Kyle McCord passed for 276 yards and three touchdowns and Marvin Harrison Jr. had 105 receiving yards and a score as No. 3 Ohio State downed Purdue 41-7 in West Lafayette, Ind., on Saturday.
McCord completed 16 of 28, with Harrison making six catches while Cade Stover caught TDs of 4 and 14 yards for the Buckeyes (6-0, 3-0 Big Ten).
Hudson Card was 13 for 32 for 126 yards and a TD and Devin Mockobee ran for 110 yards on 18 carries the Boilermakers (2-5, 1-3 Big Ten).
Ohio State made sure early there would be no repeat of its last trip to Purdue in 2018 when the unranked Boilermakers stunned the No. 2 Buckeyes 49-20.
This time, the Buckeyes jumped to a 20-0 halftime lead then squandered another scoring opportunity when backup quarterback Devin Brown was hit at the goal line on a keeper. Purdue’s Kydran Jenkins recovered the fumble for a touchback.
Ohio State went ahead 6-0 five minutes into the first quarter with a 14-yard touchdown reception by Harrison, who made three catches for 63 yards on the drive.
Brown, who replaced McCord in some short-yardage situations, ran for a 2-yard TD to make it 13-0 and McCord connected with Stover for a 4-yard score with 6:02 left in the second quarter.
In the waning moments of the first half, Purdue had a first-and-goal from the 1 but a holding penalty and a sack forced a 39-yard field goal try that Julio Macias missed with two seconds left.
He also missed from 46 yards in the first half and 27 in the third quarter.
The Buckeyes entered the game missing already missing several players to injury: leading rusher TreVeyon Williams, third-string back Miyan Williams and standout receiver Emeka Egbuka. Second-string running back Chip Trayanum left with an injury early in the second quarter.
Dallan Hayden (76 yards, 11 carries) made it 27-0 early in the third quarter with a 1-yard run.
The Boilermakers got on the board 30 seconds into the fourth quarter on Card’s 1-yard toss to Deion Burks to make it 34-7.
–Field Level Media
