Purdue 26 (7)Ohio State 18
Most Buckeye fans probably felt one of two ways heading into last Saturday’s matchup with Purdue. Those of the, uh, “optimistic” point of view saw the remaining October games as a chance for the offense to straighten itself out before the rubber met the road in November. The more realistic observers were probably wondering when the defense and special teams were going to have an off day, thusly causing the house of cards to collapse. No matter the viewpoint, it’s safe to say no one saw it coming against Purdue.
Danny Hope’s Boilermakers, after a first half of the season that produced four losses by a touchdown or less, finally got enough things to break their way in a 26-18 upset of #7 Ohio State. Although they turned the ball over three times (four, really), they forced five turnovers of their own. Joey Elliott looked like he was All-Big 10, the OSU defense is still trying to find Keith Smith, Hope and his staff gave a clinic on halftime adjustments in a decisive third period and the officials “squeezed the strike zone” on the Bucks. Add it all up and you have a recipe for disaster, which is exactly what you got.
The deservedly maligned offensive line set the stage for another “stellar” performance right out of the gate. Terrelle Pryor tried to run the option and was stonewalled for no gain. As Pryor retreated to throw on second down, he had defensive end Ryan Kerrigan all over him courtesy of a lame block attempt from Jake Ballard. Kerrigan not only wrestled Pryor down but pried the ball loose and the Boilers recovered at the OSU 20.
Purdue went for the jugular right away with a pass off of a reverse to Keith Smith, but Smith’s throw for Aaron Valentin was too high. Sure, it was an incompletion but even at this early interlude Purdue coach Danny Hope had removed all doubt about who would be the more creative play-caller on this day. The next two plays only gained 5, so Carson Wiggs was sent in for a 32-yard field goal try. His boot was true and Purdue had quickly drawn first blood at 3-zip.
Just as they had done at the end of the first half against Wisconsin, the Buckeyes wasted no time getting downfield. Lamaar Thomas brought the kickoff back to his 34, and then Brandon Saine actually got decent blocking and broke over the left side for 20. Pryor then went the air route to Saine, who took a swing pass, shook Jason Werner and sped down the sideline for 40 more to the Purdue 6. With the Boiler “D” probably Saine-conscious, Pryor faked to his tailback and skirted left end for the touchdown, just slipping inside the pylon. The march took all of a buck-nineteen time wise, and the guests led 7-3.
Purdue QB Joey Elliott moved the sticks on both of the first two snaps with quick aerials, but he and runningback Ralph Bolden missed connections on a handoff and Kurt Coleman was right there to pounce on the loose football at the Boiler 19. But whatever momentum the Buckeyes thought was building vanished in the cool Indiana air just like that. Saine was thrown for a loss of two and Justin Boren drew a block-in-the-back flag. Pryor had to scoot on 2nd-and-21 as Jim Cordle, filling in at left tackle, completely whiffed on his man. TP could only manage two yards, then on 3rd-and-forever came more heat and all Terrelle could do was hit Jake Ballard for 11. The pass-pro breakdown was the main reason this play didn’t work, but Big Ten Network analyst Chris Martin used the opportunity to point out a glaring aspect of the OSU passing game-
“That’s the problem with OSU’s offense. They’re very conservative in their pass routes with Pryor. They don’t push the field…they look for crossers.”
Jon Thoma shanked a 30-yard punt, and Elliott and his offense were off again, working from their 23 to the Buckeye 35. The defense came up big once more as Kurt Coleman dumped Frank Halliburton for a loss of 3 after a catch, and then Ross Homan sniffed out a screen to Aaron Valentin and threw him for a loss. Carson Wiggs misfired on a 52-yard field goal and the Buckeyes had dodged a bullet.
The OSU “O” continued to sputter as Terrelle Pryor threw yet another pass at his receiver’s feet, this time Ray Small. Needing 7 yards for a first down, and having taken a time out to think it over, Pryor could do no better on third down than a 3-yard pass to Small who was planted immediately. Jon Thoma atoned for his earlier shank with a 52-yard bomb and Purdue was backed up to its 6. Facing a 3rd-and-4 as the opening quarter wound down, Elliott pegged Keith Carlos with a 7-yard strike. Carlos came together with Kurt Coleman and with his knees nowhere near the Ross-Ade turf, Carlos got the pigskin ripped away. Thaddeus Gibson dove on the ball and Ohio State was in tall cotton at the Boiler 10-yard line. But hold on, the officials declared that Carlos’ forward progress had been stopped and gave the ball back to the home team. Never mind that no whistle ever blew and Carlos was standing upright still fighting for extra yardage. It was a horsecrap call, but gutless Jim Tressel refused to challenge it. I realize you only get one challenge per game, but you’re talking about having the football ten yards from paydirt. And it wasn’t like Purdue was going to have to punt- they had gained a fresh set of downs with the completion. In the past, forward progress plays couldn’t be reviewed, but supposedly that has changed this year, but no red flag will ever be forthcoming from the OSU sideline. It doesn’t matter if it’s getting plays in on time, farting around deciding whether to get the regular punt return unit or the “punt safe” crew in, or not challenging blatantly stupid official calls- Jim Tressel and his brain trusts are completely clueless at times with game management.
The Purdue march ended up stretching 14 plays thanks to a couple of third down snags by Keith Smith, but the Scarlet and Gray stiffened and forced a punt, which Ray Small promptly fumbled with the Old Gold and Black recovering at the OSU 13. I know I’ve gotten on Ray this season for his unnecessary acrobatic fielding of punts, but the two that he’s muffed this season have been seemingly simple catches. God bless the “D”, they once more threw up a wall and the Boilers had to settle for a Carson Wiggs field goal of 27 yards, narrowing the Buckeye lead to 7-6.
Brandon Saine got the next OSU possession off to a strong start with runs of 8 and 10 yards, but the drive stalled and Jon Thoma punted the Boilers to their own 9. Joey Elliott couldn’t manufacture anything and when Chris Summers shanked a 19-yard punt, the visitors were in great shape at Purdue’s 30. Pryor and Co. worked the ball down to the 14, where Saine danced through the middle for an apparent touchdown. But oh no, here came the laundry- holding on Bryant Browning. I’m not going to say that the call was as grievous as the missed fumble- Browning did have a handful of jersey- but it was ticky-tack at best and this game was starting to resemble the one at USC last year when Ohio State only drew flags whenever they had a big play. The costly call was magnified a play later. Terrelle Pryor, retreating under tremendous heat from Ryan Kerrigan, coughed up the ball once again and Kerrigan cradled it all the way back at the 45 yard line.
Joey Elliott and Keith Smith continued to play pitch-and-catch, hooking up three more times as Purdue reached the OSU 11. Danny Hope reached into the bag of tricks and ordered up a halfback pass from Dan Dierking, but Chimdi Chekwa was all over it, picking it off in the endzone. Chekwa was able to navigate his way out to the 19, giving his team some breathing room and assuring, with 51 seconds left, that OSU could get out of the half with the lead. But after Brandon Saine lost 4 yards on first down, Pryor threw incomplete for Dane Sanzenbacher, saving Purdue a timeout. Terrelle had to scramble on third down but could only muster 10 yards and the Boilers took over at their 31 with 26 seconds to work with. Elliott immediately fired a bullet over the middle to his moneyman Keith Smith for 23, and a play later Smith was able to snare an 8-yard toss and get out of bounds. Elliott threw incomplete on third down, but Carson Wiggs made the drive pay off by drilling a 55-yard field goal. Shades of the end of the USC first half came to mind as the hosts trotted off with a 9-7 lead at the break.
The opening moments of the third quarter were where this game started to take a seriously dark turn. Ohio State was penalized for a sideline infraction on the opening kickoff. I have never seen that call made in my life and it was all the more bizarre considering there was no “sideline warning” made on the Buckeye bench in the first half. It’s cliché and somewhat whiney to claim you’re not only playing against your opponent but the officials as well, but this crew was intent on sticking it to Ohio State.
If Purdue’s first drive of the second half was indicative of adjustments made at the break, the OSU coaches should take note. Joey Elliott capped off a sharp, 8-play march with a textbook 15-yard scoring strike to Aaron Valentin, increasing the lead to 16-7.
Pryor continued to come unglued. On the ensuing drive, his first down option pitch to Brandon Saine was nowhere near the tailback who dove on it for a loss of 6. The Bucks couldn’t convert, but even after the defense had forced a quick three-and-out, more buffoonery sprung up. Following a false start, Pryor had DeVier Posey open but pumped, reloaded and tried to go deep for Duron Carter. The ball was overthrown and Brandon King picked it off and brought it back to the Boiler 40. Pryor was livid at Carter and even said in the postgame that Duron should have played DB and knocked it down, but 1) the pass should have never been thrown, 2) Carter saw it and tried to spin around but it was too far past him and 3) Pryor hasn’t done anything to give him leeway to slam a helmet down and chastise a receiver when his poor pass caused the interception.
Even with the offense melting down, the stop troops were trying to hang in. Devon Torrence got a pick of his own to put OSU back in business, but yet another false start begat another almost interception as Pryor overthrew Posey. Two plays later Purdue made it count as Brandon King beautifully jumped an out route to snap up a throw for Ray Small. The Boilermakers used the ground game to carve out most of a march to the Buckeye 23, where Aaron Valentin got a jailbreak screen pass coming from the right flank. Shaking Jermale Hines, Valentin split several defenders and wound his way to the endzone for his second TD of the afternoon. It was 23-7 and Ross-Ade Stadium was starting to fill up as students from all over the campus got word of the goings-on and made a beeline for the field.
The comedy of errors continued as Lamaar Thomas muffed the kickoff and was belted down at his own 14. Gerald Gooden flat dusted J.B. Shugarts on first down and buried Pryor for a loss of 9 as one of the worst quarters of Ohio State football I have seen in a good long time wound down. The Big Ten Network did, however, capture Buckeye 50’s own Gregg Watson and his ever-present camera while they panned the celebrating Purdue faithful.
OSU’s first possession of the fourth got rolling with a 38-yard pass from Pryor to Ray Small, who outfought Dwight McLean for the ball. A false start on Bryant Browning threatened to scramble the march, but Small latched onto a 9-yard peg and then Pryor got loose on an option keep around the right side for 35 big yards. It was first and goal at the 3 and it seemed that maybe the demons that had plagued the OSU offense all day were going to subside. But it was a mirage, for after Pryor pushed ahead for 1, he had Jake Ballard absolutely lonesome in back of the end zone and overthrew him. Breathing a sigh of relief, Purdue’s “D” stuffed Pryor on third down. I know a lot of folks have felt the Buckeyes should have gone for it at this juncture, but do you really, REALLY think they would have scored? Aaron Pettrey punched through a 24-yard field goal to slice the lead to 23-10.
Joey Elliott fired a seed to Keith Smith for 15 to get the ensuing Purdue possession going, but later back-to-back connections with Smith were both ruled out of bounds. Elliott scrambled for 13, and although he was short of the sticks, he was in Carson Wiggs’ range. Wiggs capped off a fruitful afternoon with a 49-yard missile, his fourth field goal of the day, to make it 26-10.
Mixing passes to DeVier Posey and Duron Carter, Terrelle Pryor led the offense down to Purdue’s 25. Two incompletions followed, then on 3rd-and-10 Pryor rolled right and met resistance right away. Spinning back to his left, Terrelle faced Gerald Gooden honing in. With just enough time to set, Pryor launched one for Dane Sanzenbacher at the goal line. DeVier Posey just happened to be in the neighborhood and drifted over to make the catch for six. Going for 2, Pryor only had to juke Ryan Kerrigan and he had a clear path to the pylon. 7:14 remained and somehow the Bucks had come off life support to cut the lead in half at 26-18.
The defense did its part as Ralph Bolden was dropped for a loss of one and two plays later Kurt Coleman blitzed in to nail Elliott. The Buckeyes got a friendly bounce on the punt and took over at their 39 yard line. Pryor converted a pair of third downs as the “O” drove to the Boiler 29, but Pryor was sacked for a loss of 9. After a timeout, OSU looked for a little fourth-down magic but Pryor’s floater for Ray Small was easily batted down by David Pender with 2:16 to go.
The defense wasn’t about to quit. Using their two remaining timeouts after a pair of Purdue runs, the Bucks needed one more stop to get the ball back. A bubble screen to Aaron Valentin caught no one by surprise, really, but in coming over to try and make a play, Doug Worthington yanked Valentin down by the facemask and the resulting 15-yard flag, and more importantly automatic first down, ended any hopes of a comeback.
Ohio State returns home for a high noon Homecoming tussle with Minnesota on ESPN this Saturday. Down the dial on ESPN 2, Purdue will host Illinois in another noontime start. The Boilers are looking for their first back-to-back wins since disposing of Iowa (October 20) and Northwestern (October 27) in consecutive 2007 contests.
RANDOM THOUGHTS- To the victors go the spoils- Ryan Kerrigan was voted Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week, while Carson Wiggs got the special team nod. Wiggs has the gold standard for 2009 field goal distance to this point with his 59-yard boot against Toledo…You can count on one hand the number of times in Ohio State football history that the Buckeyes have fell to a team that already had 5 losses or more. Wisconsin turned the trick twice against Earle Bruce. The Badgers brought a 4-5 mark to Columbus in 1985 and upset the Bucks 12-7. Two years later Wisky was 2-6 as OSU invaded Madison, and the Badgers took that one 26-24, hastening Earle’s exit just a week later. TBGUN has managed two wins against their archrivals while saddled with 5 defeats. A 3-5 Wolverine outfit shutout Woody Hayes’ first team 7-0 in 1951, and then in one of the saddest matchups in the rivalry’s history, 3-5 Michigan prevailed 23-14 over a 3-4-1 Ohio State team. The only other Buckeye letdown against a 5-loss opponent was the pathetic 23-11 debacle against a 6-5 Air Force squad in the 1990 Liberty Bowl.
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October 17, 2009
Ross-Ade Stadium
West Lafayette, IN
Attendance ??,???
10/20/09
VS
By Joe-S-U
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