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LGHL The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Ohio State’s 45-0 win over Purdue

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Ohio State’s 45-0 win over Purdue
Gene Ross
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Ohio State v Purdue

Photo by Ben Jackson/Getty Images

The Buckeyes dominated the Boilermakers on Saturday.

Ohio State returned home after an emotional win over Penn State looking to stretch its legs a bit against a 1-7 Purdue team. The Buckeyes were able to accomplish just that, knocking off the Boilermakers 45-0 in a game that felt like it was over before it even started. Will Howard accounted for four total touchdowns, the Silver Bullets pitched a shutout, and even the special teams got involved with a blocked punt.

Here is the good, the bad and the ugly from Ohio State’s victory over Purdue


The Good


Ohio State’s defense

Jim Knowles was under heavy scrutiny after Ohio State gave up 32 points and almost 500 total yards in its loss to Oregon on Oct. 12. Since then, the Buckeyes’ defense has completely flipped the script, allowing only one touchdown over its last three games against Nebraska, Penn State and Purdue combined. The Silver Bullets let up a touchdown in the fourth quarter against the Cornhuskers on Oct. 26, and have now gone over 130 minutes of game action without a team finding the end zone against them.

Ohio State had one of its best defensive performances of the year against the Boilermakers, pitching its second shutout of the season and its first of a Big Ten opponent since 2017 — a 56-0 win over Rutgers. The Buckeyes smothered Purdue all afternoon, holding Hudson Card and company to just over 200 total yards (108 passing and 98 rushing) while taking the ball away twice and recording four sacks. Ohio State even scored on defense on a scoop-and-score play by Jack Sawyer, and also made a play on special teams with an early blocked punt.

A huge reason for the Buckeyes’ newfound success on that side of the ball has been a change in philosophy up front. Gone is the stale and static four-down front that relied exclusively on one-on-one battles, and in its place has been a varied attack featuring stunts and twists, creative blitzes and a lot more rotation of personnel. They have even found time to add in a few new wrinkles, with Ohio State actively practicing its long-fabled JACK position against Purdue on a few drives — albeit without much success.

While there has been no official acknowledgement of any material change, it seems as though the longstanding feud between the defensive coordinator and his defensive line coach has been solved, and Knowles is now free to fully run his system the way he wants to. The outcome is a pass rush that has actually gotten a ton of pressure on opposing quarterbacks, and a defense that looks like it is finally playing with some confidence.

The new-look offensive line

Everyone knew that Ohio State would have a tough time replacing Josh Simmons once news broke that the starting left tackle was going to be out for the rest of the season. The Buckeyes tried to simply replace the senior with Zen Michalski, but it was clear after the Nebraska game that the Indiana native was not quite ready to fill those shoes. Once Michalski went down with injury, the situation became even more unclear.

Fast forward to today, and Justin Frye appears to have found something that can work. For the past two games, Ohio State has moved Donovan Jackson over to left tackle and inserted Carson Hinzman at left guard, joining the rest of the starting line that includes Seth McLaughlin, Tegra Tshabola and Josh Fryar from left to right. Jackson had his hiccups against Penn State, which was to be expected when matched up against a future NFL first rounder in Abdul Carter, but this group of five has looked more than serviceable.

That starting unit looked solid yet again on Saturday, helping to pave the way for an Ohio State offense that put up over 430 yards of offense. The pass protection was excellent, allowing only one sack while Will Howard completed 21-of-26 passes for 260 yards and three touchdowns. The run blocking left a bit to be desired, but it was more than good enough for TreVeyon Henderson, who ran it six times for 85 yards and a score.

It certainly isn’t perfect, but this unit has proven that it is capable of getting the job done, and they will only continue to get better as they get more experience playing together and as Jackson continues to adapt to his new position.

Broken records

There isn’t much that can be said about Jeremiah Smith that hasn't been said already. The freshman phenom has been all that was advertised and then some, as the former five-star already looks like the best wide receiver in all of college football. Last week against Penn State, Smith broke the Ohio State freshman record for most receiving yards in a season. On Saturday, he was right back at it adding his name to the record books.

Racking up six-catches for 87 yards and a touchdown against Purdue, Smith now also holds the Ohio State records for both receptions (45) and touchdowns (9) in a single season for a freshman. He has surpassed all of Cris Carter’s numbers from his standout freshman campaign in 1984, wherein he tallied 41 catches for 648 yards and eight touchdowns. The word ‘generational’ is thrown around far too often in today’s sports climate, but Smith is truly looking like a once-in-a-generation type of player.

Smith has done all of this in only nine games, and is guaranteed at least four more contests between the regular season and a bowl game, not including a potential B1G title game and/or the College Football Playoff.

The Bad


Will Howard’s deep ball

Will Howard has unquestionably been an upgrade at quarterback for Ohio State. The Kansas State transfer has been a tremendous leader for this group of Buckeyes, and has made a ton of plays both with his arm and with his legs. His abilities as a runner and a passer have opened up a lot of the playbook for Chip Kelly, and more often than not Howard has proven that he can make the right decisions with the football. The one nagging flaw in his game to this point, however, has been the deep ball.

It’s not clear if it's a lack of arm strength or a timing issue, but Howard has consistently under thrown his receivers when attempting to hit guys over the top. There has been more than a handful of times already this season when specifically Smith or Carnell Tate have been wide open deep down the field and would have an easy walk-in touchdown on a good throw, but the pass attempts have consistently come up short. In a few instances the receiver has been able to come back and still make a play on the ball, but each time it has taken a free touchdown off the board.

It isn’t the end of the world, but when you have a trio of speedy receivers in Smith, Tate and Emeka Egbuka, those guys are going to find themselves open down the field on occasion. You can't afford to turn easy touchdowns into incompletions, or even worse an interception — especially against tougher opponents down the stretch.

The wrong backup

Speaking of quarterback play, Ryan Day is still choosing to use valuable game reps on the wrong backup quarterback.

Every time Ohio State has gotten into a garbage time situation so far this season, it has been Devin Brown that takes the field first as the Buckeyes’ backup quarterback. Brown seems like a great kid and has been around the program for three years now, but based on what we have seen from his play and what we know about the rest of the position group, it is very clear that he is not going to be Ohio State’s starting quarterback in 2025, nor does he seem like the best option to take over should something happen to Howard.

The clear heir apparent to the Buckeyes’ quarterback throne is Julian Sayin, who transferred to Ohio State from Alabama this offseason after Nick Saban’s retirement. Sayin was a five-star prospect in the 2024 class, and has outplayed Brown this year in very limited reps despite being a freshman. Heading into the game against Purdue, Brown had completed only 55.7% of his passes for 108 yards (six yards per attempt) and a touchdown, while Sayin had completed 71.4% for 84 yards (12 yards per attempt) and a TD.

We have seen a decent amount of Brown over the past two seasons, and he has completed less than 60% of his pass attempts to this point in his career. It doesn’t seem like he quite has the accuracy Ohio State would want from its starting quarterback, and with Sayin now on the roster — alongside Lincoln Kienholz and fellow freshman Air Noland — it feels as though Day should prioritize getting reps for the guy who is likely the starter in 2025.

The Ugly


The FOX broadcast

It feels as though the TV product for college football gets a little bit worse each season. It is already annoying enough that every Ohio State game gets thrusted into the Big Noon slate on FOX, but it is made significantly worse by a constant barrage of commercials and announcers that don't seem like they even want to be there.

Today’s broadcast featured both of those things. On multiple occasions we were hit with the classic ‘touchdown -> commercial -> kickoff -> commercial’ that these big networks love to do to squeeze in as much advertising as humanly possible. On top of that, Gus Johnson treated both a scoop-and-score defensive touchdown for Ohio State and a 19-yard TD run by Henderson with the enthusiasm of a worker at the DMV.

And that’s not even to mention that the booth continues to pronounce multiple players’ names wrong despite having called numerous Ohio State games already this season.

Lower body injuries

Ohio State narrowly avoided disaster on Saturday with a pair of what would have been devastating injuries against Purdue.

First, it was Carson Hinzman, who went down with an apparent knee injury late in the second quarter. The offensive lineman was on the ground with trainers for a bit, but eventually got up and was able to walk off the field under his own power. Luckily for the Buckeyes, Hinzman returned to the starting lineup out of the halftime break and seemed no worse for wear, getting some additional time to rest up once the backups came in as well.

Then it was Howard, who seemed a big banged up following his 17-yard touchdown pass to Smith on Ohio State’s final offensive play of the first half. The quarterback had bodies falling at his feet and took a small hit to his legs, hopping up and down a bit afterwards and favoring one knee. Howard seemed to quickly shrug it off, and only had to play two more offensive series after that anyway before getting to sit the remainder of the afternoon.

All things considered, the Buckeyes are pretty close to fully healthy outside of the long term injury to Simmons. They seemed to have dodged a pair of bullets against the Boilermakers, and would love to avoid anymore injury scares with three regular season games remaining.

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LGHL All the news, analysis from Ohio State’s 45-0 win over Purdue

All the news, analysis from Ohio State’s 45-0 win over Purdue
Matt Tamanini
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Ohio State v Purdue

Photo by Ben Jackson/Getty Images

All the Buckeye news thats fit to re-print.

Look, we get it. Your days are busy and you don’t have time to read all of the stories and tweets from the three dozen websites dedicated to covering Ohio State athletics, or the 237 Buckeye beat writers churning out hot takes and #content on a daily basis. But that’s ok, that’s what your friends at Land-Grant Holy Land are here for.

Monday through Friday, we’ll be collecting all of the articles, tweets, features, interviews, videos, podcasts, memes, photos, and whatever else we stumble across on the interwebz and putting them in our daily “Why is this News?” article. That way, you’ll have a one-stop shop for all of the most important Buckeye news, jokes, and analysis.

You’re welcome!


For your Earholes...


Subscribe to the Land-Grant Podcast Network for all of your Ohio State needs
Matt Tamanini, Land-Grant Holy Land


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Recapping Ohio State’s 45-0 win over Purdue


No. 2 Buckeyes Shutout Boilermakers, 45-0
Ohio State Athletics

Defense dominates as Buckeyes rout Purdue 45-0
Bill Rabinowitz, The Columbus Dispatch

Buckeyes maintain strong momentum with 45-0 win over struggling Purdue
Steve Helwagen, Bucknuts

Ohio State Cruises to 45-0 Win over Purdue
Dan Hope, Eleven Warriors

Buckeyes Blitz Boilermakers 45-0: Smith’s Records, Defensive Dominance Fuel Ohio State Shutout
Samuel Cipriani, The Lantern


News From Ohio State’s 45-0 win over Purdue


Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith breaks Cris Carter’s freshman reception, touchdown record
Patrick Murphy, Bucknuts

Why Buckeyes DT Tyleik Williams was held out in win over Purdue
Joey Kaufman, The Columbus Dispatch

Ohio State vs. Purdue Notebook: Jeremiah Smith Breaks Two More Records, Eddrick Houston Makes His First Start and Will Howard is Getting New Cleats
Andy Anders and Dan Hope, Eleven Warriors


Analyzing Ohio State’s 45-0 win over Purdue



Snap Judgments: Buckeyes coast to straightforward blowout over Purdue
Austin Ward, Dotting The Eyes

Buckeyes report card: How did Ohio State grade against Purdue?
Brian White, The Columbus Dispatch

How Buckeyes showed championship mettle leading into, throughout win over Purdue
Spencer Holbrook, Lettermen Row

Three Key Stats: Ohio State’s Special Teams Becomes a Plus, the Buckeyes’ Record Their Second Shutout of the Season and Emeka Egbuka Keeps His Catch Streak Alive
11W Staff, Eleven Warriors

Quick Takes: Ohio State’s offensive creativity, defense steps up, Buckeye special teams arrives
Patrick Murphy, Bucknuts

Report Card: Grading Buckeyes dominant win over Purdue
Spencer Holbrook, Lettermen Row


Looking at the Performances From Ohio State’s 45-0 win over Purdue


The Ohio State marching band formed a bear pooping on the Michigan logo during halftime

(via @DynastyPrice)https://t.co/qTWBd2hT3f pic.twitter.com/R6efR611PW

— On3 (@On3sports) November 9, 2024

Moment of the Game: Ransom’s massive hit proves his health and defensive aggression
Matt Tamanini, Land-Grant Holy Land

Photos: Ohio State vs. Purdue
Ohio State Athletics

Instant opinions: OSU DEs thrive; QB Howard’s deep passes worrisome
Rob Oller, The Columbus Dispatch

Defensive Ends JT Tuimoloau, Jack Sawyer Fuel Ferocious Pass Rush for Buckeyes vs. Boilermakers
Andy Anders, Eleven Warriors

Special teams finally a ‘plus’: Caden Curry’s blocked punt jumpstarts rout of Boilermakers
Andy Backstrom, Lettermen Row

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LGHL OHIO STATE GAMEDAY: It’s a bad day to be a Purdue Boilermaker

OHIO STATE GAMEDAY: It’s a bad day to be a Purdue Boilermaker
Gene Ross
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Ohio State v Penn State

Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images

The Buckeyes return home to take on the Boilermakers.

Wake up, everyone. It’s Ohio State game day!

After a thrilling victory against Penn State on the road last weekend, Ohio State returns home to take on a Purdue team on the very opposite end of the spectrum. While the Buckeyes are trending in the positive direction now at 7-1, the Boilermakers sit at just 1-7 on the season, having lost each of their last seven contests. Ryan Day and his team still can't afford to take Ryan Walters’ group lightly, however, as the ‘Spoilermakers’ have a history of making things interesting against the scarlet and gray.

Over the past week, our talented group of writers and podcasters have put together preview pieces, analytical breakdowns, and everything in-between.

If you missed out on any of the coverage, we have you... well, covered. Below, each type of story is categorized. If you’re looking for podcasts and previews we’ve done, you can find them; if you’re looking for the betting lines and non-football topics, they are there, too.

Enjoy the day everyone. As always, Go Bucks!


Podcasts


Previews


Sports Betting


Mens Basketball


Women’s Basketball


Recruiting


Ask LGHL/B1G Top 10


Other Columns


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LGHL Moment of the Game: Ransom’s massive hit proves his health and defensive aggression

Moment of the Game: Ransom’s massive hit proves his health and defensive aggression
Matt Tamanini
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Syndication: The Columbus Dispatch

Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK

Oh yeah, and Jeremiah Smith broke two program records too.

The easy pick here for the moment of the game is Jeremiah Smith surpassing Cris Carter’s freshmen receptions record and his freshman touchdowns record, but I’ve picked a lot of J.J. Smith plays for this column already this season (also, the video for the record-breaking touchdown is below).

So, I went with a play that not only shows a shift in Ohio State’s defensive aggression in recent weeks, but also confirms that a key player on that side of the ball for the Buckeyes is clearly healthy and back to 100%.

Halfway through the second quarter with the Buckeyes up 14-0, Purdue was on the move. On 2nd-and-4 from the Boilermaker 43, Texas transfer quarterback Hudson Card kept the ball and ran to the right, aiming to pick up the first down. However, a missile was fired from the back of the defense and absolutely blew him up.

When Card decided to keep the ball on what appeared to be a zone read, safety Lathan Ransom was roughly 20 yards away from him as the deepest man on defense. But, he read the play from deep in the secondary and made a B-line for the ball carrier.

While Card had to avoid some other Buckeye rushers, Ransom closed 15 yards in the same amount of time that the QB ran seven. When they met at the Purdue 46-yard line, Ransom delivered a massive hit that dislodged the ball and stopped Card short of the line to gain.


Lathan Ransom hit stick.

The Ohio State safety smacked Purdue QB Hudson Card out of bounds on this 2nd-and-4.

Afterward, though, the Boilermakers converted their second 3rd Down of the drive. pic.twitter.com/rseDwk1Inc

— Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom) November 9, 2024

One of the knocks on the Buckeyes coming out of the loss to Oregon in Eugene was that they just weren’t aggressive enough on defense to force Dillon Gabriel and the Ducks’ offense into difficult situations.

Since then, we have started to see some more creativity up front with stunts and blitzes from different positions, and it has been marginally effective. A lot of that focus has been on the defensive line and whether or not they are actually able to hit the quarterback — OSU had four sacks and five tackles for loss against Purdue. But, it seems to me that this aggressive mindset has begun to permeate the entire defense, and Ransom’s closing speed and bone-shaking hit prove it.

Ransom was injured against Oregon and didn’t play against Nebraska coming out of the subsequent bye week. The safety has been no stranger to injuries in his time as a Buckeye. He broke his leg in the 2022 Rose Bowl and missed the final five games of last season with a foot injury.

So any time he has to miss snaps, let alone games, should cause fans to be a little apprehensive. But, based on a solid performance against Penn State and an even more impressive one against Purdue, I think that it’s safe to say that Lathna Ransom is as healthy as one can be heading into the final three games of the regular season.


Lathan Ransom with a BIG hit @ohiostatefb pic.twitter.com/lK49JHr6jn

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 9, 2024

Even though the stop didn’t result in an immediate punt or turnover on downs, the electric hit continued to give the Buckeye defense life. Ransom added a third-quarter interception to go along with four tackles; really solid day for one of the most important players on the OSU roster.



As promised, here is the history-making touchdown catch for Jeremiah Smith.


Record reception

Jeremiah Smith's 9️⃣th TD grab of the season breaks a tie with Cris Carter for the most by an @OhioStateFB true freshman.#B1GFootball on @CFBONFOX pic.twitter.com/s6UDp0l3oS

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 9, 2024

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LGHL Majority of Ohio State fans don’t think Buckeyes will make playoff semifinals

Majority of Ohio State fans don’t think Buckeyes will make playoff semifinals
Matt Tamanini
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Syndication: The Columbus Dispatch

Adam Cairns / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

You ask, we answer. Sometimes we ask, others answer. And then other times, we ask, we answer.

Throughout the
Ohio State football season, we will be asking and answering questions about the team, college football, and anything else on our collective minds of varying degrees of importance. If you have a question that you would like to ask, you can tweet us @LandGrant33 or if you need more than 280 characters, send an email HERE.



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Question 1: After the Penn State win, where do you think Ohio State ends its season?



Not gonna lie, this one surprised me more than a little bit. As I look across the landscape of college football, I don’t see any great teams. I see a bunch of good, but flawed teams. Coincidentally, that is also how I see the Buckeyes, but when I stack their “goodness” next to the “goodness” of other teams, I think that Ohio State comes out considerably further ahead in nearly every case.


I think the same is true for their weaknesses. No doubt that the OSU offensive line has been a point of concern for the past two seasons, and while I’m certainly not saying that it has all of a sudden become an elite unit based on one game, I do think that it is substantially better than it was just a few weeks ago.

By combining two seasoned starters on the rebuilt left side of the line with a more creative call sheet from Chip Kelly, I do believe that the offensive line has gone from a negative to at least a push, and — with two games against sub-par competition before the stretch run — has the chance to become a positive.

If that happens, I think that it becomes increasingly difficult to find a team that is better than Ohio State. Obviously, the coaching staff needs to continue to up its game as well, from schemes to creativity to play calling to rotation, but their backs are against the wall, and there is no reason for them not to go for broke at this point.


Question 2: What will the margin of victory be in Saturday’s game against Purdue?



Look, Purdue is bad... like 1-and-8 bad. Ohio State should be able to name its score against the Boilermakers. The only questions should be how long they keep the starters in the game and how hard they actually try to score in the second half. Ohio State Buckeyes enter the game as a 37.5-point favorite and the gold-standard college football analytics model projects SP+ has the Buckeyes to win by a score of 47-5.


You can check out the predictions of a handful of Land-Grant Holy Land experts in the link above, but I am going with the Ohio State Buckeyes: 49, the Little Engines That Couldn’t: 3.



Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Ohio State fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

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LGHL Ohio State vs. Purdue: Land-Grant’s experts make their picks

Ohio State vs. Purdue: Land-Grant’s experts make their picks
Matt Tamanini
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Syndication: Journal-Courier

Alex Martin/Journal and Courier / USA TODAY NETWORK

Every week, we will be picking the score, MVP, and major storyline for each Buckeye game.

Being the Buckeye beat’s black sheep blog, we here at Land-Grant Holy Land like to pat ourselves on the back. So, throughout the season, members of our staff will be making predictions about that day’s game. They will go on the record with what they think the final score will be, who the game’s MVP will be, and what the major storyline will be coming out of the day.

The No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes will be back home at Ohio Stadium to host the Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 12 noon ET in a game to be broadcast on Fox. As of this article’s writing, the Bucks are 37.5-point favorites according to FanDuel Sportsbook. College football’s gold-standard advanced analytics model SP+ is predicting a score of 47-5 in favor of Ohio State.

Check out what our staff members think and then let us know your thoughts on the game in the comments below. As we move forward with the season, you will be able to keep up with just how well our prognosticators do on a weekly basis HERE.


Josh Dooley


Score Prediction: Ohio State 45, Purdue 10
Game MVP: TreVeyon Henderson
Major Storyline: Ohio State’s defense continues to mix it up, while the revamped offensive line looks steady.


Justin Golba


Score Prediction: Ohio State 45, Purdue 7
Game MVP: Quinshon Judkins
Major Storyline: Ohio State will be up 35-0 at half.


Connor Lemons


Score Prediction: Ohio State 49, Purdue 10
Game MVP: TreVeyon Henderson
Major Storyline: Ohio State has re-gained momentum and put the Nebraska game completely behind them.


Brett Ludwiczak


Score Prediction: Ohio State 51, Purdue 19
Game MVP: TreVeyon Henderson
Major Storyline: Buckeyes get back to early season blowout form by dismantling Purdue.


Gene Ross


Score Prediction: Ohio State 56, Purdue 10
Game MVP: Jeremiah Smith
Major Storyline: Kayden McDonald starts and gets a sack.


Matt Tamanini


Score Prediction: Ohio State 49, Purdue 3
Game MVP: James Peoples
Major Storyline: The Buckeyes and their coaching staff have turned the corner and are now well-focused on the task at hand. While the starters won’t play all that much, there will be little to no backslide when the second and third teams are in.

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