"We Just Looked Bad"

That's what Terrelle Pryor had to say about the Buckeye offense after Saturday's 16-3 victory over Purdue. My thoughts exactly. Ohio St's offense could only manage three field goals and zero touchdowns. Thankfully, the defense and special teams were lights out.

Ohio St was at it early yet again, scoring within the first three minutes. After forcing a three-and-out on Purdue's first drive, Malcolm Jenkins blocked the punt which was returned 20 yards for the touchdown by freshman linebacker Etienne Sabino. Once again, just like that it was 7-0 Bucks.

But once again, there wasn't much else to see after that. I was in attendance for this game, and it was probably the most boring game that I've been to. Midway through the first, Thaddeus Gibson sacked Purdue QB Curtis Painter forcing a fumble that was picked up by Lawrence Wilson. Chris Wells ran the ball well on the following drive, which led to a Ryan Pretorius FG, 10-0 OSU.

Continuing his stellar day, Jenkins picked off a Painter pass at the beginning of the second quarter. The Ohio St drive stalled however, ending in a Pretorius missed FG. Aaron Pettrey came in to attempt the next try, hitting a 49-yarder to put the Bucks up by thirteen. The second half saw a heavy dose of Beanie and each team trading field goals. That was it. Final score, 16-3 Buckeyes.

Game Notes (there really isn't much to say):

-Game ball goes to: Malcolm Jenkins. Jenkins had four tackles, his team-leading third INT, and of course the blocked punt for OSU's only touchdown.

-The defense was dominant. They had two sacks, a forced fumble, an interception, a blocked punt, and held the Boilermakers to only 70 yards on the ground. Marcus Freeman led the way again, accounting for seven tackles.

-The offense really did look bad. Beanie was a horse, carrying the ball 22 times, but only picking up 94 yards. 4.3 yards per carry isn't bad, but under his 6.7 average. Pryor had 14 carries for a mere 27 yards. TP only threw the ball 14 times, completing 10 of them for 97 yards. The leading receiver was DeVier Posey, who caught two balls for a whopping 28 yards. I'm hoping that the inept offense that we've seen the past two weeks is due to Pryor and Beanie needing some time to get comfortable together. Wells has only been back for three games, and Pryor has only had three starts.

-Ohio St has beaten Purdue 12 out of 14 times. We dominate the Big Ten.

The Buckeyes go back on the road as they head to East Lansing for a match up with 20th ranked Michigan St (3:30, ABC). MSU hasn't won seven consecutive games in 30 years, which is what they will be trying to do this weekend. The key, of course, will be trying to slow down RB Javon Ringer, who has already rushed for over 1100 yards and scored 14 times. Wow. OSU has won the last six contests in this matchup (again I say, we dominate the Big Ten). This should be a high-scoring contest, as long as our offense gets back on track.

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