"Challenge" was perhaps the most used word by Purdue coaches this week when talking about trying to defend or produce points against Ohio State.
I asked coach Joe Tiller, defensive coordinator Brock Spack and play caller Bill Legg if getting an opportunity to game plan against such a talented team was exciting or a bit nerve-wracking.
They all opted for challenging.
"It's a real test to see what you can get done," Tiller said. "When it's all said and done, my message to our players is the game is about players. That's one thing, you do your planning and do your best guesstimates, but there hasn't been a play drawn yet that has been successful without a player going out and executing it. I think it's more of a challenge to get your players to play at an extremely high level with a low margin of error than it is maybe the strategy itself."
Tiller said he didn't think Ohio State's defense had any weaknesses, and when I repeated that to Legg, he said, "If they do, they haven't been exposed yet."
And that's coming from a guy whose play calling this season has been nearly flawless for one of the nation's top offenses in terms of yardage and points.
Legg obviously wouldn't give up the game play for today, but he said the most important element will be to quarterback Curtis Painter's ability to spread the ball around to all the team's weapons.
"We've got to execute what we're capable of executing, which starts with blocking up front, distributing the ball from sideline to sideline and making sure everybody is involved because that way they can't gang up on one area of your offense and stop you," Legg said.
Ohio State's offense may not be as highly touted, but Spack praised nearly every unit. He'll have to decide whether to stick with his base 4-3 defense for much of the game or continue to frequently use the nickel package that has only two linebackers but adds a physical safety in Torri Williams.
"This is what you came to play for," he said. "You came to play a game like this. This is real big-time football. I tell players, 'These guys are NFLers. If you want to play on Sunday, these are the kind of guys you'll play against every week. See what you're made of.' It's going to be fun.
" I think it's going to take a great team effort, but I think we're capable."
- Ohio State is favored by seven points, and Purdue linebacker Anthony Heygood told me he likes being the underdog. "It gives you motivation to go out there and play tougher if you're an underdog and nobody thinks you can do it and nobody knows who you are. It's like, 'You just snuck into the polls at No. 23 and now you're playing this ranked team.' They're like, 'Oh, well, Purdue hasn't played anybody, so they're probably going to lose.' We don't see it like that at all."
- Tom Dienhart, The Sporting News college football writer and Purdue grad, picked Ohio State to win, 27-24. Fellow TSN college writer Matt Hayes also picked the Buckeyes, 24-20.
-- By Stacy Clardie, The Journal Gazette