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.
Guiton, in coach Urban Meyer’s doghouse this spring, came in to replace him.
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