The 10 important numbers from Ohio State’s win over Purdue

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Ohio State had little trouble with Purdue on Saturday, defeating the Boilermakers 34-10 in West Lafayette. The Buckeyes used a monster second quarter to take control of the game, handing Purdue their eighth straight loss.

The win was the 13th straight victory for Ryan Day’s team, which is currently the longest active streak in the nation.

Since the numbers never lie, a fitting way to wrap up the win over Purdue is to look at some of the most interesting numbers to come out of the game. I found 10 numbers from the victory that I thought were important…

300

For the third straight game, Julian Sayin passed for at least 300 yards. The redshirt freshman completed 27 of his 33 pass attempts for 303 yards, marking the sixth time this season Sayin has passed for over 300 yards in a game.

The effort by the Ohio State starting quarterback today was even more impressive considering Carnell Tate didn’t end up playing in the game after feeling some tightness during pregame warmups, leading to Ryan Day deciding to hold him out of the game as a precaution.

9

With Tate sidelined for Saturday’s game, even more attention was paid to Jeremiah Smith. While Smith still had a big day, there were more passes to go around to other receivers, as nine different Buckeyes caught a pass in West Lafayette.

A few less frequently used targets this season who were able to catch at least one pass on Saturday were Bryson Rodgers, Mylan Graham, Jelani Thurman, and Nate Roberts.

10

For all the things Jeremiah Smith has already done while not yet finishing his sophomore season, this is his first game in the scarlet and gray that he has caught at least 10 passes in a game.

Prior to Saturday’s game, Smith’s previous career high in catches was nine, a mark he reached on three different occasions, with the last game he had nine catches in coming last month at Wisconsin.

Smith finished with 137 yards and a touchdown on his 10 receptions.

59

Max Klare’s return to Purdue saw the tight end catch five passes for 59 yards in Ohio State’s 34-10 win. The five catches tied Klare’s best total for a game since joining the Buckeyes this season. Klare also caught five passes in wins over Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The 59 yards fell just five yards shy of eclipsing his season-high, as he finished the Minnesota game with 63 receiving yards. In two seasons with the Boilermakers, Klare caught 73 passes for 881 yards and four scores.

9

C.J. Donaldson now has nine rushing touchdowns this year after finding the end zone twice on Saturday. The West Virginia transfer has settled into a role as a short-yardage/goal line back with the Buckeyes.

Since the beginning of October, Donaldson has only rushed more than seven times in a game once, which came in the win over Illinois when he had 13 carries for 44 yards, the only game during that span where he finished with more than 20 yards rushing.

21:46

The Ohio State defense didn’t have to do much against Purdue since the Buckeye offense did a great job at keeping the defense on the sidelines.

Ohio State controlled the clock and then some against the Boilermakers, holding onto the football for more than two-thirds of the game, finishing with 40:53 of possession, which was 21:46 longer than Purdue had the football.

24

After falling behind 3-0 in the first quarter, Ohio State took control of the game in the second quarter, scoring 24 points.

The Buckeyes scored touchdowns on their first three drives of the quarter, with the third one coming on a short field after a Jermaine Mathews Jr. interception of Purdue quarterback Ryan Browne. The final score of the quarter came right before halftime when Jayden Fielding hit a career long 49-yard field goal.

Since Ohio State received the second half kickoff, there was a point when the Boilermakers didn’t run an offensive snap for almost an hour of real time.

7

Purdue finished Saturday’s game with 92 yards rushing, marking the seventh straight opponent who has failed to reach 100 yards on the ground against the Buckeyes. The only team to reach triple-digits rushing against Ohio State this year were the Texas Longhorns, who ran for 166 yards in the season opener in Columbus.

Entering this week, the Buckeyes ranked seventh in the FBS allowing 81.8 yards per game on the ground.

193

On the other side of the football, Ohio State had one of their better rushing games of the season, finishing with 193 yards on the ground against Purdue. That number would have been even bigger had Bo Jackson’s 70-yard touchdown run on Ohio State’s first play of the game not have been called back due to a block in the back by Jeremiah Smith.

The 193 yards rushing was the third-highest rushing total of the season for the Buckeyes, only topped by efforts against Grambling State and Ohio that went over 200 yards.

0

For the first time this season, Ohio State’s defense finished without a sack. Some of the reason the Buckeyes weren’t able to get to Ryan Browne is because the Purdue quarterback was getting the football out of his hand quickly.

Another reason for the lack of pressure was just because the Buckeye defense wasn’t really on the field that much. Prior to this week, Ohio State had recorded at least three sacks in each of the last three games.

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