What a difference a year makes.
The last meeting between Ohio State and Purdue left the Buckeyes stunned and the Boilermakers euphoric. Upset 26-18 by underdog Purdue, OSU left West Lafayette, Ind., a year ago shocked and embarrassed.
At the time, the loss was devastating. One year later, it was motivating. The OSU coaching staff hung reminders of last season’s uninspiring effort this week to ensure its team didn’t forget the debacle.
“You walk in the building, the hallway, locker room, weight room, anywhere you can think of it was there,” senior offensive lineman Justin Boren said. … “After we lost I think the headline was ‘Train Wreck’ or something and it just reminded us that we have to take care of business.”
On Saturday, it appeared as though the coaches’ ploy worked.
This year’s Buckeye squad refused to fall victim to Purdue. They were ready. Dominating their opponent in every facet of the game, the Buckeyes thrashed Purdue 49-0.
“I’ve never been a part of this team where we had to come off a loss straight into a team that beat us last year,” senior captain Dane Sanzenbacher said. “We all had a lot of emotions coming into the game. Not a lot needed to be said. Everyone was ready.”
Looking to avoid a repeat performance, the Buckeyes sprinted to a 42-0 halftime advantage.
“It was definitely something that we remembered, and we definitely didn’t want to let that happen to us again,” safety Orhian Johnson said of last year’s loss. “We felt like we needed to go out there and just play our game and just get after them early.”
OSU’s 76 yards on the ground in the first stanza alone were 10 more than the Buckeyes had in all of last year’s contest combined.
Compiling almost triple the rushing yards from a year ago and outgaining the Boilermakers 489-118, the Buckeyes did everything they could to erase the unpleasant memories from a year ago.
And recording nine tackles for losses while pitching its first shutout of the year, the silver bullet defense avenged its subpar performance at Purdue a year ago as well.
“We try to make every game a statement game,” safety Jermale Hines said. “When you’re a Buckeye, you tend to have a lot of pressure on you because people expect you to win every game. We didn’t get it done last year but we came together as a team, as a coaching staff and fought hard.”
Although the Buckeyes had extra motivation suffering their first loss of the year a week ago, quarterback Terrelle Pryor said it was the previous Purdue game that had him fired up.
“I think Purdue last year was a lot more motivation than last week,” Pryor said. “I think Purdue last year really motivated us because they really kicked our butts up and down the field the whole game.”
Fortunately for the Bucks, it was them doing the butt-kicking this time around.
