After a close win against Indiana the Buckeyes traveled to West Lafayette and lost in an embarrassing fashion. They started slow in the first half by giving up 17 points and only scoring seven. In the second half however the Bucks started to make a comeback.
They scored a touchdown in the third quarter to cut Purdue’s lead to three. In the fourth OSU held Purdue to a field goal and then late in the game Braxton Miller started his comeback drive to win the game.
He got the Bucks to the 13 yard line and then he would make an epic play on fourth down. He took the ball from under center and started to feel pressure. He ran to his right and jumped over a lineman before throwing to Jordan Hall on the other side of the field for the game tying touchdown. All that remained was the extra-point to take the lead, simple enough right? Wrong. Purdue’s special-teams linemen broke through OSU’s line and blocked Basil’s kick to keep the game tied at 20 and send it into overtime.
Ohio State got the ball in overtime and was held to a field goal. All Purdue had to do was score a touchdown to win the game and that’s exactly what they did. On 3rd and 12 the bucks gave up 14 yards and stopped Purdue on the one yard line. On the next play Robert Marve scored on a quarterback sneak and every OSU fan cried in anguish as their team gave up a win that they should’ve had.
Now the question becomes, should Luke Fickell be the coach for the Buckeyes next year? I think he should. He started the first five games without Dan Herron or DeVier Posey and started Joe Bauserman, perhaps one of the worst quarterbacks in Ohio State history. He started Braxton Miller, a freshman, and beat both Illinois and Wisconsin, two teams that were supposed to dominate Ohio State. I know he has lost some bad games including Nebraska and Purdue, but he has kept going.
Now there are only two games left, Penn State and Michigan. If he wins both then Fickell will return next year but if he loses just one then fans can expect to see a new head coach on the sidelines. Will it be Urban Meyer? Who knows? We’ll just have to wait and see.
