Week 6: Ohio State at Purdue

The conference game of the week pits the nation’s No. 4 ranked team against the conference’s deadliest offense. A few things to clean up first, though.

While Ohio State may be better than the teams ranked below it, it’s not of the same caliber of top five teams in most any other year.

And Purdue, which has scored 45.4 points per game this year, is not as good on offense as most believe Joe Tiller’s team to be. Let’s see: 52 against both Toledo and Eastern Illinois, 45 against both Central Michigan and Minnesota, and 33 against Notre Dame. A lot of points, sure, against a list of teams with a track record of giving up a lot of points – to everybody.

Purdue will be exposed in this one. While Curtis Painter is a promising passer, and Dorien Bryant clearly one of the conference’s best receivers, it’s not enough against an Ohio State club that’s just now starting to play its best football. Running back Kory Sheets, who has gained 100-plus yards in each of the past three games, will struggle to find room against a defense that shut down Minnesota’s vaunted ground game last week. In fact, the Buckeyes rank first in the Big Ten against the run, and opponents have averaged just 1.8 yard per carry.

That puts everything on Painter’s shoulders. He just might throw 50 times, but if he does we like Ohio State’s chances. Notre Dame proved last week that, even with its defense, Painter can be forced into making mistakes (two interceptions).

Offensively for Ohio State, quarterback Todd Boeckman has shown improvement (eight touchdowns, one interception in the last three games) and Chris Wells is running the ball well. Purdue’s defense has not seen a combo quite like this one, and it’s doubtful the Boilermakers will be able to slow down the Buckeyes once they get rolling.

Games between these two programs are always close: in the last meeting (2004) Purdue won 24-17. The year before the Buckeyes came out ahead, in overtime, 16-13. In 2002, Ohio State won 10-6.

But not this year. Expect a big lead for the Buckeyes early in West Lafayette.

Ohio State by 11