2008 Week 7

When the Purdue Boilermakers' 34-31 loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes was concluded, the stench of regret was strong in the air.

"To play like we did on defense today and still lose the game is something that is flat-out embarrassing," said assistant head coach Danny Hope."

To a man, each of the coaches and players said something similar. The Boilermakers' defense forced six turnovers, but the offense gave away seven.

Purdue led 13-7 at halftime on the strength of two field goals and an interception that was returned for a touchdown by cornerback David Pender. The Bucks scored their only points of the half on an interception return.

OSU scored on their first possession of the second half to take the lead, and added a field goal five minutes later. Then Fabian Martin intercepted Boeckman (one of 6 interceptions thrown by the senior) and returned it for a touchdown to give Purdue the lead.

Purdue scored on a 45-yard field goal in the fourth quarter, but Ohio State went on a run, scoring on a five yard run, then intercepting Painter for the sixth time to set up another touchdown. This gave the Bucks a 31-23 lead with less than a minute remaining.

Painter composed himself (momentarily) and drove the Boilers down the field. They scored on the sixth play of the drive, a 6-yard pass to Kory Sheets out of the backfield with six seconds remaining in the game. Painter then found Kyle Adams for a two-point conversion to send the game into overtime.

The Bucks only gained a couple of yards before being forced to kick a 45-yard field goal, which was good.

Purdue appeared on their way to glory as two crisp passes by Painter landed them on the two yard line. Tight end Kyle Adams made a cut and appeared open over the middle, but Marcus Freeman made an incredible play and snagged the ball to give Ohio State the win.

It was Painter's seventh interception of the game, but to hear him tell it, he wouldn't do anything differently.

"We executed the offense and it just didn't work out today," said Painter. "They're an incredible defensive football team. The coverage was suffocating, and if it looked like it was open, it probably wasn't."