Dan Herron set the tone with a 10-yard touchdown run on the first series and Terrelle Pryor threw for 270 yards with three scores, as 11th-ranked Ohio State bounced back from last week’s loss at Wisconsin with a dominant 49-0 rout of Purdue at the Horseshoe.
Herron carried on all five plays of the first scoring drive, and finished with 74 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries for the Buckeyes (7-1, 3-1 Big Ten), who were the top-ranked team in the nation before last Saturday’s 31-18 setback in Madison.
Pryor completed 16-of-22 passes with a pair of interceptions while playing into the third quarter. Dane Sanzenbacher, DeVier Posey and Corey Brown each caught a touchdown pass in the victory.
Purdue (4-3, 2-1) entered the game after opening the conference schedule with wins at Northwestern and at home against Minnesota, but the Boilermakers never threatened the Ohio State defense. Purdue’s deepest penetration offensively was the Ohio State 39 late in the fourth quarter.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Rob Henry completed just 9-of-18 passes for 58 yards with an interception and was Purdue’s leading rusher with 26 yards on five carries.