FIRST AND TEN

• Ohio State will be back on FOX for another Big Noon Kickoff Saturday when it hosts the Purdue Boilermakers at Ohio Stadium.
• The No. 3 Buckeyes are 7-1 overall and 4-1 in the Big Ten Conference while Purdue enters the game 1-7 and 0-5, respectively.
• The winning team between Ohio State and Purdue the last four meetings has scored at least 40 points, the first time in the history of the series for such a streak of points. Ohio State scored 56 points in 2013, 59 in 2021 and 41 last year. Purdue scored 49 in its 2018 win.
• Purdue is the last unranked team to defeat Ohio State, doing so convincingly in 2018 at Ross-Ade Stadium against No. 2 Ohio State, 49-20.
• After allowing 32 points and 496 yards in the one-point loss at then-No. 3 Oregon, Ohio State’s defense has limited its last two opponents – Nebraska and Penn State – to a combined 30 points and 543 total yards.
• In honor of Veterans Day Monday, Nov. 11, this will be Ohio State’s Military Appreciation Game. On field recognition will include a large flag presentation, a flyover (two C-130’s from Little Rock Air Force Base) and on-field enlistment ceremonies.

NEXT MAN UP MENTALITY
Ohio State’s next man up creed was evident vs. Penn State when two-time all-Big Ten guard Donovan Jackson made his 32nd career start but first at left tackle and Carson Hinzman made his first start at guard and his first start since last November. The changes the result of two injuries to left tackles. The duo are one-half of the team’s off. player of the game honorees.

BY THE NUMBERS
50s: Sophomore WRs Brandon Inniss and Carnell Tate each caught his career-long reception last year vs. Purdue: Inniss’s was a 58-yard touchdown reception while Tate had a 55-yard reception.

10s: Ohio State had 10 minutes of possession time in the fourth quarter vs. No. 3 Penn State and closed the game with 10 consecutive rushes, and then the victory formation, to erase the final 5:13 off the clock.

2006: The win at No. 3 Penn State is Ohio State’s first over a Top 5 opponent in a true road game since winning at No. 2 Texas in 2006. Losses followed vs. USC (2008), Michigan (2023) and Oregon (2024).

60th: The game against Purdue will be Ryan Day’s 69th as Ohio State head coach (not counting three interim games in 2018) and it will be the 60th game that his Buckeyes have been ranked Top 5 or higher.

OHIO STATE VS. PURDUE

• The game will be the 60th between Ohio State and Purdue but only the fourth in the last 11 years (since 2013).
• Ohio State leads the all-time series, 41-15-2, including wins in the last two meetings: 59-31 in 2021 at Ohio Stadium and 41-7 last year at Ross-Ade Stadium.

HOME AND AWAY

• Ohio State is 26-6-2 vs. Purdue in Ohio Stadium with nine consecutive wins in Columbus dating to a 31-26 Boilermaker win in 1988.
• Flip-flopping: Ohio State is 14-9 all-time against Purdue in West Lafayette.

FIVE AND THAT’S NO JIVE

• Purdue has five wins over Ohio State this century (vs. nine losses).
• That number is the second-most wins this century over Ohio State by a Big Ten Conference team next to Michigan’s six wins (vs. 16 Michigan losses to Ohio State).
• Penn State has five wins (against 19 losses) and Wisconsin has four wins (vs. 15 losses).
• No other Big Ten team has defeated Ohio State at least four times since 2000.

COUPLE OF QUICKIES

• The game will only be Purdue’s third in Ohio Stadium since 2010 with the others in 2012 and 2021.
• Purdue’s win in 2018 snapped a 12-game Ohio State winning streak and kept a 12-1 Big Ten champion Ohio State team out of the College Football Playoffs.

COURTESY OSU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS