In what was the the highest scoring total and most lopsided victory margin in the 56-game series, the Buckeyes beat the Boilermakers 56-0 on Saturday. It was Purdue’s first time being shutout in back-to-back games in six decades, and the 56-point loss matched the worst in Boilermakers history. Purdue lost 56-0 to Iowa on October 28, 1922 and 56-0 to Chicago on November 9, 1907.

Ohio State took an early lead, less than a minute into the game when Doran Grant returned an interception 33 yards for a touchdown on Purdue’s first pass of the game. The Buckeyes did not look back after that early score.

By halftime Ohio State had a 42-0 lead. With such a big lead at the half, and Urban Meyer and the rest of the coaching staff decided to take out most of the 1st-string and put in most of the 2nd-string.

The offense was led by Braxton Miller (19/23, 233 yards, 4 TDs, 1 INT – 1 carry, 7 yards), Kenny Guiton (8/11, 59 yards, 1 TD – 9 carries, 98 yards, 2 TDs), Carlos Hyde (8 carries, 111 yards), and Jeff Heuerman (5 catches, 116 yards, 1 TD). A total of 19 Ohio State players had a carry and/or a catch in the game.

The Buckeyes out-gained the Boilermakers, 640-116 (passing yards: 295-89, rushing yards: 345-27).

The defense played very well, especially because of the fact that they shutout Purdue. Ryan Shazier (7 tackles, 3 TFL, 2 sacks) led the defense once again.

For the second-straight game, some of the 3rd-string players also received some playing time.

With 28 first quarter points Saturday, the Buckeyes have the most first quarter points in the FBS this season.

Ohio State has now scored at least 40 points in the 1st half of back-to-back games for the first time over the last 10 seasons (42 points in 1st half vs. Penn State last week). Entering Saturday, the only FBS teams to do so in 2013 were Baylor (3 straight) and Oregon. Also, the Buckeyes have scored 30+ points in 9 straight games, the longest such streak in school history. Previous record was 8, done in 1969.

Including Saturday against Purdue, Ohio State has scored at least 50 points in back-to-back games 3 times in less than 2 seasons under Urban Meyer after doing so just 4 times in 122 seasons from 1890-2011. Also, Saturday was the Buckeyes’ 8th 50-point game under Urban Meyer in 21 games; they had 6 such games under Jim Tressel in 128 games.

Ohio State has topped 600 yards of total offense 4 times this season. They did it 3 times under Jim Tressel.

With the blowout win, the Buckeyes remained at #4 in the BCS rankings. #5 Baylor (even though they were on a bye week) gained points on Ohio State and #3 Oregon widened the gap between themselves and the Buckeyes.