Ohio State Cruises to 45-0 Win over Purdue

By Dan Hope on November 9, 2024 at 3:21 pm
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Ohio State’s win over Purdue was the easy victory it was supposed to be.

After three straight games that were decided in the fourth quarter, Ohio State was never in any danger of defeat against the Boilermakers on Saturday, cruising to a 45-0 victory to improve to 8-1 on the season.

The win was highlighted by Jeremiah Smith breaking Cris Carter’s freshman record with his ninth touchdown of the season, Caden Curry blocking Ohio State’s first punt since 2022 and Jack Sawyer returning a fumble for his first touchdown as a Buckeye.

  Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4  
#2 Ohio State 7 14 17 7 45
PURDUE 0 0 0 0 0
NOV. 9, 2024 • Ohio STADIUM • Columbus, Ohio

Curry‘s blocked punt gave the Buckeyes the ball at the 8-yard line and set up the game’s first touchdown. The Buckeyes needed four plays to score, but Will Howard ran the ball into the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown on 4th-and-goal to give the Buckeyes a 7-0 lead.

Purdue drove to Ohio State’s 3-yard line on its subsequent possession as Ohio State experimented with a backup-heavy defensive lineup that included Mitchell Melton playing Jack linebacker for the first five plays of the series. The Boilermakers left the field without points, however, as they opted to settle for a 21-yard field goal attempt and Spencer Porath shanked it.

Ohio State followed that miss with a 13-play, 80-yard drive that included a 4th-and-1 conversion by Howard on a quarterback sneak and concluded with a 15-yard touchdown catch-and-run by Gee Scott Jr. on a well-designed play that left him wide open.

After a fourth-down stop by the Ohio State defense, Smith made it 21-0 before halftime with a 17-yard touchdown, breaking Cris Carter’s freshman record in the process with his ninth touchdown of the season.

Ohio State drove into the red zone on the opening drive of the second half, but settled for a 41-yard Jayden Fielding field goal after Howard slipped for a 10-yard loss on third down.

Purdue drove to the 22-yard line on its opening drive of the second half, but ended another promising drive without points when Lathan Ransom intercepted Hudson Card in the end zone.

Ohio State put the game comfortably out of reach on its next possession when TreVeyon Henderson capped off a five-play, 76-yard drive with a 19-yard touchdown run.

Eight seconds of game time later, Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau made it a 38-0 game as Tuimoloau forced a Reggie Love fumble which Sawyer scooped up and returned 11 yards for his first career score.

Emeka Egbuka made it a 45-point game in the opening minute of the fourth quarter with a 10-yard touchdown on his only catch of the game.

Purdue left another opportunity to score points on the table on its next drive as it reached Ohio State’s 20-yard line but Porath missed a 38-yard field goal to preserve the shutout for the Buckeyes.

Neither team would score for the remainder of the game as Ohio State’s backups finished out the day.

Ohio State remains in control of its own destiny in the Big Ten championship race with the win and will look to improve to 9-1 when it takes on Northwestern at Wrigley Field next Saturday. Kickoff is set for noon on Big Ten Network.

Team Stats

OHIO STATE        PURDUE
433 TOTAL YARDS 206
173 RUSHING YARDS 98
35 RUSHING ATTEMPTS 38
4.9 AVERAGE PER RUSH 2.6
2 RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS 0
260 PASSING YARDS 108
21-31 COMPLETIONS–ATTEMPTS 9-21
12.4 YARDS PER COMPLETION 12.3
3 PASSING TOUCHDOWNS 0
24 1st DOWNS 15
66 TOTAL PLAYS 59
6.6 YARDS PER PLAY 3.5
5-12 3RD DOWNS 2-12
3-44 PENALTIES 0-0
30:49 POSSESSION 29:11
0 TURNOVERS 2

Game Notes

  • Freshman defensive tackle Eddrick Houston made his first career start in place of Tyleik Williams, who did not play despite being listed as available after suffering an injury last week at Penn State.
  • Caden Curry’s blocked punt was Ohio State’s first since Lathan Ransom had blocked punts in back-to-back games in 2022.
  • Jeremiah Smith now holds all three of Ohio State’s freshman receiving records for receptions, yards and touchdowns.
  • Mitchell Melton did not have his helmet with him when Ohio State took the field for the second half, indicating that he had been ruled out for the remainder of the game with an injury.
  • Carson Hinzman returned to action in the second half after leaving the game in the second quarter with an apparent knee injury.
  • TreVeyon Henderson handled kickoff return duties for the first time since the first game of his freshman year.
  • Joshua Mickens recorded his first career sack in the fourth quarter.
  • Aaron Scott Jr. went back to the locker room early after he was shaken up following a forced incompletion in the end zone in the fourth quarter.
  • Ohio State has now recorded two shutouts in the same season for the first time since 2014.
  • 103,463 people attended the game.

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