For the second straight year, one unexpected play after another allowed Ohio State to narrowly down Purdue, this time 16-13 in overtime Saturday at Ohio Stadium.
Purdue place kicker Ben Jones hooked a 36-yard field goal attempt wide left at the end of the first overtime to give OSU its 16th straight win at home. OSU corner back Dustin Fox helped the ball go wide by getting a finger on the ball as it sailed away.
“I was the middle jumper, went up got a finger on the ball, my finger still stings from it” he said. “It felt good, I thought I could get a little more of it, but he (Jones) got it up pretty good and got a lot of leg in it and that sucker had some velocity.”
The second missed kick of the day by Jones allows the Buckeyes to go into next week’s 100th meeting at Michigan with the Big Ten title on the line and a chance to play in the Sugar Bowl for the national championship.
The Buckeyes went ahead in the first half of the overtime on a 36-yard field goal by Mike Nugent. The kick was a second chance for the Buckeyes after an attempt just minutes earlier to win the game was blocked.
“I kind of got up there, and was like this is no different than kicking an 18-yarder,” Nugent said “I went out there thinking we just need to get this and put pressure on them.”
Mike Nugent’s 41-yard field goal attempt as time expired was blocked by Purdue’s Bobby Iwuchukwu to force overtime. The snap and the kick were both low, allowing the leaping Iwuchukwu to get a hand on the kick.
With the score tied 13-13, the Buckeyes were in the position to win the game after the snap to quarterback Kyle Orton out of the shotgun bounced off of his hands and was recovered by OSU defensive tackle Tim Anderson.
That was not the first time the OSU defense came up big on an Orton fumble. Earlier in the fourth quarter sophomore defensive end Mike Kudla scooped up a fumble by Orton on the 1-yard line and rolled in for the score. Under heavy pressure from defenders Tim Anderson and Will Smith, Orton dropped the ball. Kudla beat out the diving quarterback to get the ball in the score with 11:23 left in the contest.
Purdue was up against its own goal line after OSU punter B.J. Sander had his third kick of the day downed inside the 5-yard line. Purdue tried to run on the first two downs and was forced to pass on third-and-seven.
The Buckeyes pass rush came up big for the first time all day. Prior to the turnover, they had not sacked the passer and had only knocked him down a few times.
On the next Boilermakers drive, following Sander’s fourth punt down inside the 10-yard line, Purdue finally had an answer to the earlier OSU touchdown. Purdue running back Jerod Void rolled in for an 11-yard touchdown with 4:36 left in the contest to tie the game at 13-13.
On the old Statue of Liberty play, Orton faked the pass then gave a delayed hand-off to Void, who went outside into the vacant secondary for his longest run of the day.
Purdue jumped out to an 3-0 advantage after forcing the Buckeyes to go three-and-out to open the contest. Orton moved his team down the field efficiently with short passes. He completed five passes, with none more than 11 yards. After the Buckeyes finally stopped the drive in their own territory, Jones knocked through a 45-yard field goal with 7:29 left in the first quarter.
Tailback Lydell Ross opened OSU’s second drive by ripping off an 18-yard run on first down, but the Buckeyes could not do anything on the next set of downs and were once again forced to punt the ball away.
OSU finally broke open its offense at the end of the opening stanza. On a third-and-eight, quarterback Craig Krenzel went deep for Michael Jenkins for a 60-yard strike to move the Buckeyes into the Purdue red zone. Following a 5-yard run by Branden Joe on first down, OSU settled for a 26-yard Nugent field goal with 14:50 left in the half. Prior to the field goal, Krenzel went looking for Jenkins in the end zone on third down. The pass was incomplete and officials chose not to call a possible pass interference.
In what was shaping up as a battle of the place kickers, Jones converted on a 47-yard field goal to put the visitors up 6-3 with 13:01 left in the second quarter. Purdue’s major gainer of the drive came on another questionable pass interference call, this time on OSU’s Chris Gamble.
After being forced to start at the 5-yard line, Krenzel completed three straight passes including successive first downs on an 18-yard pass to Jenkins and a 16-yard gainer to Santonio Holmes. The drive stalled near midfield after Krenzel was sacked on a third-and-three.
Purdue was also forced to start at its own 5-yard line after Anthony Chambers fielded the ball at the 8-yard line and was then tackled by Tyler Everett. OSU stopped the Boilermakers following a Dustin Fox pass interference penalty.
The Buckeyes started with a short field just before halftime when Purdue’s Brent Slaton’s punt from the end zone went out of bounds at the Boilermakers 37-yard line.
Krenzel opened the drive by running for 17 yards on first down, but following a Ross 1-yard run and a false start penalty, and then a personal foul, Nugent was forced to kick a 52-yard field goal with the wind at his back with 2:42 left in the half to tie the game at 6-6.
After holding the Boilermakers to a three-and-out at the start of the second half, the Buckeyes were able to move the ball and pick up a few first downs, but could not sustain a drive. Ross had two first down carries for 6 yards each. On each of the next two plays following the burst, OSU had trouble moving the chains. It was forced to punt, but put its defense in a good position when Sander’s punt was downed at the Purdue 4-yard line. The Boilermakers were able to move the ball because of a total effort by Orton. He had back-to-back rushes of 31 yards. Then on the next two plays, he found John Standeford for 12-yards and then Taylor Stubblefield for 26-yards to get in the OSU red zone. The Buckeyes held again and Jones 28-yard field goal attempt was short.
