ANALYSIS: 5 takeaways from Ohio State’s win over Purdue

“Coming off an emotional win like we had last week, how are we going to respond,? Day said. “Are we going to just flop around in the first half then come around in the fourth quarter like we did a couple of weeks ago, or are we going to come out and be aggressive early and establish the line of scrimmage, get a turnover. That was good.”

Here are five things to know about the game:

1. Jeremiah Smith broke more of Cris Carter’s records.

The phenom from Florida caught six passes for 87 yards despite not playing much in the second half.

His second-quarter touchdown catch gave him nine on the season, breaking Carter’s mark for most by a true freshman at Ohio State set in 1984.

“I still think I’m a freshman,” Smith said with a sheepish grin afterward. “I don’t really want to grow up that fast. I’m enjoying being a freshman right now. Other people might think I’m not, but I think I’m still a freshman.”

Smith has made a habit of passing Carter, a Middletown High grad who went on to be a Pro Football Hall of Famer. Smith also broke his record for true freshman receptions (41), finishing the day with 45, and he already had broken Carter’s receiving yardage record (648) and finished the afternoon with 765.

Emeka Egbuka passed Carter for fourth place in career receptions at Ohio State last week, but Carter is still fourth in receiving yards (2,725).

2. The offense was efficient overall.

Facing a unique defensive scheme from Purdue, the Buckeyes did not hit the ground running, but they found their footing eventually.

Will Howard completed 21 of 26 passes for 260 yards and three touchdowns, though he also had a couple of throws he wanted to take back and regretted slipping a couple of times on the Ohio Stadium turf.

“I’m getting some new cleats next week,” Howard said to laughs after the game.

One week after Quinshon Judkins carried most of the load at Penn State, TreVeyon Henderson was the most effective back for the Buckeyes against Purdue.

Henderson had a couple of long runs and finished with 85 yards on six carries while Judkins had 32 yards on 11 carries.

Henderson passed J.T. Barrett and Wayne grad Braxton Miller the all-time rushing list at Ohio State before the afternoon was over, finishing with 3,333 career rushing yards while Barrett had 3,263 and Miller had 3,314.

3. Special teams were one-sided.

Ohio State set the tone early when Caden Curry blocked a punt to give the offense the ball inside the 10-yard line, setting up the Buckeyes’ first touchdown.

Day said the team’s first blocked punt since late in the 2022 season was the result of a new look the unit tried with Curry and fellow defensive lineman Mitchell Melton rushing off the edge.

“We felt like we had something on punt block so we put Caden and Mitch off the edge there which was we felt like a good matchup for us. We put a lot of work into it but then those guys have to go execute, and they did,” Day said. “Especially coming off the emotional win of last week we felt like special teams could either steal a possession or give us a big play to jump-start us in the game.”

Purdue also missed a pair of field goals to preserve the shutout for the Buckeyes.

4. The Ohio State defense outscored the Purdue offense.

Ohio State outgained the visitors 433-206 and forced four punts.

The Boilermakers moved into Ohio State territory five times but never scored, in part because the Buckeyes had some timely sacks to offset Purdue’s momentum.

They also logged a red zone interception when Lathan Ransom picked off a pass in the end zone in the third quarter, and the Ohio State defense scored itself when Jack Sawyer picked up a fumble and returned it 11 yards for a touchdown.

“I was going to try to scoop it and score regardless, so I’m glad that there wasn’t (anywhere near the ball) because I would have gotten in trouble if I was going to try to scoop it with someone there,” Sawyer said.

5. The defense was able to experiment.

Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles has been trying a few new things after his unit was torched at Oregon in early October.

That includes new coverages, personnel changes and especially different pressure packages all designed to make the Buckeyes not only more effective at stopping offenses but harder to game plan for.

Saturday he dipped into his old bag of tricks, rolling out the “Jack” package that was a staple of his stout defenses at Oklahoma State. That means swapping one of the four defensive lineman for a hybrid linebacker-type player (known as the Jack) who can attack from a different gap on each play. Melton manned the role with the first team while C.J. Hicks was in that spot when the reserves were on the field in the fourth quarter.

Day said the goal was to take a look at some different things, especially with the team’s top tackle Tyleik Williams sitting out to rest an injury he suffered last week at Penn State.

“There’s a lot more we can build on from there,” Day said. “It’s got to make sense. It’s got to fit in the right spot, but we felt like it gives us a little bit of a different wrinkle.”

The only downside? Well, the package did not seem to be very effective as Purdue sliced through the Ohio State defense on the ground and through the air when the Jack was on the field.

“We felt like we wanted to try some different things, and we’ll keep building on it, evaluate and see what worked and what didn’t,” Day said. “But we felt like it was a good opportunity to try some of that stuff.”

SATURDAY’S GAME

Ohio State at Northwestern, Noon, BTN, 1410