Orton, from Dayton, Ohio, is particularly fired up to play the Buckeyes, who have been absent from Purdue's schedule the previous two seasons.
"It's a game I've been looking forward to," Orton said. "I have a few friends on the other side. It's exciting to go against your home-state team."
OSU linebacker Marcus Freeman is a former high school teammate of Orton's, and several other Buckeyes played in the same conference.
Orton was more of a North Carolina basketball fan in high school than an Ohio State football fan, but he did attend a few OSU games in Columbus.
He never received a football scholarship offer from Ohio State, and he insists an offer wouldn't have meant automatic acceptance.
"I didn't attend their (football) camp and I was looking at other places," Orton said. "It would have been nice but it wasn't a big deal to me coming out of high school.
"We had another receiver who went to my school (who went to Ohio State) and he didn't get to play a lot. I was looking at all that, and at the time Purdue was a great team, throwing the ball, and I thought I could play early."
He claims that revenge is not a factor in his desire to beat the Buckeyes.
"I'm just going to go out there and play my game," he said. "It probably does add a little bit more motivation, but not a whole lot. I have a lot of stuff that gets me motivated. My team being the underdog. Their secondary is really going to be a good challenge. That motivates me enough. It's going to be a great challenge."
