Following a scary first half against Maryland in Week 6, Ohio State heads to a location that strikes a similar amount of anxiety into the hearts of Buckeye fans: West Lafayette, Indiana.
Purdue
Boilermakers
In 2018, the last time Ohio State played Purdue on the road, the Boilermakers derailed the national title hopes of the then-No. 2 Buckeyes with a 49-20 upset. Ohio State beat three squads ranked in the top 10 nationally that season, but it was Purdue's unranked team that was its undoing.
With undefeated No. 6 Penn State looming next week, OSU can’t afford to look past the men in black and gold Saturday, given their history of being a thorn in the Buckeyes’ side – even if this year’s Purdue squad isn’t prolific in any major areas.
Woes in West Lafayette
Ohio State has lost three of its past four road games in Ross-Ade Stadium.
Prior to the 2018 defeat, the Buckeyes fell to the Boilermakers 26-23 under interim head coach Luke Fickell in 2011 and by a 26-18 scoreline under Jim Tressel in 2009. Ohio State’s only win in West Lafayette in the last 15 years came in 2013, when the Buckeyes won 56-0.
That’s a stark contrast to Ohio State’s success against Purdue at home, where the Buckeyes have won 10 straight times against the Boilermakers (including a since-vacated win in 2010) since a loss in 1988.
Only two players remain on Ohio State’s 2023 roster that were in West Lafayette when it fell to Purdue in 2018 – safety Josh Proctor and right guard Matthew Jones. They’ll be looking to right those wrongs as starters on this year’s team.
Walters enduring first-year struggles
It hasn’t been a great start to the season for Purdue in its first year without Jeff Brohm as head coach, who left West Lafayette to take a job with Louisville after the 2022 campaign. Louisville is undefeated and just beat then-No. 10 Notre Dame this past Saturday, by the way.
The Boilermakers are 2-4 on the season under the leadership of Ryan Walters, and that’s without playing any ranked teams. They’ve lost to Fresno State, Syracuse, Wisconsin and Iowa.
Iowa was both Purdue’s most recent loss and its most recent game, with the Boilermakers falling 20-14 against an Iowa offense that completed just six of 21 passes with none of those receptions going to wide receivers.
Walters took the job as Purdue’s head coach following a two-year stint at Illinois as defensive coordinator, where he lifted the Fighting Illini to the nation’s No. 1 scoring defense in 2022. It is his first head coaching job.
Ferocious freshman free safety, not-so-ferocious defense
Walters’ defensive acumen hasn’t yet produced similar results for Purdue to those he enjoyed at Illinois, with the Boilermakers ranked 86th in scoring defense and 79th in total defense. Those numbers both land at 13th in the Big Ten – ahead of only Illinois in both cases, ironically.
One of the biggest bright spots for the unit has been freshman free safety Dillon Thieneman. Despite barely cracking the top 1,000 recruits in 247Sports’ composite rankings – he was the No. 85 safety and No. 988 prospect overall in the class of 2023 – Thieneman has piled up a team-high 53 tackles and a team-high three interceptions.
Thieneman has the third-most tackles in the conference and most among non-linebackers. He is also part of a four-way tie for second place in the conference’s interception department behind Ricardo Hallman’s four picks for Wisconsin.
Other defensive players to watch for Purdue include fellow defensive back Sanoussi Kane, who is second on the team with 42 tackles, and outside linebacker Kydran Jenkins, Purdue’s main source of pressure with a team-high four sacks.
Hudson’s a Card
Purdue’s offense is under the leadership of a transfer quarterback who entered with starting experience from Texas.
Hudson Card was supplanted by a player Ohio State fans are quite familiar with – Quinn Ewers – and he transferred to Purdue following the 2022 season looking to get back into a starting role.
Results have been mixed. Card’s completed 63.6 percent of his passes in 2023 for 1,491 yards, averaging seven yards per attempt. He’s thrown five interceptions against six touchdowns.
His top target has been wide receiver Deion Burks, who has 24 receptions for 396 yards and four touchdowns. Burks is the only Boilermaker with multiple touchdown catches. Fellow wideouts Abdur-Rahmaan Yahseen and TJ Sheffield follow with 329 yards and 284 yards, respectively.
Two backs complete the attack
Purdue runs with a two-headed tandem at running back. Redshirt sophomore Devin Mockobee leads the way; he has collected 372 yards and four touchdowns on 87 carries, an average of 4.3 yards per attempt.
When Mockobee isn’t in the game, look for Tyrone Tracy Jr., who transferred to the Boilermakers from Iowa a season ago and converted from wide receiver to running back. He’s been more of a chunk runner, averaging 5.9 yards per carry on his 50 attempts for 296 yards and five rushing touchdowns.
Tracy’s receiving background hasn’t made much difference in terms of an extra weapon for Card to toss it to, however, as his nine catches for 27 yards are behind Mockobee’s 14 receptions for 94.
All told, Purdue has the No. 89 scoring offense and No. 73 total offense in the country through six games.
