Ohio State pummels Purdue; showdown vs. Penn State up next

Jayden Fielding missed the point-after kick, leaving the Buckeyes with a 6-0 lead at the 9:11 mark, but Harrison caught three passes for 63 yards on the drive.

The Buckeyes scored again less than six minutes later when backup quarterback Devin Brown powered in from two yards out to cap a 51-yard drive, they missed a chance to go ahead 20-0 when Brown fumbled while diving into the end zone on the next drive.

Purdue recovered in the end zone for a touchback, but the Boilermakers (2-5, 1-3) were quickly forced to punt.

From there, the Buckeyes drove 73 yards for another touchdown as McCord snapped a sharp throw into traffic for Cade Stover, who secured the ball for the score with 6:02 on the clock.

Purdue was not able to do much offensively until the final drive, when the Boilermakers reached the 1-yard line with 23 seconds left.

But they were stuffed on the next play then lost 10 yards on a holding penalty.

After a pass was broken up in the end zone, Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau sacked Hudson Card at the 22.

One play later, Julio Macias missed a 39-yard field goal, his second miss of the game.

The Boilermakers had 62 yards prior to that drive.

“I thought the first half overall we came out strong,” Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said. “Certainly the fumble is something we wish we had back. And then the defense man, the ball gets down to the 1-yard line and they just keep fighting. And then they get the penalty and hang in there and they missed the field goal.”

Ohio State took the opening kickoff of the second half and drove 67 yards for a touchdown. Dallan Hayden capped the drive with a 1-yard run out of the Buckeyes’ jumbo package with three tight ends and defensive lineman Caden Curry playing fullback.

The Buckeyes added another touchdown later in the quarter when McCord found Stover from 14 yards out. That was set up by a 55-yard connection between McCord and freshman receiver Carnell Tate, who caught three passes for 79 yards while playing extra snaps in place of the injured Emeka Egbuka.

The Boilermakers finally got on the board early in the fourth quarter when Card hit Deion Burks from six yards out for a touchdown.

Ohio State tacked on another touchdown with 7:35 to go when Brown hit true freshman Brandon Inniss on a fade pattern and Inniss outran a pair of Purdue defenders to the end zone. Inniss’ first career catch covered 58 yards.

“We wanted to come out in the second half and play well on the first drive, and we did that,” Day said. “We came down and scored. And then there was a point in there where we just kind of flopped around a little bit. I don’t know if we took our foot off the accelerator a little bit, but certainly don’t want to do that. But we have played in four-quarter games this year, so I don’t think that’s an issue.”

Ohio State went into the game without running backs TreVeyon Henderson and Miyan Williams (both unidentified injuries), and Chip Trayanum went out in the first quarter after taking a hard high hit.

But the Buckeyes were able to cobbled together a running game as Hayden carried 10 times for 75 yards and receiver Xavier Johnson Jr. picked up 39 yards on five carries.

McCord completed 16 of 28 passes for 276 yards while Harrison had six catches for 105 yards, though he was also charged with three drops.

Cody Simon and Tommy Eichenberg shared the team lead with eight tackles for Ohio State while Sawyer and Tuimoloau were both credited with 1.5 sacks.

SATURDAY’S GAME

Penn State at Ohio State, Noon, Fox, 1410