Preview: #10 Ohio State vs Purdue
A 17% approval rating we can believe in (Note: This is not an invitation to get all red state/blue
state in the comments.)
 #10 Ohio State 5-1, 3-0 Big Ten Roster | Schedule |
October 17, 2009 12:00 PM ET – BTN —— Ross-Ade Stadium West Lafeyette, IN |
 Purdue 1-5, 0-2 Big Ten Roster | Schedule |
Hope was the theme coming into the 2009 season for the Purdue Boilermakers but staring down a 1-5 record with an avalanche of miscues, the mood anything but these days. True, they’re a handful of plays away from flipping their mark to 5-1 or even better, but Danny Hope’s squad has seemingly found a way to lose games just about every week of the season.
Speaking of Danny Hope, the new Boilermaker head man takes over a position that Joe Tiller manned for the last twelve seasons. While he has not started in West Lafeyette with the success he had as head coach at Eastern Kentucky (32-8 from ‘03-’07), as pointed out above, Purdue’s 1-5 record is a bit deceiving. In their five losses, the Boilers have lost by an average of less than a touchdown per game, including heartbreaking losses at Oregon (38-36) and at home against Notre Dame (24-21). Inconsistency has been an issue for the Boilermakers all season long and if they want any type of success against the Buckeyes in the teams’ 52nd meeting, they’ll have to lock some things down.
The Buckeyes lead the all-time series 37-12-2 and 12-6 in Ross-Ade Stadium (a venue that’s been quite friendly for visiting Ohioans as of late), but enter the game with their own set of consistency problems. After putting up 33 points against the Hoosiers in Bloomington, the Buckeyes followed that up at home by putting up just one offensive touchdown against the Badgers last week in one of the more unusual laughers you’ll ever witness. The defense has continued to carry the team throughout the ‘09 campaign, and last week they dialed it up with two pick-sixes. The Buckeyes have a chance this week to tie the conference record with 17 consecutive Big Ten road wins and if they want ensure that they get there, they will have to get both units on the same page.
It will be a battle of Purdue’s offense against Ohio State’s defense and if history and trends repeat themselves things should point to the Buckeyes’ defense coming out on top. Don’t snooze on the Boilermakers, though, as they have played in some battles so far this year and are on the verge of putting things together as they try to get an upset brewing against the Bucks. That, and they always seem to play Tressel’s Buckeyes tough.
Opponent
Despite the less than stellar record, the Boilers do have some positives to look back on, specifically their offense which has averaged 410.2 yards per game this season. Where they have been hurt has been in the turnover category. Purdue has turned the ball over 20 times so far, 13 of those turnovers going for opponent scores. To make matters worse, it seems a majority of the turnovers occur deep in their own territory, thus burying their defense with little chance to succeed.
“Coach, I can already feel the pain from Gibson’s hit.”Three players that have shone on the offensive side of the ball are Joey Elliott, Ralph Bolden, and Keith Smith. Elliott, who is in his senior season and first as the Purdue starter at quarterback, has found some early success this year. He leads the Big Ten in passing (262.5/game) and total offense (283.7/game), but as previously mentioned, has thrown some passes that have stunted the flow of the Boilermaker offense throughout their games. After facing the conference’s leading rusher last week, the Buckeyes will have to face the second leading Big Ten rusher in Bolden, who is averaging 99.8 yards per game. Bolden has had some big games this year and while his size (5-9/194) can be deceiving, his shiftiness could give the Buckeyes problems. Finally, Smith is a receiver to keep tabs on, as he is second in the conference averaging seven receptions and 97.5 yards receiving per game. If the Bucks can’t get pressure on Elliott, expect Smith to be the guy the defensive backs will be chasing throughout the day.
On the defensive side of the ball, Purdue has let itself down lately in fourth quarter meltdowns against the Irish and more recently Northwestern. They have allowed at least 24 points in all of their games so far and rank last in the conference in scoring defense (30.5 points per game). Once again, giving up 31 to Toledo isn’t something for a Big Ten team to hang its hat on. To top things off they rank 10th in the conference in rushing defense (167.3 yards per game) and that is certainly an area the Buckeyes will look to expose with Pryor, Saine and Hall.
The players looking to turn things around for the Boilermakers are linebacker Jason Werner, defensive end Ryan Kerrigan, cornerback David Pender, and safety Torri Williams. Werner leads all Purdue defenders with 50 tackles this year and has been a force in the backfield as well, contributing three sacks. One of the guys who lets Werner roam around to make plays, Kerrigan has done his part with 32 tackles and a team-high four sacks. He will be a pest for Mike Adams and JB Shugarts to contain on Saturday and is the biggest threat to containing Terrelle Pryor inside the pocket. Pender is a player who is continually around the ball, and with 26 pass break-ups in his career ranks among the top ten in Purdue history. Pender will most likely draw DeVier Posey in this week’s game and his 6-1/175 size should help him stay with the sophomore wide out. Finally, Torri Williams captains the defense from the safety position and has not disappointed this year with 42 tackles and an interception. Williams needs to help prevent the Buckeyes from stretching the field as they did against Toledo and will try to keep everything underneath as Indiana attempted to do a few weeks ago.
The Buckeyes will typically have a special teams advantage no matter who their opponent is, but they will be tested against return man Aaron Valentin. Valentin leads the conference in all-purpose yardage (145.2/game), including an impressive 13.7 yard average on punts. Sophomore kicker Carson Wiggs has been placed on the Lou Groza Watch List for his play early in the season. Wiggs is 4-6 on field goals with a long of 59, showing he can boot it from a distance if the Buckeye defense prevents Purdue from getting too far into their side of the field.
Buckeye Breakdown
Defense has been the catalyst for the Buckeyes this year, but it won’t be enough to get them through the rest of their schedule unscathed. Purdue’s lack of production on defense could be just the cure for the Buckeyes’ offensive woes and the trigger for any and all pending explosions. The Buckeyes rank just 86th nationally in total offense and 108th in passing offense and have failed to find a consistent offensive rhythm so far this year. Time is running out for Jim Tressel and the coaches to figure out the team’s identity as a tough November slate awaits just around the corner.
Hoping for deja vu all over again (ohiostatebuckeyes.com)The offense will take a little bit of a hit in the running game as Boom Herron has been ruled out against the Boilermakers after reaggrevating his ankle injury against Wisconsin. This means that Brandon Saine will once again get the bulk of the carries with Jordan Hall spelling him. Saine has run hard this season and is finally healthy, proving to be the valued commodity the staff brought in with the 2007 recruiting class. Look for the Buckeyes to expose the Big Ten’s 10th ranked rushing defense early by using both Saine and Hall in order to set up some play action passes later in the game. Don’t look for anything out of Berry however, as he won’t be making the trip.
On defense you can expect another solid performance from Jim Heacock and Luke Fickell’s crew. The defense has given up just four touchdowns in the last 19 quarters of play and has forced 14 turnovers on the season thus far (10 INTs, 4 Fumbles). Senior captain, Kurt Coleman, continues to be a star, as he notched a career high 14 tackles against the Badgers, but it was Ross Homan who was the Big Ten’s Defensive Player of the Week with 15 tackles, two sacks, and a forced fumble. Homan is certainly coming into his own in his fourth year in the program and has stepped his game up a notch in the last few weeks. Further, Spitler seems to be recovering nicely from an early season injury. There aren’t many units better than the Buckeyes’ front seven and they are the main reason why OSU has given up just 27 points in four games since the loss to USC.
The OSU secondary has kind of hidden behind the monstrous defensive line this season, but Wisconsin was able to expose some weaknesses when Scott Tolzien had time to throw. I don’t expect Elliott to have too many plays where there isn’t pressure of some sort coming at him, but if he gets time to stay in the pocket, expect him to spread the ball around and keep the Buckeye secondary on their toes. Chekwa is proving to become a complete cornerback this year and Devon Torrence has done a good job of playing a physical brand of football, but the pair could be up for a challenge this week against a high powered Purdue passing attack.
Prediction
It’s easy to predict an Ohio State romp over Purdue this upcoming week, but something about the 13.5 point spread seems a little fishy. Maybe Vegas knows the Buckeyes will fail to find their offensive stride yet again, but for now we’ll keep their Scarlet colored glasses on and hope for the best.
Purdue has struggled against less than stellar defenses all year long and the fact that the Silver Bullets are coming to town certainly won’t help their turnover issues. Expect the defense to create some more Purdue mistakes this week and the offense to get by, even with the growing pains and identity quest the young team is going through. All signs point to the Buckeyes returning from West Lafayette with a smile on their face, plus Anthony Gonzalez as the honorary captain is a good omen.
Ohio State 30, Purdue 10
I think if Purdue can avoid turnovers, this game will be too close for comfort. Good luck with that though.
Just read on Rittenberg’s blog that Jordan Hall had the flu earlier this week and might not be at 100% for the game.
Anyone else notice on that geography of Fandom that Ohio State has more fans listed than any other school (812), over both Notre Dame (808), Texas A&M (785) and Michigan (727)? Of course, it’s an extremely unscientific poll, and then there’s the fact that they don’t have computers in SEC country, and if they did have them, they likely wouldn’t know how to use them.
I’m not finding the geography of Fandom…….can you help point me to it?
http://www.commoncensus.org/maps/ncaaf_1280.gif
many thanks
Looks like the Nits are ahead of us with 1117. But regardless – take that, SEC!
That’s because PSU’s top major is Census taking!
penn state has more.
also, i find it hard to believe that Texas A&M would have more than Texas. poll is kind of silly…
that’s because this has had no PR….wait until it hits twitter and facebook
Penn State has the most.
this could be a fun game…
Penn State has the most….whining bloggers per capita.
OSU 45
Purdue 17
435 total yards for bucks
230 for purdue
I keep praying that this is TP’s coming out party
Purdue can TRY to limit its mistakes in this game, but Ohio State is a very poor macthup for them to turn over a new leaf.
I expect Ohio State to completely shut down Purdue’s run game, holding them to less than 50 net yds rushing, which will make Purdue one dimensional – and you know what’ll happen then . . .
Sure, Purdue will have some success throwing the football, but to make up for getting outgained by 125-200 yards on the ground, they’d need Drew Brees back there, not Joey Elliot.
“Drew Breeeessssssssss”
love that espn radio commercial, even though i hate espn radio.
Well, if last week is any indication of what will happen (when we did shut down the run), we’ll get 384 dropped on us through the air. The line may be stout but the secondary is suspect.
Wisconsin looked good throwing the ball against the Buckeyes because so many of our eggs were in the “STOP JOHN CLAY” basket. I’m not saying the secondary is stud-level yet, but I thought they played reasonably well against USC and Toledo.
I’m not sure we’ll get a handle on the secondary’s ability until some opposing offensive line dares to stop our pass rush. You simply can’t make a solid assessment of a secondary that is defensing passes chucked by terrified quarterbacks facing down Thad, Nate Williams, Cam Heyward, and the others. And every other obvious passing situation, a given QB is being closed in on from every side. That has to be disconcerting.
I hope we never have to get a sense of how good this secondary is during this season, because that will mean that PSU, Iowa, Michigan, or our bowl opponent stopped our penetration.
He said “penetration.”
Bent but didn’t break and 0 TD’s.
Goofy. Capitalized off mistakes made all season long. Not shut them down. When the chips were down (USC) they folded.
I hope Z. Boren gets flashy in the flat if he goes out for a pass again this week. Maybe Pryor will see him???
anyone see that Reebok commercial with Mangold in it? I laughed my butt off…heres a link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elLaat6q0pU
i saw that one a while ago
who knew mangold had moves like that?
That’s freaking classic.
from EDSBS – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k1tIJGHv20
apparently Ohio/WVA border speed >> Florida speed
the line for the game is 13.5…wasn’t the line for the wisco game 16? the game is at ross-ade, so purdue gets an automatic 3 pts. so, in the eyes of the bookies Purdue = Wisco? or did OSU fall that far in their minds with the offensive explosion last weekend?
is there anyway we can get the backup qb from cincy to transfer? he’s head and shoulders better than C-I-C (that’s crap in cleats homeys)
do you own a gun…..
nevermind…..
lmao
I’m sure Uncle Rico is available. He can throw a football over that mountain.
Well, he did used to be able to throw a pigskin a quarter mile…
I disagree with everything you stand for, except for the fact that McNutt got robbed of that Heisman.
he should change his name to DBo11w, i’ll let you figure it out
HAH!
I’m almost tempted to stop reading the comments section/adding my own because of all the arm chair/mom’s basement qbs/coaches/etc.
Dude just go away stop being a buckeye fan. Your clueless.
Dude completed 4 of 7 passes for a pick. Take away a short-yardage rushing TD (which Pryor already has on the season), he had one great play against an entire South Florida defense that apparently had never taken a basic geometry class.
he’s got his “jump to conclusions” mat out.
Let’s hope he gets hit by a truck, too. But really, if Pryor would cut up field once, against an awful defense, that sounds just like a stat line he would put up.
All I’m saying is, mcnutt4Heisman could catch gonorrhea and get drawn and quartered and I probably wouldn’t bat an eye.
South Florida’s defense is the #9 in points allowed, 21st in yards allowed, 25th in Picks. They crushed Florida State, and were 5-0 for a reason.
Uh oh, stats…Sam’s worst enemy.
go yell at your wife again.
Go bake some Hater Tots?
lmao @hater tots
Hater Tots come pre-made, and I can see you eaten more than your allotment
Sorry, I don’t eat frozen hater tots.
Aaaand they’re 40th in rush defense. Way to omit anything and everything inconvenient to your hare-brained argument. Again.
Wow, Sam…1 stat to my 3. Good job! You get a D for effort.
You’re really just not that bright, are you? Rushing defense is what’s important when you’re talking about a running play. USF isn’t even a shadow of an elite rush defense.
Collaros tries that against Ohio State and he gets decleated the moment he makes it past the LOS. I’m going to be very interested in what you have to say when Cincy loses to West Virginia, Pitt, or gets 70 dropped on them in national title game. First, go get your shinebox.
I’m acutally very bright. You can tell because I use more than 1 stat to support my opinion.
“very interested in what you have to say when Cincy loses to West Virginia, Pitt, or gets 70 dropped on them in national title game.”
Yeah, that’s what you and your other Cincy haters were saying before the USF game. In fact, if you remember the fan poll, 60% of people on this site said USF had the best chance at upsetting Cincy. Cincy won by 17! I don’t think your predictions carry too much weight because they’re not rooted in reality.
Very nice Goodfellas reference. The most entertaining aspect of this arguement BY FAR!!!
Billy Bats rules.
Well, bright boy, predictions aren’t “rooted in reality” by virtue of the fact that they haven’t happened yet.
USF is probably going to end up in the Sun Bowl. They’ve accumulated those vaguely-impressive passing defense stats by virtue of playing two D-1AA teams, as well as Western Kentucky, and a sub-500 Florida State team. Color me unimpressed.
Correction: the games that are being predicted haven’t happened yet, which is why they’re, ya know, predictions.
Wisconsin beat Wofford, too, and barely beat Northern Illinois. Color me unimpressed.
Correction: USF and Wisconsin beat Wofford, but Wisconsin gave up 14 points. USF gave up 7.
Are you seriously arguing that USF is better because they gave up one less touchdown than Whisky to freaking Wofford?
Your argument’s done, man, and I’m not sure it even started. The goddamn plane has crashed into the mountain. Stop now before you chop your e-peen off.
You brought up Wofford, not me.
Sam says:
10/16/2009 at 7:49pm
Well, bright boy, predictions aren’t “rooted in reality” by virtue of the fact that they haven’t happened yet.
USF is probably going to end up in the Sun Bowl. They’ve accumulated those vaguely-impressive passing defense stats by virtue of playing two D-1AA teams, as well as Western Kentucky, and a sub-500 Florida State team. Color me unimpressed.
Bucksfan says:
10/16/2009 at 7:54pm
Wisconsin beat Wofford, too, and barely beat Northern Illinois. Color me unimpressed.
No, I didn’t. You can’t even get that right.
You brought up the 1AA teams!!!! It’s right there!!! HAHAHAH!!! DID YOU READ WHAT YOU WROTE?!?!?! Thank you for proving me right!
But I didn’t bring up Wofford specifically; I brought up USF’s Charmin soft schedule. You started hammering away on Wofford when I couldn’t give less of a shit that the two had a common crappy opponent.
And yet they were undefeated against a schedule that comprised one 1-AA team to USF’s three (counting winless, transition WKU). Sagarin has Wisky’s schedule rated 31st to South Florida’s 143rd. For a more direct comparison, Ohio State’s is 37th to Cincy’s 109th.
If you don’t think Ohio State would wipe the floor with Cincinnati (aka 2007 Hawaii with better uniforms), you might as well renounce your fandom and move down to the Nasty ‘Nati.
Western Kentucky is not 1AA.
Sagarin, at the end of the day, is based upon rankings. FLAWED rankings. They have been flawed ever since the preseason, and continue to be flawed throughout the season, and will continue to be flawed into the BCS games, and after the national title game. It is an number that has no meaning to someone like me, who actually watches the teams play and pays attention to the stats, the points, the schemes, and the way the teams look.
By the way, only douchebags call fellow fans “fairweather” or “Michigan fans” or tell them to “renounce.” I don’t want my team to be last in offense in a conference that sucks at offense. If you’re fine with that, then you’re not in the business of rationality.
I mentioned that they were transitioning. Don’t you read?
So you’re saying I should respect your expert opinion over a guy who’s being paid to do this? An MIT-educated expert who has done this for years, and is considered one of the most respected men in all of sports statistical study? I think I’ll pass.
As for that last bit, well, you’re a whiny bitch. I don’t want my team to be last in offense in a conference that sucks at offense.
Boo-hoo! We’re 5-1. If that’s “UNACCEPTABLE” to you, then kindly DIAF.
Having gone to MIT doesn’t mean shit. If you were in my line of work, you’d know that.
I’m competitive. I can tell by everything you’ve written that you’re not, and that you’re satisfied with mediocrity. The Bucks are 5-1…they’re 1-1 against good teams, and the offense has scored 7 points over the span of those 8 quarters. Glad to see your class is in tact…you want a fellow Buckeye to die in a fire. Wonderful.
I’m going to rudely interject myself into this spat between Sam and bucksfan and declare – in my official status as grand arbitration czar – that Sam completely WIPED THE FLOOR with bucksfan (which, btw, is an hilarious misnomer).
Ugh, “bucksfan,” did you watch S FLA play defense last night, especially in the 2nd half? They couldn’t tackle, get off blocks, identify screen plays, or otherwise get their heads out their asses. What did you see with your own eyes? if that LOOKED like a top 10 or 20 defense to YOU – as you implied with your cherry-picked stats – then I seriously question your football chops.
But if you were incapable of recognizing what you were seeing, ugh yes, S FLA had compiled those misleading stats while playing 2 AA teams, W Ky, a dysfunctional FSU, and Syracuse. Btw, FSU is 82nd in rushing and Syracuse is 109th.
It’s not that you’re discouraged from directing pointed criticism at the struggling Ohio State offense. But when your negativity veers into idiocy, then you become a nuisance.
I did watch the game, Fido. You need to check your split stats. Cincinnati’s attack in the 1st half was stifled by USF. Only when Pike went out, and USF had to defend a completely different attack than they’ve been preparing for the past 2 weeks did USF look off-balance. USF has solid, quick, Floridian talent, and they clobbered a Florida State team that was hot off of good performances against Miami and BYU.
The only thing Sam wiped was my ass.
I think if they use Terrelle for short yardage plays on third down and near the end-zone that will make a huge difference in the score.
Need to get near the endzone first. HI-OOOOOO.
O-H.. Oh wait, that doesn’t say what I think it says, does it?
How about TP throwing to the TE 10-15 yards in the middle of the field enough to keep chains moving? Or throwing to the flats or over the middle to receivers? I’m sick of deep balls going for nothing. The only way a deep ball works is when we got the D thinkin run or quick pass/short yardage stuff.
Pryor cannot consistently hit those short and intermediate routes. See: the pick and near-pick on subsequent series against Wisconsin last week. I’ve never seen anything like it from a quarterback.
Hopefully, he really has nailed the footwork this week, so those short passes become a genuine threat to the defense.
I hope the footwork gets better this week too. If he was able to make more passes to various guys like RBs, WRs, and TEs out of different formations in the shot gun and even take off sometimes to keep the D honest than Pryor would be a royal pain in the _ _ _ for any D we face.
TP should watch the Reebok commercial (above) to get some footwork “moves” from Mangold. Too goddamn funny.. (The commercial, not my comment).
deep ball what game you watchin???
I haven’t seen a lot of deepballs only one that stands out is the TD
Pass to SANS for Toledo!
PLEASE PLEASE THROW THE BALL DEEP!
Im pulling for Texas to win it all. I like Mack Brown and Colt McCoy.
I think we should focus on the run game, running backs and QB. If Pryor can open things up w/ his legs, the passing will follow.
LOVE Colt McCoy
The other night BTN re-played the 2000 OSU-Purdue game. It’s pretty sad when I am watching Belli-sorry and am thinking, “Wow… we had a pretty good QB then.” Ugh…
Gotta admit, sometimes Pryor throws like a biotch.
I pretty much don’t want to have a better arm than the Buckeyes QB, but I’m 33 and I do. Ughh.
Our flag football QB has a better arm and makes better decisions, but LiC gives us the best chance to win, and thats all I’m for. He will get better. Hes freaking 20, and for all of you who think you know more than OSU’s coaches, you don’t. A guy sitting behind me at the Whisky game last week (who, by the way, proclaimed himself as “Mr. Know-It-All” as he found his seat), kept talking about how Pryor shouldn’t even be in the game, and yelling about how he hates Jim Tressel and the offense has never been this bad. I am all for Terrell Pryor. I support him rain or shine, he’s not fairweather, I’m not fairweather. As long as he still shows us that all he wants to do is win and make our program better, I’ll support him. And the coaches are gonna put our best QB out there, so lets just, stand behind him?
I’m not sure I understand the complaints about Pryor’s “arm”. There’s no doubt his accuracy sucks, but when he actually bothers to hit the broad side of a barn, you can bet that ball would probably pierce the wall. He’s got a live arm, but he takes the muscle out of his passes with the footwork, so it looks a lot worse than it really is.
Purdue tries to ride that Train of Hope but is derailed by a record 176 turnovers.
OSU Defense – 45
The little engine that couldn’t – 3
This is indefensible. Sick. Unpardonable.
Blow the whole thing up and start over.
Bad O-Line, bad QB and very, very bad coaching.
This makes USC’s loss to WA look like a minor upset.
Tressel needs a new O-Line coach and an offensive coordinator NOW. Those should be the requirements to keep his job.