Fresh off a 38-14 win over Penn State last week, Ohio State will hit the road this week to take on the Purdue Boilermakers.
The Buckeyes not only extended their winning streak over Penn State to nine games
in the series, Ohio State now has a 12-game winning streak, which is the longest active winning streak in the country. Ryan Day now has four winning streaks of at least 10 games during his time as head coach at Ohio State.
Over their last 100 games the Buckeyes are 89-11, which is the best mark in the country, sitting two games ahead of Georgia and three games ahead of Alabama.
Next up for Ohio State are the Purdue Boilermakers, who enter this week’s game having lost their last seven games after opening up their 2025 season with wins over Ball State and Southern Illinois. Even though Purdue is just 2-7 this year, the Buckeyes can’t let their guard down since the Boilermakers have made a habit of upsetting Ohio State over the last 25 years.
Purdue has five wins this century over the Buckeyes, which is only topped by Michigan in the Big Ten.
History against Purdue
Overall, Ohio State is 42-15-2 in the all-time series with the Boilermakers. Ryan Day has yet to taste defeat at the hands of Purdue during his time as head coach of the Buckeyes, winning all three meetings with Purdue since taking over for Urban Meyer.
Following a 59-31 win in Columbus in 2021, the Buckeyes beat the Boilermakers 41-7 at Ross-Ade Stadium in 2023, and last year shutout Purdue 45-0 in Columbus.
The Buckeye offense is Sayin a lot
Last week Ohio State earned their 23rd straight win after a regular season bye week. Quarterback Julian Sayin was nearly flawless in the victory against Penn State, completing 20 of his 23 pass attempts for 316 yards and four touchdowns. Sayin now has three games this season where he has completed at least 80 percent of his passes, thrown for at least 300 yards, tossed three touchdowns, and not been intercepted.
For his efforts last week, Sayin was named the Big Ten’s Freshman of the Week, marking the fourth time this season he has earned the honor. The redshirt freshman quarterback now has an 80.7 completion percentage on the season, which leads the country.
If Sayin continues to complete passes at or close to his current rate, he will smash Ohio State’s school record for completion percentage in a season, which was set by Will Howard last year. Sayin still hasn’t thrown an interception in Big Ten play this season, as the last time he was picked off came all the way back in the victory over Ohio.
The majority of Sayin’s passes last week went to Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate, who combined to haul in 11 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns.
With the dynamic wide receiving duo each reaching triple digits in yardage against the Nittany Lions, it marked the second time this season Ohio State has had a pair of wide receivers each go for over 100 yards in the same game. Brandon Inniss was also active in the passing game, catching four passes for 41 yards.
With his output last week, Smith continues his rise up the Ohio State receiving record book. Now the sophomore has over 2,000 career receiving yards, sitting in 14th place in school history with 2,040 receiving yards. The two touchdown game was already the sixth time in his career that Smith has caught multiple touchdowns in a game, and the third time this season he has done so.
For the season, Smith has caught 55 passes for 725 yards and nine touchdowns, while Tate has added 39 catches for 711 yards and seven scores.
Saturday’s game will certainly be emotional for tight end Max Klare, who spent three years at Purdue before hitting the transfer portal following last season. Klare caught 73 passes for nearly 900 yards and four touchdowns in 18 games with the Boilermakers.
So far as a Buckeye, Klare has 21 catches for 210 yards and a score, as he his part of a loaded tight end group. Last week Bennett Christian caught his first touchdown of the season, joining Klare, Jelani Thurman, and Will Kacmarek as Ohio State tight ends who have found the end zone in 2025.
The Buckeye who likely benefitted most from the bye week was running back Bo Jackson. After rushing for 100 yards against Grambling State and Ohio, Jackson’s production had been falling each week, with some of the dip due to an ankle injury he was dealing with.
With some extra rest and treatment on the ankle, Jackson looked crisper last week, finishing with 105 yards on 13 carries. C.J. Donaldson found the end zone for the seventh time this season to give Ohio State their only rushing touchdown of the day. Donaldson’s score made up for a fumble he had late in the first half which allowed Penn State to creep back into the game for a spell.
What has helped Julian Sayin look so comfortable at quarterback are the five lineman lining up in front of him. So far this season, Ohio State has fielded the same starting lineup on the offensive line in all eight of their games. Ethan Onianwa has been rotated in at times to help keep the group fresher as the season has progressed.
It’s obvious the line has gelled from the start, only allowing 23 tackles for loss and three sacks, with both numbers tying for the second-fewest in the country.
The Silver Bullets have been golden
Ohio State’s defense continued their stellar play, bottling up Penn State last week. The Nittany Lions were only able to amass 200 yards, marking the seventh time in eight games this year an opponent of the Buckeyes has failed to accumulate 300 yards of offense.
Despite giving up 14 points, which included the first touchdown Ohio State has allowed in the first half this season, one of those touchdown drives from Penn State was only 13 yards after a fumble by C.J. Donaldson. The 214.8 yards per game and 6.9 points per game allowed both are the top marks in college football.
The defensive line of the Buckeyes continued to make life miserable for opposing quarterbacks. After Caden Curry and Kayden McDonald terrorized Washington’s Demond Williams Jr. and others earlier in the year, last week it was Kenyatta Jackson Jr’s. turn.
The defensive end from Miami had the best game of his career last time out, registering two sacks against Penn State, which was the first multi-sack game. Jackson now has 4.5 sacks this season, ranking second on the team behind Curry and linebacker Arvell Reese.
McDonald’s work last week was a huge reason why the Nittany Lions were only able to rush for 55 yards. Prior to last week’s contest, Penn State had rushed for at least 135 yards in each game this season. The 55 rushing yards from the Nittany Lions were their lowest total in a game since the Buckeyes held them to 49 yards in the 2023 meeting.
McDonald tied his career high last week with eight tackles, a mark he previously set in the season opener against Texas.
The defensive star of the Penn State game was none other than Arvell Reese. The linebacker was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week and the Chuck Bednarik National Defensive Player of the Week after setting a career high with 12 tackles, notching 2.5 tackles for loss, and a sack, raising his total on the season to 6.5 sacks, just half a sack behind tying Caden Curry for the team lead.
Reese leads the team with 54 tackles, nine more than fellow linebacker Sonny Styles.
Ohio State’s secondary almost took a big hit heading into this game when safety Caleb Downs was initially called for targeting in the second half against Penn State. The call was eventually overturned, allowing Downs to remain in the game. Soon after Downs will haul in his second interception of the season.
For the season, Downs is the leading tackler among the defensive backs, recording 39 tackles through the first eight games, sitting ahead of the 30 stops Davison Igbinosun has been credited with. Along with the play of Downs and others, the defensive backfield received a boost when nickelback Lorenzo Styles Jr. returned to the lineup after missing the previous two games because of injury.
After winning just one game last season, Purdue’s 2025 campaign got off to a strong start in Barry Odom’s first season as head coach with wins over Ball State and Southern Illinois. Since then, the Boilermakers have lost seven straight games, but they have pushed some of their opponents.
Last week Purdue went to Ann Arbor and gave Michigan all they could handle before the Wolverines secured a 21-16 win. Unfortunately for Purdue it’s going to be tough for them to find a third win on the season since they close out the regular season with games against Ohio State, Washington, and Indiana.
A new sheriff in West Lafayette
When it became obvious the Ryan Walters experience wasn’t going to work in West Lafayette, Purdue tapped former Missouri and UNLV head coach Barry Odom to replace Walters. After going 25-25 in four season at Missouri, Odom spent three years as an assistant at Arkansas before taking the head coaching job at UNLV.
Odom was great in Las Vegas, posting a 19-8 in two seasons at the school, including going 10-3 in 2024. With the work Odom was able to do with the Rebels, he was able to secure a return to a Power 4 head coaching position.
Saturday’s game will mark the first game for the Boilermakers against a top-ranked team since 1990. Purdue has recorded seven wins against the number one team in the country in school history, with the last one of those victories coming back in 1976 when they defeated Michigan.
The Boilermakers will be looking to channel some of their past magic against the Buckeyes, as they have defeated a ranked Ohio State team eight times in school history, with four of those wins coming when the Buckeyes ranked in the top-five.
What to expect from Purdue’s offense
The Purdue offense took a hit when it was announced recently that running back Devin Mockobee would miss the rest of the season due to injury. The senior saw his streak of 37 consecutive games played snapped last week when he missed the game against Michigan. Mockobee not only was leading the team with 521 yards rushing, he was also a factor when the Boilermakers throw the football, catching 18 passes for 215 yards.
With Mockobee not available, Malachi Thomas and Antonio Harris will be tasked with picking up the slack. Both running backs have rushed for 206 yards on the season. Overall, five Purdue players have rushed for at least 150 yards this season.
Last week against Michigan, Thomas and Harris combined to rush 26 times for 122 yards. Harris is a sophomore, while Thomas is in his senior season after transferring from Virginia Tech.
Starting at quarterback for Purdue will be Ryan Browne, who has started all nine games so far this year after appearing in eight games last year. Browne actually transferred to North Carolina for a short spell in the offseason before returning to West Lafayette. So far this season Browne has thrown for nine scores, and added four touchdowns on the ground.
Expect to see sophomore quarterback Malachi Singleton for a few plays during the game, since the Boilermakers are trying to find ways to utilize the four-star Arkansas transfer. Singleton has rushed 35 times this season, along with attempting 33 passes.
The breakout player on the Purdue offense this year has been Michael Jackson III. The wide receiver has 50 catches this year, with 39 of those grabs coming in Big Ten games, a total that current is tops in the conference. Jackson’s best game of the season came against Illinois when he finished with 14 catches, the most by a Boilermaker since Rondale Moore in 2020.
Prior to arriving in West Lafayette from the transfer portal, Jackson spent time at USC and Georgia.
Joining Jackson at wide receiver is Nitro Tuggle, who is the only other Purdue player with at least 20 catches this season. Like Jackson, Tuggle was also at Georgia prior to transferring to Purdue. Amazingly, Tuggle is the first Boilermaker since Charlie Jones in 2022 to haul in touchdown passes in back-to-back games.
E.J. Horton, Arhmad Branch, and Corey Smith are the other Purdue receivers with at least 10 catches in 2025. This is Horton’s fourth stop in college football, as he has suited up at Marshall, West Virginia, and Florida Atlantic previously.
Purdue’s offensive line is an interesting collection of big men. Junior left tackle Joey Tanona originally committed to Notre Dame but didn’t play in two seasons at the school after he was involved in a car accident before his first practice at the school. Tanona has started all nine games this season for the Boilermakers.
Senior left guard Jalen St. John not only played under Odom at Arkansas, he also followed Odom to UNLV. Sophomore center Bradyn Joiner came to Purdue from Auburn in the transfer portal, while right guard Ethan Trent is the younger brother of Purdue superfan Tyler Trent, who passed away in 2019 due to osteosarcoma.
A trio of top tacklers lead the Boilermaker defense
Following a stretch earlier in the season where the Boilermakers gave up at least 30 points in three straight games in losses to USC, Notre Dame, and Illinois, Purdue’s defense has shown signs of progress recently, not giving up 27 points in each of their last four contests. The Boilermakers are one of two teams in the country with three different games where a player has had a least 15 tackles.
Linebacker Mani Powell, a Columbus native, recorded 20 tackles against Northwestern, the most by a Purdue player since 1997. Powell currently is tied for the lead in the Big Ten with 81 tackles in his first season with the Boilermakers after previously playing at Arkansas and UNLV. Joining Powell at the top of the Big Ten in tackles is Charles Correa, who posted 15 tackles in the loss to Illinois.
After starting his career at UNLV, the sophomore hasn’t taken long to find his footing with the Boilermakers, registering double-digit tackles in five games this year. Alex Sanford Jr. has started six games after playing his first two seasons of college football at Arkansas.
The third Purdue defender to record at least 15 tackles in a game this season is defensive back Tahj Ra-El. The senior reached the mark in the loss to Rutgers, and is tied with Powell and Correa for the Big Ten lead in tackles. Along with his high tackle total, Ra-El has broken up four passes this season, which ties Tony Grimes for second on the team.
Grimes was the top cornerback recruit in 2020 but has had a tough time finding stability at the college level, starting his career at North Carolina before making stops at Texas A&M and UNLV prior to following Odom to Purdue for his senior season.
Leading the Boilermakers in pass breakups is Hudauri Hines, who has six PBUs and has one of Purdue’s three interceptions on the season. Senior Myles Slusher and sophomore Smiley Bradford are the other Boilermakers who have picked off a pass this season.
Slusher started 14 games over three seasons at Arkansas, followed by appearing in four games at Colorado in 2023 before transferring to Purdue and sitting out the 2024 season. Along with Ra-El, three other Purdue defensive backs have spent time during their college career at Memphis prior to transferring to West Lafayette.
Anchoring the Purdue defensive line is C.J. Nunnally IV, who prior to transferring to Purdue was a two-time First Team All-MAC standout at Akron. The senior defensive end leads the Boilermakers with 7.5 tackles for loss and five sacks. Clogging the middle of the line will be 345-pound sophomore defensive tackle Jamarrion Harkless.
The Kentucky native has recorded 2.5 sacks through nine games this season. Georgia transfer C.J. Madden has been the other constant in the group, starting seven games in 2025. With a group full of underclassmen aside from Nunnally and Madden, the front four of the Boilermakers should continue to get stronger over the next couple seasons.
Prediction
In past years this might be seen as a prime letdown spot for Ohio State. This season a trip to West Lafayette doesn’t feel so daunting because of how the Buckeyes have handled their business all season long. Even though Purdue has recorded five wins over Ohio State this century, the Boilermakers will likely be overmatched on Saturday afternoon, as they will have to try and find some holes against the best defense in the country.
In the three games since Purdue shocked Ohio State at Ross-Ade Stadium in 2018, the Buckeyes have outscored the Boilermakers 145-38. The Boilermakers have hung around in some games against ranked opponents this year, but they haven’t seen quite the combination of offense and defense that they’ll see from the Buckeyes on Saturday.
Julian Sayin should have all day to pick apart the Purdue defense since the Boilermakers don’t produce most of a pass rush aside from C.J. Nunnally IV.
Also working against Purdue is the loss of running back Devin Mockobee, who does so much on offense for the Boilermakers. While Purdue was able to hang around Michigan last Saturday night in Ann Arbor, it has become obvious the Wolverines aren’t up to the level of the Buckeyes so far this season.
Ohio State has far too many weapons on both sides of the football for Purdue to keep in check.
