Thursday, October 15, 2009

Ohio State vs. Purdue at a glance...

This Saturday Ohio State will head to West Lafayette Indiana to take on Big Ten opponent Purdue. The game is scheduled to start at 12:00 pm EST



BUCKEYES LOOK TO TIE BIG TEN ROAD RECORD
The Buckeyes currently hold a 16-game win streak in Big Ten road games. That's the longest such string ever by an Ohio State football team. The conference record is 17 games, set by Michigan between 1988-92.

17 - Michigan (Oct. 29, 1988-Nov. 7, 1992)
16 - Ohio State (Oct. 22, 2005-current)
11 - Ohio State (Nov. 16, 1974-Nov. 5, 1977)
10 - Michigan (Oct. 6, 1945-Nov. 6, 1948)

Under Coach Jim Tressel, the Buckeyes are 26-7 (.787) in Big Ten road games overall.

PURDUE AT A GLANCE
Since a season-opening win over Toledo (52-31), Purdue (1-5, 0-2) has lost five straight, with four by an average of 4.5 points. The Boilers lost by two at Oregon, by a touchdown to NIU before two fourth-quarter, heartbreaking defeats to Notre Dame and Northwestern at home.

Despite their record the Boilermakers pose one of the top passing attacks in the Big Ten. Senior quarterback Joey Elliot leads the Big Ten in passing and total offense with 262.5 yards per game through the air and 283.7 yards per game overall. Running back Ralph Bolden is second in the conference in rushing with 99.8 ypg while receiver Keith Smith is second in the Big Ten in both receptions (7.0) and yards per game (97.5). Meanwhile, senior receiver/return man Aaron Valentine ranks first with 145.2 all-purpose yards per game.

Purdue is led by first-year head coach Danny Hope, who spent 2003-07 as the head coach at Eastern Kentucky, his alma mater, where he went 32-8 in OVC play. In 2008 Hope served as assistant head coach and offensive line coach at Purdue under former coach Joe Tiller.

SERIES RECORD
The Buckeyes and Boilermakers have met 51 times previously on the football field, with Ohio State holding a 37-12-2 advantage in the series. Ohio State leads 12-6 in all games at Purdue. Ohio State leads 24-5-2 in all games played at Columbus; the Buckeyes were 23-7 winners last season at Purdue.

Since joining the Big Ten Conference in 1913, Ohio State is 453-189-28 all-time in Big Ten games, and 257-112-18 in conference home games. The Buckeyes' all-time conference win percentage of 69.7% is the best of any Big Ten school.

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