COLUMBUS, Ohio — Many in a
crowd of 105,290 thought No. 7 Ohio State had no chance of winning after
star quarterback Braxton Miller went out with an injury late in the
third quarter.
Backup Kenny Guiton had other ideas.
Guiton came off the bench in
relief to lead touchdown drives in the final minute of regulation and in
overtime, with Carlos Hyde scoring on a 1-yard run to clinch No. 7 Ohio
State's 29-22 victory over Purdue on Saturday.
Purdue (3-4, 0-3 Big Ten) led
22-14 when Ohio State got the ball with just 47 seconds left in
regulation. Guiton, inserted when Miller went out with an undisclosed
injury, hit Chris Fields on a 2-yard touchdown pass with 3 seconds
remaining. Guiton then found freshman Jeff Heuerman on the conversion
pass to tie it at 22.
Hyde scored on a short plunge for
Ohio State (8-0, 4-0) before Purdue's Caleb TerBush, who had two TD
passes, misfired on four passes in the overtime.
Purdue had earlier scored on
TerBush TD passes of 83 yards to Akeem Shavers — on the first offensive
play of the game — and 31 yards to Gary Bush in the third quarter, along
with Akeem Hunt's 100-yard kickoff return. The Boilermakers also picked
up a safety when Ohio State was called for an illegal block in the end
zone in the fourth quarter.
Miller completed 9 of 20 passes
for 113 yards with an interception and ran for 47 yards on 12 carries
before leaving the game on the next-to-last play of the third quarter.
After Ohio State got the ball on
Bradley Roby's blocked field goal, Miller took the ball on first down
from the 24, stiff-armed a defender and sped around right end before
being caught by cornerback Josh Johnson, who threw him hard to the turf
on his left shoulder.
Miller didn't get up for several
minutes — he was in obvious pain — while he was attended by several
doctors and trainers. Eventually he sat up, then stood on shaky legs for
at least 60 seconds before he was led to the sidelines. He was later
taken to the locker room by cart.
Watch the play that forced Miller out of the game in the video below.