Purdue’s impressive five victories over Ohio State this century, including an all-time upset in 2018, have one thing in common — they were played in West Lafayette, Ind.
The struggling Boilermakers (1-7, 0-5 Big Ten) won’t have that luxury in Columbus on Saturday against the Buckeyes, who are ranked No. 2 in the season’s first College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday.
In the first-ever CFP poll in 2014, Ohio State ranked 16th because of a home loss to Virginia Tech. Two months later, the Buckeyes defeated Oregon in the national title game.
The Buckeyes (7-1, 4-1) have the same destination in mind this season after a 20-13 victory at No. 6 Penn State on Saturday gave them a clear path to the Big Ten title game and a possible rematch with No. 1 Oregon, which edged the visiting Buckeyes 32-31 on Oct. 12.
Ohio State needs to win its final four regular-season games and can’t afford a slip-up against the Boilermakers before playing Northwestern (at Wrigley Field), and No. 8 Indiana and rival Michigan, both in Columbus.
“We’re just focused on Purdue,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said Tuesday. “No matter what happened the game before, that game is over with. Whatever the rankings are, we’ve always said, the ones that matter are the ones at the end of the year.”
Purdue coach Ryan Walters knows his team is a heavy underdog at Ohio Stadium, where the Boilermakers haven’t won since 1988. But he will try to draw inspiration from six years ago, when the unranked Boilermakers humbled the second-ranked Buckeyes 49-20, albeit in a home game.
“It’s going to be a big challenge,” Walters said Monday. “Looking forward to playing in a venue that’s as historic as Ohio State and looking forward to going and competing against the best. That is why you play in this conference. That’s why you come to a school like Purdue, to be able to go compete with and give your all against some of the better teams in the country.”
However, in the two most recent matchups in 2023 and 2021, they were outscored 100-38, and there’s reason to believe another beatdown is in the offing.
The Boilermakers have been outscored 295-113 by FBS opponents following a season-opening 49-0 win over Indiana State of the FCS.
Add the fact Ohio State has future NFL picks throughout the lineup and it could be a long day.
“You look at their team in its entirety; very, very talented roster,” Walters said. “You couple the talented roster with the level of coaching that is at Ohio State, I’ve got a lot of respect for a lot of those guys on the staff there. That’s why you get a team like Ohio State.”
Will Howard leads the way at quarterback for the Buckeyes, throwing for 1,977 yards and 19 touchdowns this season, with Emeka Egbuka catching 46 passes for 577 yards and seven touchdowns and Jeremiah Smith hauling in 39 passes for 678 yards and eight scores.
The Buckeyes will look to build off their performance at Penn State, where they denied the Nittany Lions a late potential game-tying touchdown despite a first-and-goal from the 3.
That was followed by the Buckeyes starting from their 1 with 5:13 left and running 11 straight times, including a kneel-down, for 58 yards and four first downs to end the game.
But Day is done talking about that.
“I think Purdue’s offense is playing well,” Day said. “If our guys think that they’re just going to go out there and play this Saturday, they’re wrong. (The Boilermakers) are a much better team than their record shows.
“If anybody in this building here is thinking about last week, that they’re distracted, that can’t happen.”
