passes to nine different receivers, finishing the game with 40 completions on 52 attempts for 390 yards and four touchdowns. Purdue’s leading receiver was none other than Bell, with 103 yards on 11 catches.
Anthrop reached the end zone twice for the Boilermakers and added 88 total yards during the game. As a team, Purdue reached 481 yards of offense.
While looking to push the ball down the field with the passing game, O’Connell didn't take a sack, and the offense didn’t commit another turnover in the second half. The team will prepare for a matchup with Northwestern next Saturday at Wrigley Field.
“I thought we played well offensively. We ran the ball well, protected the quarterback very well, so obviously our offensive line played very well,” O’Connell said. “There's a lot to build on. It was a loss at the end of the day, and it's gonna be remembered as a loss, but there's a lot of good stuff on our side of the ball.”
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