Ohio State and Purdue have a rich history on the gridiron against one another. That series will continue Saturday as OSU hosts Purdue (3:30 p.m., ABC regional telecast).
Ohio State enjoys a 36-12-2 record all-time against Purdue, including a 24-6-2 edge in Columbus. Purdue hasn't won at Ohio Stadium since 1988, a span of six games. OSU's 23-7 win last year at Purdue gave the Buckeyes a record of 5-2-1 in games where each team is ranked.
Ohio State won six straight games in the series between 1989-96. But Joe Tiller arrived in West Lafayette in 1997 and the games between the schools since then have been highly competitive. OSU is 5-2 against Tiller since his arrival. All but two of those games have been decided by single digits.
“I couldn’t give you a reason why we always look forward to playing them,” Tiller said. “It’s always a good game, a hard fought game and a clean game. It’s been a healthy competition. I don’t know. They tend to go that way when everything is working for you.”
OSU coach Jim Tressel, who is 4-1 against Purdue, added his take on the recent rivalry with Purdue.
“It always seems like the games with Purdue have been important games,” Tressel said. “They have been in the meat of the Big Ten schedule. We’ve had some great games with them.”
Here is a look at some of the memorable games with Purdue:
* The Early Years – Ohio State shut out Purdue the first six times they played. OSU’s Chic Harley led the Buckeyes to a 20-0 win in the school’s first meeting in 1919 at old Ohio Field. OSU won those first six games by a combined mark of 117-0. Purdue’s first win came in Ohio Stadium in 1938 (12-0).
* 1940 – This game ended in controversy as OSU coach Francis Schmidt made an alleged illegal substitution, sending Charles Maag (who had already played in the fourth quarter) into the game to kick a game-winning 29-yard field goal in a 17-14 win. In those days, when players left during a quarter they could not return. Purdue refused OSU’s efforts to forfeit the game when the gaffe was discovered.
* 1945 – Purdue stunned defending Big Ten champion OSU 35-13 at Ohio Stadium, snapping a 12-game OSU winning streak
* 1957 – OSU took a 20-7 win, keyed by its defense, as it marched to the national title. Don Clark, Dick LeBeau and Frank Kremblas all scored for OSU, which denied Purdue three times inside the OSU 20 in the second half.
* 1959 – OSU stunned No. 6 Purdue 15-0 at Ohio Stadium. OSU had two field goals, a safety and a TD by star Tom Matte.
* 1967 – No. 2-ranked Purdue, on its way to a Big Ten championship, blasted Ohio State 41-6 at Ohio Stadium. QB Mike Phipps and RB Leroy Keyes did the damage as OSU dropped a seventh game in its last 11 outings.
* 1968 – Spurred by the memory of that 1967 loss, Ohio State turned the tables on No. 1 Purdue with a 13-0 win at Ohio Stadium. After a scoreless first half, Ted Provost intercepted a Phipps pass and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown. Backup QB Bill Long tacked on another TD as the Buckeyes notched one of their biggest wins and headed off toward the national championship. Jim Otis carried Purdue tacklers all day, finishing with 144 yards on 29 carries.
Coach Woody Hayes called it “our greatest victory.”
* 1969 – OSU won 42-14 to clinch a share of the Big Ten title and tie its own Big Ten record with 17 straight conference wins.
* 1970 – OSU esacaped 10-7 at West Lafayette on Fred Schram’s 30-yard field goals with 2:04 left.
* 1975 – Top-ranked OSU wins 35-6 at Purdue as HB Archie Griffin breaks the all-time NCAA career rushing record. He had 130 yards on the day.
* 1981 – OSU won 45-33 in a shootout at West Lafayette. QB Art Schlichter (336 yards, three TDs passing) outdueled Purdue’s Scott Campbell (516 yards, three TDs passing). The teams combined for 48 first downs and 1,007 yards total offense.
* 1983 – OSU’s Garcia Lane had two punt return TDs and RB Keith Byars has 135 yards rushing and four catches for 120 yards in a 33-22 win at Ohio Stadium.
* 1984 – No. 2 Ohio State lost 28-23 at Purdue. QB Mike Tomczak, looking at a down box that still read third down, threw a fourth-down incompletion to try and stop the clock. Instead, Purdue took over on downs and held on for the win. OSU overcame the loss to win the Big Ten and advance to the Rose Bowl.
* 1999 – OSU’s Brent Johnson blocked a potential game-tying Purdue field goal with 53 seconds left in his team’s 25-22 win.
* 2000 – Purdue QB Drew Brees was the goat and then the hero. He threw for 455 yards and three TDs against four interceptions. He followed his last pick (to OSU’s Mike Doss) by going deep 64 yards to Seth Morales (over Doss) for the game-winning score with 1:55 left. Purdue went on to win a share of the Big Ten title and advanced to the Rose Bowl.
“You could say the game we won against Ohio State in 2000, when we went to the Rose Bowl, where (Drew) Brees followed the interception with a touchdown to win certainly had to be a marquee game,” Tiller said.
* 2002 – This was the Holy Buckeye game at West Lafayette with OSU pulling out a 10-6 win.
OSU rushed to get a Mike Nugent field goal on the board before halftime, but still trailed 6-3 inside the last two minutes. Facing fourth-and-2 at the Purdue 37-yard line, QB Craig Krenzel stood in under pressure and went for broke with a deep pass to Michael Jenkins for the game-winning touchdown with 1:36 left. It stands as one of the most memorable plays in OSU history, complete with ABC’s Brent Musberger screaming “Holy Buckeye!” after Jenkins’ clutch catch. OSU’s Chris Gamble capped the win with a late interception.
“Championship teams make those kind of plays,” Tiller was left to lament.
The win lifted No.3-ranked Ohio State to 11-0 and helped propel the Buckeyes toward the national championship.
* 2003 – OSU won 16-13 in overtime at home without benefit of an offensive touchdown. DE Mike Kudla recovered a fumble for a touchdown and Nugent’s field goal in OT stood up. Purdue’s Ben Jones missed a game-tying field goal to end the game.
* 2004 – Purdue stopped OSU’s three-game winning streak with a 24-17 win in West Lafayette. QB Kyle Orton, hobbled early in the game, came off the bench and hit freshman TE Dustin Keller for a 14-yard TD with 2:17 left to win it.
“It was gutsy of him to come off the bench and engineer a drive,” Tiller said of Orton. “That was one of the better drives we had here at Purdue.”
Purdue feasted off four OSU turnovers, including freshman LB Stanford Keglar’s interception of a Troy Smith pass that glanced off Ted Ginn Jr.’s hands at the end.
“That’s when I went, ‘Whew.’ It was a sigh of relief,” Tiller said.
* 2007 -- OSU went into the teeth of a "Black-Out" on a warm night at West Lafayette and pulled out a 23-7 win. QB Todd Boeckman completed 17 of 29 passes for 200 yards and two TDs against three interceptions. TB Chris "Beanie" Wells added 85 yards on 18 carries. Purdue averted the shutout with QB Curtis Painter's 1-yard TD pass to Jeff Lindsay with a scant 10 seconds left.
