Postgame Notes From No. 11/12 Ohio State vs. Purdue – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
No. 11/12 Ohio State (6-1, 3-0 Big Ten) 16, vs. Purdue (2-4, 0-2 Big Ten) 3
Ohio Stadium
Columbus, Ohio
Oct. 11, 2008
Attendance: 105,378
Ohio State Postgame Notes
Ohio State is 804-305-53 in its 119th season of play. The win total ranks fifth all-time in Division I college football. The only other schools to have 800 or more wins are Michigan, Notre Dame, Texas and Nebraska.
The Buckeyes boast an all-time record of 384-105-20 in Ohio Stadium and have won 23 of their last 24 in the Horseshoe.
Ohio State is 446-188-2 all-time in Big Ten games.
Jim Tressel’s record with the Buckeyes now is 79-17 (.823) and his career record is 214-74-2. Tressel’s 214 wins are tied for third-most among active FBS coaches with Virginia Tech’s Frank Beamer. The Hokies were idle this week.
Ohio State is 45-3 at Ohio Stadium since the start of the 2002 season. Its only losses were to No. 17 Wisconsin in 2004, No. 2 Texas in 2005 and Illinois in 2007. The Buckeyes are 48-5 at home under Jim Tressel overall.
The Buckeyes are 418-127-14 all-time as a Top 25 team.
Ohio State is 356-124-28 in October games and 244-62-20 in October home games.
SERIES NOTES
Saturday was the 51st meeting between the Buckeyes and Boilermakers.
Ohio State leads the all-time series 37-12-2 overall and 25-5-2 in Columbus. Purdue has lost seven consecutive games in Columbus and has not won in Columbus since the 1988 season.
OFFENSIVE NOTES
Ohio State has outscored its opponents 50-10 this season in the first quarter.
Brian Robiskie caught two passes for 19 yards and moved into ninth place on Ohio State’s all-time receptions list with 109.
Robiskie has caught a pass in 31-consecutive regular-season games.
Chris Wells gained 94 yards, the first time this season the junior has not rushed for at least 100 yards. His streak of five-consecutive 100-yard games dating to last year was snapped.
Chris Wells moved into 10th place on Ohio State’s all-time rushing list with 2,664 yards, passing Calvin Murray, who ran for 2,576 yards from 1977-80.
Terrelle Pryor made his fourth-consecutive start at quarterback for the Buckeyes. He is now 4-0 as a starter. Pryor was 10 of 14 through the air for 97 yards. He also ran 14 times for 27 yards.
Brian Hartline has caught at least one pass in 25 consecutive games.
DEFENSIVE NOTES
James Laurinaitis led the defense with 10 tackles. He has 13 career games with 10 or more tackles and 44 in his last three games going into Saturday.
Lawrence Wilson recorded a fumble recovery in the first quarter, the first of his career. The fumble was caused by Thaddeus Gibson, his second in as many games and the third of his career.
Gibson recorded a career-high with six tackles. His previous career high was four this season against Minnesota.
The Buckeye defense has held their opponents scoreless in 15 of 28 quarters this season. The defense held the Boilermakers scoreless in the first, second and fourth quarters today.
Malcolm Jenkins picked off his second interception in as many games and his third of the season on the first play of the second quarter. It was the 11th of his career. There was no return. Jenkins finished with four solo tackles, one pass breakup, one blocked kicked and one interception.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Ohio State scored its first touchdown on a blocked punt by senior defensive back Malcolm Jenkins and was returned 20-yards by freshman linebacker Etienne Sabino. It was the first blocked punt for a touchdown since A.J. Hawk in 2005 vs. Northwestern. It also was Jenkins’ first blocked kick of his career.
Kicker Aaron Pettrey kicked a 49-yard FG in the second quarter. He is now 2-of-2 on the season.
MISCELLANEOUS
A crowd of 105,378 attended the game Saturday. Crowds of more than 100,000 have seen the last 46 games at Ohio Stadium.
Katie Smith, a two-time basketball All-American, was honored at halftime. Last Sunday Smith was named the Most Valuable Player of the WNBA Finals after averaging more than 20 points per game in a three-game sweep of San Antonio, marking Smith’s second WNBA title in three seasons. In Game 1, Smith scored a playoff career-high 25 points and followed that up with 22 points in game two. In Game 3, Smith scored 15 of her 18 points in the second half as the Shock built an 18-point lead and cruised to its third WNBA title in six seasons. This past August, Smith captured Olympic gold for a third time at the 2008 Games in Beijing as Team USA went 8-0, defeating its opponents by an average of 37 points to earn its fourth-consecutive gold medal. Smith still holds eight Ohio State career records, is a seven-time WNBA All-Star and is the all-time leading scorer in the history of U.S. women’s professional basketball with more than 6,600 points.
Donte Whitner, an All-Big Ten safety for the Buckeyes from 2003-05, served as Ohio State’s honorary captain Saturday. Whitner earned all-conference honors his junior season in 2005, helping lead the Buckeyes to a 10-2 overall mark, a share of the Big Ten title and a Fiesta Bowl win over Notre Dame. He recorded 73 tackles and had two interceptions for the 2005 Buckeye defense that ranked No. 5 overall in the country. Whitner has excelled since joining the Bills. He ranked second on the team in his rookie season of 2006 with 107 tackles. He firmly established his starting role in 2007, taking 999 consecutive snaps through the first 15 games before missing the final regular season contest with the flu. This season, Whitner has helped the Bills get a fast start out of the gate. Whitner again ranks second on the team with 30 total tackles, including 27 solo stops for the 4-1 Bills.
