Ohio State football: What to know about today’s game against Purdue

Where: Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

TV/Radio: ABC/1410

Series history: Ohio State leads 40-15-2, but the Boilermakers have won five of the 13 meetings since 2000, including upsets in 2000, 2009 and ‘18. The last time both teams were ranked in this matchup was 2007 when Ohio State won 23-7 in West Lafayette. Ohio State is 27-5-2 vs. Purdue in Ohio Stadium and has won eight consecutive games at home in the series dating to a 31-26 Purdue win in 1988.

Last game: Dwayne Haskins completed 49 of 73 passes for 470 yards, but the second-ranked Buckeyes’ offense broke down repeatedly in the red zone and the defense eventually collapsed in a 49-20 loss at Purdue in 2018. Ohio State has not lost to a Big Ten opponent since.

Coaches: Ohio State’s Ryan Day is 31-3 in three seasons, including 21–0 in the Big Ten. Jeff Brohm is 25-28 at Purdue and 55-38 overall as a head coach. He is 1-0 against Ohio State.

Ohio State notes: Ohio State is second nationally in total offense (542.2 yards per game) and scoring (44.9 points per game)… The Buckeyes have scored on 36 of 38 red zone trips but settled for field goals 11 times. They have only scored touchdowns on two of their last nine red zone trips… Ohio State is tied for first nationally with 34 QB sacks (3.78 per game) for 230 yards in losses… Grad transfer Noah Ruggles is the first Ohio State kicker to make four field goals in consecutive games. He has made 17 in a row… Ohio State has four players from Indiana: LB Craig Young (Fort Wayne) and OL Zen MIchalski (Floyd’s Knob), Josh Fryar (Beech Grove) and Dawand Jones (Indianapolis).

Purdue notes: Purdue has four regulars on offense with a Pro Football Focus grade over 70 (“starter level”): WR David Bell, QB Aidan O’Connell, OT Greg Long and TE Payne Durham… On defense the Boilermaker regulars with a grade of 70 or better are DE George Karlaftis, DT Branson Deen and CB Dedrick Mackey… Bell leads the Big Ten in receiving yards and receptions at 125.4 yards and 8.0 catches per game respectively… The Boilermakers have at least two takeaways in four consecutive games and 12 in the last four games after recording a total of two in the first five games…Freshman WR Ben Van Noord of Springfield is one of 11 Ohioans on the Purdue roster.

Quoted: Brohm on Ohio State: “They’re well-coached. They play really good football. We’re going to have our hands full. We’ve got to get back to work and understand we’ve got to continue to improve and get better and shore up some things in all three segments and make sure that we can play as error-free as we can this week in order to have a chance to beat Ohio State, but we’re looking forward to the challenge.”

Next game: The Buckeyes will play host to Michigan State at noon next Saturday. Purdue plays at Northwestern at the same time.

Prediction: Ohio State 38, Purdue 27