﻿The Second Half: Purdue starts the second half with the ball and they come out throwing! The drive highlighted by a 40-yard pass from Brees to Sutherland! You can tell why the Boilers trend to passing the ball, every time they hand the ball off to run the ball, OSU is right there to meet them at or behind the line of scrimmage. Almost nothing has developed in the ground game. That doesn’t seem to cause Purdue much stress as the offensive line seems much more adept in pass blocking than run blocking. The Purdue drive stalls and they have to settle for a long field goal from Travis Dorsch. Purdue extends the lead 10-3 as Ohio State gets the ball back.

Here on the ensuing drive, we have a controversial moment in this game, and we’re reminded that instant replay and review were not a thing back in 2000. There is a “completed pass” for OSU before the ball pops out of the hands of the receiver and it’s unclear whether or not he was down before the fumble. The refs huddle and determine he was down and award the first down to the Buckeyes. Even looking at it myself, I can’t tell what the right call was supposed to be. Things happen and you have to move on! The Purdue defense came to play in this one as OSU has to make some impressive plays just to move the ball at all, routinely being pressured by the physicality of the Boilers. Thanks to a false start penalty the Bucks respond to Purdue’s field goal with one of their own and the lead is back down to 4 as it becomes 10-6 Purdue! OSU forces another punt to get the ball back with 6:30 to go in the 3rd quarter. The Buckeyes offense seems to be finding some footing against this Purdue defense as they begin to rack up first downs on consecutive plays, routinely with play-action and finding WR’s and TEs towards the sidelines. Before you know it, they find themselves with a goal-to-go before the FB breaks the plane and OSU leads again for the first time since the score was 3-0 and suddenly it’s 13-10 OSU.

After taking the lead you can tell the Purdue offense is now dealing with an energized Buckeye defense as they attack looking to hit someone hard! Joe Cooper the OSU ILB streaks through a gap in the OL on the ensuing 3rd down to sack Drew Brees and force a 3-and-out of this high powered offense. Then, disaster, Nate Clements returns the punt 89 yards and suddenly Purdue finds themselves down 20-10 and with no momentum going forward. It looks like OSU is finally imposing their will on Purdue to open up a ten-point lead. Even knowing what happens, it’s still this moment where I can feel the momentum and energy drain from the Boiler faithful. Thinking back on even recent games up to 2020, these moments as Purdue fans come all too often, playing well and just can’t seem to hold on long enough. A forced pass falls incomplete and Brees looks frustrated. Then another blitz is failed to be picked up, Brees scrambles and finds Standeford for 40 yards! After a batted pass and short completion, a great catch by Winston and it’s a first down! Purdue has been forced into some long 3rd downs and found ways to convert, they will need to continue to find those answers to keep themselves in the game. The 4th quarter starts and the Boilermakers have 15 minutes of game time to overcome what is currently a ten-point deficit. Another very important 3rd down conversion by Seth Morales moves the good guys within the OSU ten! Morales comes again on a quick 5-yard pass moves them inside the 5! Unfortunately, a false start erases the gain and its 2nd-and-goal, then 3rd-and-goal. Purdue needs 7 here badly, and they get it to Standeford on what looked like a broken play as Brees had to fade to his right and avoid oncoming rushers, then off his back foot, he finds John Standeford in the back of the endzone. 17-20 OSU lead.

12:40 remaining and Ohio State get’s the ball back and immediately picks up a first on the ground. Then a false start by OSU! A completed pass for a first down is negated by a holding penalty and Purdue gets another break. It’s 2nd-and-25 before a 12-yard pickup on the ground. Purdue needs this stop to keep the score close! They get the stop and Boiler fans are back in it! They know what Brees is capable of and eagerly await him getting the ball back in his hands. 11:20 left, Purdue ball, a quick WR bubble screen goes for 20 and the tension starts to rise! Tim Stratton catches his career-high 11th catch on a 3rd & 5 situation. We eclipse the 10-minute remaining mark and the sun starts to set over Ross-Ade Stadium as Purdue goes run on back to back plays, attempting to run some clock? It seems to be working as they continue to carve up the OSU defense as they make their way down the field trying to tie the game or take the lead with a touchdown. 8 minutes left and Purdue still has the ball, this has been the longest that they have held the ball as another first down comes from Sutherland on an out route to the OSU 25. Then, and I feel like I’m saying this a lot, another crucial 3rd down to go with 6 minutes to play, Vinny Sutherland makes a spectacular play, breaking multiple tackles and diving for the pylon for the Purdue touchdown! Purdue leads 24-20! The energy returns to Ross-Ade as suddenly Purdue is back in the driver’s seat! There is that such highly touted high powered offense!

5:40 remaining and OSU has the ball. Another almost fumble nearly seals the game for Purdue! Instead, it goes down as a sack, and now its 3rd & 14 before an incomplete pass! Purdue will get the ball back trying to seal the game with 4:51 remaining! Surely nothing bad could happen that could jeopardize this win, right?

…right?

………..

We all know what comes next.

Purdue naturally starts the drive on the ground to get the clock under 4 minutes. On 2nd down, they keep it on the ground. At this point, you keep it on the ground to force OSU to use timeouts and then trust your defense, right? No, Purdue elects to throw. Brees falls off his back foot trying to get the ball out. And throws an absolute duck that I think almost anyone could have intercepted. It’s Brees’ 4th interception on the day and it set up OSU on the 3. 3 plays later on a toss to the right, retakes the lead 27-24.

Purdue would need a miracle. Thankfully, they had Drew Brees under center, and all he needed was a shot. A batted down pass on 1st down wasn’t the start they wanted.

Then, Brees dropped back to pass. First read - not open, Second read - not open, Third Read - not open. Then he lets fly a bomb to the Butler transfer Seth Morales. As the camera pans over, you see there is no one within 15 yards of him. If he catches this ball, he will walk into the end zone and the Boilermakers will retake the lead with less than 2 minutes remaining…..





”Wide-open! Got him! Touchdown Purdue! Seth Morales! Holy Toledo!”



