No hangover: Ohio State blasts Purdue after rousing win at Penn State

Ohio State scored first as the offense got an assist from special teams.

Indiana native Caden Curry blocked a Purdue punt, and Ohio State took over at the Purdue 8-yard line.

The Buckeyes cashed in, but needed all four plays after Howard was unable to outrun the pursuit on an outside run then stumbled at the 1-yard line on third down from the two. The quarterback was able to finish the drive on fourth down when he faked a handoff to Quinshon Judkins then followed him into the end zone over right guard.

After Purdue missed a 26-yard field goal, Ohio State put together its first long touchdown drive of the day, going 80 yards in 13 plays.

Gee Scott Jr. finished it by catching a short pass over the middle and racing across the goal line before the defense could react. That made it 14-0 with 8:30 left in the second quarter.

The Buckeyes added one more late in the second quarter when Howard hit Jeremiah Smith on a crossing route and the freshman receiver outran his defender to the goal line for a 17-yard touchdown.

That capped a seven-play, 59-yard drive.

Howard completed 11 of 14 passes for 121 yards in the first half and ran for 15 yards.

Smith caught six passes for 87 yards while TreVeyon Henderson ran for 34 yards in the first half.

Purdue had some success moving the ball, especially on the ground against a spread-out defense. Devin Mockobee picked up 57 yards on nine carries while Reggie Love III added 24 yards on eight tries.

Ohio State was able to counter some of the Boilermakers’ success with big plays of its own, including three sacks.

The Buckeyes added three points on Jayden Fielding’s 42-yard field goal with 8:34 left in the third quarter then seven more on Henderson’s 19-yard touchdown run about five minutes later.

Then the defense got involved as Jack Sawyer scooped up a fumble and returned it 11 yards for a touchdown on the next Purdue offensive play.

That gave Ohio State a 38-0 lead with 2:59 to go in the third quarter.

The Buckeyes made it 45-0 early in the fourth quarter when Howard hooked up with Emeka Egbuka for a 10-yard touchdown.

Howard ended up 21-for-26 passing for 260 yards and three touchdowns.

Henderson ran for 85 yards and had 43 yards receiving while Judkins ran for 32 yards and had 13 yards receiving.

Ohio State improved to 8-1 overall and 5-1 in the Big Ten with a trip to Chicago to face Northwestern up next Saturday.