The Scarlet and Gray

[Caesar]

The team might need an upset alert game because it’s seems they’ve been coasting through since Minnesota

[toysoldier00]

how are you representing 2027 recruits? Salter looks like he'll be a nice addition for you

how are you representing 2027 recruits? Salter looks like he'll be a nice addition for you

he's retroactively posting updates, he's further along in the save

bingo

The team might need an upset alert game because it’s seems they’ve been coasting through since Minnesota

not today

[toysoldier00]

Ohio State 41, Purdue 7: Splattering in West Lafayette Sees Buckeyes Take Care of Business
By Zachary Anderson on November 8, 2025


Max Klare was the hero for the Buckeyes against his old team, going for 80 yards and three touchdowns in his return to Ross-Ade.



Ohio State didn’t need long to remind Purdue why “start fast” is more than a cliché when the No. 1 team in the country shows up at Ross-Ade.

It took one play.

On Purdue’s first snap, Ryan Browne tried to get the ball out quickly, a simple rhythm throw meant to calm down a stadium that has seen too many losses stack up this fall. Instead, Buckeye safety Malik Hartford undercut it, snagged the interception, and handed Ohio State the type of opening the defense has been gifting the offense all season: short field, instant leverage, and an opponent already forced to reconsider its plan.

“It’s who we want to be,” Ryan Day said afterward. “When we play complementary football, defense creating chances, offense converting them, special teams doing their job, the game tilts fast. That’s the standard.”


Malik Hartford intercepted Ryan Browne on the first play of the game.

By the time Purdue could even exhale, Ohio State was already celebrating in the end zone. Starting at the Boilermakers’ 39, Julian Sayin calmly walked the Buckeyes down the field and finished it with a 6-yard touchdown pass to running back James Peoples, who slipped out of the backfield so cleanly he might as well have been the only receiver on the route. With 10:56 left in the first quarter, Ohio State led 7–0. Purdue had run one offensive play. The script was already written in scarlet.

The next few minutes looked like Purdue trying to find a foothold while Ohio State kept taking away the ground. A pair of punts followed, the kind of early, sleepy Big Ten sequences that usually allow an underdog to breathe, until the Buckeyes ripped the oxygen out again.

This time, it was Sonny Styles. Browne looked at his 6-foot-5 linebacker-safety hybrid and decided he could loft the ball over him anyway. Styles jumped like he was rebounding and plucked it out of the air with an almost casual violence, turning a Purdue possession into another short-field opportunity for a passing game that has become increasingly efficient as the season has progressed.

Two plays later, Ohio State made the day personal.

Sayin fired to former Purdue tight end Max Klare for a 7-yard touchdown, and Klare didn’t show much hesitation in celebrating it. Ohio State was up 14–0, and Purdue still hadn’t crossed midfield.

“I’ve got a lot of love for those guys over there,” Klare said, “but I’m a Buckeye now. I came here to win, and I came here to be part of something bigger. When the ball’s in the air, it’s just football.”


Max Klare and Touchdown became synonymous in Ohio State's win over Purdue.

Purdue head coach Barry Odom didn’t sugarcoat where the game was headed. “You can’t spot a team like that points and possessions,” Odom said. “We’re playing uphill, and when you’re playing uphill against a team that talented, you have to be perfect. We weren’t close.”

For Purdue, “not close” was the theme of the first half. Ohio State’s pass rush started compressing the pocket, Purdue’s third downs became obvious passing downs, and the Boilermakers’ best offensive weapon, running back Devin Mockobee, was functionally erased by score and circumstance. Every series felt like it ended in the same place: Ohio State’s defense standing over a stalled drive, the punt team jogging on, and Purdue’s sideline looking for an answer that didn’t exist.

Sayin and Klare kept making the gap wider.

Midway through the second quarter, the Buckeyes dialed up another touchdown to their tight end, this one a 1-yard score with 6:46 left before halftime. The play looked simple on paper: put the ball in a place where only your guy can get it. The execution was anything but. Klare went up, absorbed contact from two defenders trying to jar it loose, and held on through the fall like it was the most natural thing in the world.


Klare's second touchdown required the type of physicality that Purdue fans know all too well.

Ohio State led 21–0. Purdue still hadn’t crossed midfield.

The Buckeyes added a late field goal with 37 seconds left and walked into halftime up 24–0, a scoreline that felt almost merciful considering how thoroughly Ohio State controlled the terms. Purdue’s offense had been pinned to its own side of the field, its quarterback rattled, and its defense stuck defending short fields without relief.

“We were chasing the game the whole time,” Odom said. “That’s not who we want to be, but that’s where we are right now. We have to respond.”
Ohio State didn’t give them the chance.

Receiving the second-half kickoff, Sayin took the Buckeyes right back down the field and found, who else, Klare again, this time for a 6-yard touchdown with 9:00 left in the third quarter. That made it 31–0 and opened the door to rotations, the kind Ohio State has been able to afford often this season.

The most painful moment for Purdue came right after it finally looked like something might change.

For the first time all afternoon, the Boilermakers assembled a real drive, pushing into the red zone and reaching the Ohio State 11. Ross-Ade stirred. Purdue’s sideline finally looked like it had found a pulse. And then Ohio State’s defensive front turned that pulse into a flatline.

On first-and-10 from the 11, Jason Moore dropped Browne for a 7-yard loss. On second-and-17, Moore and Kenyatta Jackson combined for a strip sack, Purdue recovered, but it was another massive loss. On third-and-28, Styles came off the edge untouched, crushed Browne, forced another fumble, and this time the Buckeyes didn’t just recover it. Caleb Downs scooped it and sprinted 63 yards for a touchdown with 2:13 left in the third quarter.


Caleb Downs continued to show why he's the most feared defender in the country.

Purdue’s brightest moment became its darkest in one sequence. The Buckeyes led 38–0, and the starters were done for the day.

“That’s championship defense,” Day said. “When an opponent finally gets momentum, you take it away. You don’t trade punches, you land the one that ends it.”

Ohio State’s backups kept the foot on the gas. Lincoln Kienholz led a fourth-quarter field goal drive to extend the lead to 41–0, and only then did Purdue find a sliver of light, helped along by a couple flags, when backup quarterback Malachi Singleton found freshman Jesse Watson for a 29-yard touchdown with 4:11 left. It was a legitimate, impressive catch-and-reach finish from Watson, but it functioned mostly as punctuation.

With true freshman Tavien St. Clair taking the final snaps, Ohio State bled the remaining clock and walked out with a 41–7 win that felt like exactly what it looked like: total control, with one brief concession at the end.


Even Ohio State's second string got in on the action, working to hold Purdue to just seven points.

The box score matched the story.

Sayin finished 30-of-40 for 264 yards and four touchdowns, steady and sharp for most of the day. Peoples didn’t need to be a featured runner (seven carries, 18 yards), but he was effective as a receiver (five catches, 21 yards, touchdown) and again highlighted how Ohio State’s backs are becoming a real part of the passing game. Freshman Bo Jackson added 60 yards on 11 carries late as the Buckeyes salted away the second half.

And Klare, back in the building where he used to be the breakout story, became the headline. Nine catches, 80 yards, three touchdowns, a statement game, and not a subtle one.

Jeremiah Smith finished with seven catches for 79 yards, and even with Purdue shading coverage his way in Carnell Tate’s absence, Ohio State’s passing game didn’t stall. Mylan Graham, Brandon Inniss, Will Kacmarek, Quincy Porter and Bryson Rodgers all got involved, a reminder that the Buckeyes’ receiver room remains deep enough to keep the offense balanced even without one of its stars.


Purdue's defense put added pressure on Jeremiah Smith with Carnell Tate out, but Smith still went for 79 yards on seven receptions.

Defensively, Ohio State piled up six sacks, two interceptions, and a scoop-and-score. Moore had two sacks. Styles had a sack and an interception. Downs led the team with six tackles and delivered the knockout fumble return touchdown that broke Purdue’s spirit.

For Purdue, Browne’s day was the kind quarterbacks try to forget quickly: 12-of-25 for 144 yards, two interceptions, two fumbles (one lost) and an official rushing line warped by sacks. Singleton was solid in relief (5-of-8, 69 yards, TD), and Mockobee finished with 27 yards on seven carries, but the game was over long before Purdue could even try to make him the foundation.

Ohio State outgained Purdue 353–190, and if there’s a nit to pick, it’s the one that showed up anyway: the Buckeyes ran for just 69 yards on 20 carries and threw it 47 times. It didn’t matter here. But it’s the kind of detail that gets circled in November.

Still, on a day when the defense set the tone immediately and the offense never wasted the gifts, it was hard to find much to criticize. Ohio State came to Ross-Ade, took the weird out of the building early, and left with another reminder that the Buckeyes’ most consistent trait in 2025 might be the one that travels best: they end games before the other team realizes it ever had a chance.

Qtr	Time	Team	Result	Play	OHST	PUR
1st	10:42		TD	James Peoples, 6 Yd pass from Julian Sayin	7	0
1st	4:21		TD	Max Klare, 7 Yd pass from Julian Sayin	14	0
2nd	6:42		TD	Max Klare, 1 Yd pass from Julian Sayin	21	0
2nd	0:34		FG	Jayden Fielding, 26 Yd FG	24	0
3rd	8:57		TD	Max Klare, 6 Yd pass from Julian Sayin	31	0
3rd	2:01		TD	Caleb Downs, returned fumble 63 yds	38	0
4th	7:59		FG	Jayden Fielding, 35 Yd FG	41	0
4th	4:05		TD	Jesse Watson, 29 Yd pass from Malachi Singleton	41	7

[toysoldier00]

just gonna complain once, and only once, but the new table formatting which makes any line with an image extra an large row unnecessarily is going to drive me crazy.

[Soapy]

no love loss for Klare

[redsox907]

the table looks sized fine to me? I went back and looked, but I guess if it was a formatting change it would change the previous ones too

boys are rolling, love to see it

[James]

just gonna complain once, and only once, but the new table formatting which makes any line with an image extra an large row unnecessarily is going to drive me crazy.

I changed the th, ths, and td tags to add a little padding so it's not all collapsed in when you use the centerTable tag. Are you using any of those? I'm willing to work with you to get what you want, even if that means making a new tag for you.

[Caesar]

Easy win there. Almost got the shutout, but I'm sure that was the typical sudden Tom Brady play from the QB in the last five minutes.