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Ohio State outlasts Purdue in defensive struggle

Oct 12, 2008 - 1:58 AM By Dave Holstein PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Ticker) -- Ohio State overcame a poor offensive performance thanks to its defense and special teams.

Despite failing to score an offensive touchdown for the second time this season, the 11th-ranked Buckeyes outlasted lowly Purdue, 16-3, in a Big Ten Conference slugfest Saturday.

"We didn't get near as much done as we needed offensively," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said. "But we didn't turn it over and that's critical in a Big Ten battle, and we all know we have a lot of work to do."

"I think the defense played well," Purdue coach Joe Tiller said. "We were well prepared and played well as well as we could."

The Buckeyes (6-1, 3-0 Big Ten) scored on a blocked punt and three field goals while holding the Boilermakers (2-4, 0-2) to just 296 yards of total offense.

"I thought our special units stepped up," Tressel said. "The punt block for a touchdown was excellent, and the defense fought all day and made them take long paths to the goal line and kept them out of the end zone."

On Purdue's first possession of the game, Ohio State cornerback Malcolm Jenkins blocked Chris Summers' punt and linebacker Etienne Sabino returned it 20 yards for a touchdown to give the Buckeyes a 7-0 lead just over three minutes into the contest.

"I felt like the ball was never going to come down," Sabino said. "It was in the air forever and it finally fell into my hands. After that, I just remember running as hard as I could to get into the end zone."

"There was a play called," Jenkins said. "We knew we were going to go out there on at least one of the punts."

Late in the first quarter, Ohio State defensive end Lawrence Wilson forced a fumble by quarterback Curtis Painter that was recovered by Thaddeus Gibson at the Buckeyes' 37-yard line. Eight plays later, Ryan Pretorius kicked a 24-yard field goal to make it 10-0.

Aaron Pettry's 49-yard field goal with 4:24 left in the first half gave the Buckeyes a 13-0 lead entering the break.

"I'm just really happy that coach had the confidence to send me out there," Pettry said.

Purdue opened the second half with a school-record 53-yard field goal by freshman Carson Wiggs to make it 13-3.

"I had no idea it was a school record," Wiggs said. "I just lined up like I normally do and really relied on my technique."

Pretorius kicked his second field goal of the game from 22 yards out with 13:30 remaining to provide the final margin.

Painter completed just 23-of-51 attempts for 228 yards, becoming the fourth quarterback in Big Ten history to pass for more than 10,000 yards. He joined former Boilermaker Drew Brees, Northwestern's Brett Basanez and Iowa's Chuck Long.

"I think Curtis played better this week than last week," Tiller said. "He is a fine quarterback and is very deserving of joining the list of other fine quarterbacks from this league."

"It's a great honor just to be mentioned with some of those guys," Painter said. "I have just been fortunate to play with some great teams and players over the last few years."

Ohio State's Chris "Beanie" Wells ran for 95 yards and moved into 10th place on the school's all-time rushing list.

Purdue has lost 17 straight games to ranked opponents and has not won in Columbus since 1988.