As much as the win at Wisconsin wasn’t pretty for 3 ½ quarters, they got the job done on the end with some clutch play on the last drive of the game.  But they paid a price with injuries and some pretty sore players.  A win in Madison is always costly.  Other than the Michigan game, the Wisconsin game is one of the toughest, hardest hitting contests and takes some time to recover both physically and mentally.

So in comes Purdue.  I have seen them play on a couple of occasions and it wasn’t pretty.  But the Buckeyes need to come to play because after some losses, the Boilers will be looking to provide their Head Coach Joe Tiller with a quality win to retire on.  So they will come in and play with nothing to lose and the Bucks better be ready for a wild all out attack.  It could go either way:  if they execute, they can score points with anybody but if they are sloppy and make some mistakes, they could go down with a wimper.

Defensively, the Boilers are ranked #105 national and lack size up front.  The LB corp is talented but their speed in negated due to lack of support up front.  This could lend it self very nicely to the Buckeyes running attack.  The DBs, as always are talented but again if you don’t get push on the QB, you can’t cover Big ten receivers for ever.  Expect Coach Tress to spread them out and run the ball right at them.  I think Pryor will have a good day as long as he stays the plan and doesn’t try to do too much.  Ideally, he would have a low stats day but with good distribution of the ball and limited mistakes in ball possession and game management.

Purdue’s offense has traditionally been potent since Coach Tiller took over 12 years ago and even before that.  This year’s team seems to have the tools; slashing running back, quick good hands receivers and a TE but they have lack the consistency at QB lately.  At Penn St. QB Painter was pull from the game and rightly so.  He was making poor decisions and his accuracy was not there.  Penn St. put a lot of pressure on him and his lack of mobility left him a target in the pocket.

Coach Tiller is a mastermind in game plan design.  He knows that his team needs a boost and a win in Ohio Stadium would go a long way to that end.  So expect him to open it up, throw some wrinkles in there and get his guys ready to play.

Nobody expects Purdue to come into our house and take out a win but with OSU having some temporary depth issues, the potential for an upset is there.  But I think the Bucks, although a little sore and banged up, will be happy to be home in the friendly confines and are still looking to regain the respect after the SC game.  I also think that the Boilers can’t stop the run and Pryor will run wild.

Buckeyes win:

Ohio State                45
Purdue                      21

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