Ohio State coach Jim Tressel talks about always watching a game film to learn ways to improve his offense.

When Tressel and his staff boot up the video from Saturday’s 16-3 win over Purdue, they will find plenty of things to correct.

The 12th-ranked Buckeyes had the ball at or inside the Purdue 35-yard line five times on Saturday. But the OSU offense – Tressel’s main area of emphasis as the de facto offensive coordinator -- could manage just three field goals against a Purdue defense that came into the game last in the Big Ten in total defense.

OSU’s Malcolm Jenkins blocked a punt, which teammate Etienne Sabino returned for an early touchdown as the Buckeyes (6-1, 3-0) stopped the Boilermakers (2-4, 0-2) without benefit of an offensive touchdown on a sunny day before 105,378 at Ohio Stadium.

The Buckeyes were outgained 298-222 in total offense by Purdue. None of this bodes well for Ohio State, which faces games with Big Ten co-leaders Michigan State and Penn State the next two Saturdays.

“It was a Big Ten victory that began with special units and I thought our special units stepped up and obviously the punt block for the touchdown and our kickoff coverage was excellent,” Tressel said.  “The defense fought all day long and made them take the long path to the goal line and kept them out of the end zone.

“Offensively, we didn't get near as much done as we're going to need to get done, but we didn't turn it over, and that's critical in a Big Ten battle. We all know we've got a lot of work to do, but we also know that we need to come up with wins, especially as we're in conference play.”

In addition to being ranked 11th in total defense, the Boilers were also last in the conference in rushing defense. But Purdue came in with a plan to not allow tailback Chris “Beanie” Wells to beat them. Wells, dealing with effects from the flu, had 94 yards on 22 carries.

Tressel was asked if there was one word to sum up the play of the offense.

“Probably hit and miss,” he said. “There was a moment where you looked good and there was a moment where you went backwards and were not consistent at all. It will be interesting to watch the film, but from where I was, we certainly didn't control the line of Scrimmage. That's where it starts.”

It was somewhat of a trying day for freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who was 10 of 14 passing for 97 yards. He was sacked three times.

“We have to start clicking,” Pryor said. “We have to execute. It’s frustrating for us that we didn’t click today. It feels bad and it just looked bad. We didn’t lose. If we had lost, it would have been terrible. We have to come back and start getting after it.

“We have to make plays. I guess we just had an off game. I missed a lot of assignments. It was just one of those days.”

Wide receiver Brian Robiskie had two catches for 19 yards in the win. He talked about the troubles on offense.

“The biggest thing is getting into a rhythm and that’s just something we couldn’t do today,” Robiskie said. “At times, we were moving the ball all right and running the ball and picking up first downs. As soon as we would have a penalty or mess up, that was taking us farther back than we wanted.

“With the game plan they had, you have to give them credit. But we know there were times we had the look we wanted and we didn’t execute.”

Purdue quarterback Curtis Painter was 18 of 40 passing for 173 yards with one interception. He also lost a fumble. Purdue tailback Kory Sheets had 71 yards on 19 carries.

“There was a high energy level and a high intensity level,” said Purdue coach Joe Tiller, who is retiring at season’s end. “We were well prepared and played well. We played as well as we could, defending as good as any running back in the country. They were strong and have a lot of speed. They have a physical secondary and have the most athletic linebackers who can run and get underneath."

OSU linebacker James Laurinaitis, who led the Buckeyes with 10 tackles and also broke up two passes, praised his teammates for their play.

“We knew the talent they have,” Laurinaitis said. “Kory Sheets is an unbelievable running back. He might be one of the top backs we face this year and an explosive kind of guy. The D-line did a good job of getting penetration and getting after it. We didn’t panic at all. We felt we were getting pressure. If we get turnovers, that’s always encouraging.”

As It Happened

Ohio State won the toss and had the ball to open the game. Lamaar Thomas returned the kick 36 yards to the OSU 36. Pryor hit his first pass to Robiskie for an 8-yard gain. But a false start penalty on guard Ben Person set up third-and-6 from the 40. Pryor’s screen pass to Wells was stopped for no gain and the Buckeyes had to punt.

On the ensuing possession, Painter’s third-down pass to Keith Smith was batted incomplete by OSU’s Donald Washington. Purdue lined up to punt on fourth-and-2 from its own 34. Jenkins came off the right edge and smothered Chris Summers’ punt. The ball bounded up in the air to Sabino, who caught it and rolled 20 yards on the return for the touchdown and a 7-0 lead with 11:41 left in the first quarter.

“I looked up and saw my teammates running into the end zone,” Jenkins said. “It was not about me. There was a play called and the Coach was calling it and we knew we were going to go out there on at least one of the punts.”

Sabino added, "I felt like the ball was never going to come down. It was in the air forever and it finally fell into my hands. After that, I just remember running as hard as I could to get into the end zone."

As it turned out, it would be the game’s only touchdown.

"It really is wonderful,” Sabino said. “You come to a school like this so that you can have a chance to make a difference and make an impact. It's really great to be able to do that and hear all the fans after the play.

"It was crazy and loud. I can't explain the feeling. I got the ball and ran into the end zone. It was a really good feeling. There has not been many times in my life that I have had that feeling. It was unbelievable."

OSU had a good drive going later in the first as Pryor kept the ball for 22 yards and he then eluded the Purdue rush and found DeVier Posey for 22 yards and a first down at the Purdue 38. But a sack and a third-down incompletion left OSU facing fourth-and-8 at the Purdue 36.

Pretorius came on to attempt an apparent 53-yard field goal, although holder A.J. Trapasso appeared like he was going to run a fake field goal. But the snap came after the play clock had elapsed. OSU was penalized for delay of game and punted the ball away.

Purdue drove from its own 16 to the OSU 32. But on second-and-10 there, Painter was hit by OSU’s Thaddeus Gibson and fumbled. OSU’s Lawrence Wilson recovered it at the OSU 37 with 5:02 left in the first quarter.

Wells ripped off runs of 16, 6 and 23 yards to give OSU a first down at the Purdue 18. A Purdue face mask penalty moved the ball down to the 9-yard line. Wells got no gain on first down, Pryor picked up 2 on a second-down run and Pryor’s third-down pass was behind Posey on a slant and incomplete. Pretorius’ 24-yard field goal gave OSU a 10-0 lead with 57 seconds left in the first quarter.

The Buckeyes got another huge turnover on Purdue’s next possession. On third-and-9 from the Purdue 21, Painter rolled right but all of his receivers were covered. He tried to gun a pass into a receiver near the sideline, but Jenkins stepped in front of it and made the interception. OSU took over at the Purdue 29 with 14:54 left in the first half.

But, again, Ohio State could not capitalize. Backup tailback Maurice Wells gained 3 yards on first down and was slammed for no gain on second. Pryor then looked to pass on third down, but when all of his receivers were covered he tried to run for it. He picked up 5 yards, but came up 2 yards short of the first down at the 21. Pretorius’ 38-yard field goal then sailed wide left with 13:02 left in the half.

Purdue then moved the ball from its own 21 to the OSU 45. But on fourth-and-1 there, Painter’s pass to Brandon Whittington was batted incomplete by Jenkins.

Pryor hit tight end Jake Ballard for an 8-yard gain and Brian Hartline for 11 more, giving OSU a first down at the Purdue 26. But, once again, the Buckeyes faltered inside the Purdue 30. Wells was stopped for a 2-yard loss and Pryor was sacked for a 4-yard loss. Hartline dropped Pryor’s third-down pass. Aaron Pettrey replaced Pretorius for this kick and came on and drilled a 49-yard field goal down the middle, stretching the lead to 13-0 with 4:54 left in the half.

"I'm just really happy that coach had the confidence in me to send me out there,” Pettrey said. “We try really hard in practice and always do what we can, so it's nice to be rewarded like that."

Purdue threatened before halftime, driving from its own 28 to the OSU 35. But Painter and the Boilers ran out of time. Carson Wiggs’ 52-yard field goal on the final play of the half sailed wide left.

That capped a half where OSU led 13-0 despite being outgained 162-139 in total offense.

Purdue had the ball to open the second half. Painter found Greg Orton for a 19-yard gain and a first down at the OSU 36. Kory Sheets was stopped for no gain and after two Painter incompletions, Wiggs hit a 53-yard field goal to make it 13-3 with 11:03 left in the third quarter.

OSU took over after a Purdue punt on the Boilers’ 39 late in the third quarter. But even good field position did not lead to an OSU touchdown.

Wells ripped off a 9-yard run to the Purdue 25. On third-and-9 at the 24, Pryor threw a screen to Thomas for a 16-yard gain down to the 8. But Maurice Wells lost 1 yard on first down, Pryor lost 3 more on second down and Pryor was dragged down at the 5 on a third-down keeper. Pretorius hit a 22-yard field goal to make it 16-3 with 14:30 left in the game.

Purdue then drove toward midfield, but OSU defensive tackle Nader Abdallah thwarted the threat with a key sack of Painter with 10 minutes left.

“That was a great feeling,” said Abdallah, who notched his first sack of the year and just the sixth by an OSU defensive lineman this season. “That was third-and-long. I knew they were going to pass the ball there. I had to get down and come off the ball as hard as I could. I took two guys on and made the sack for a pretty good loss. We needed that for our defense. It was a big play I had to make.”

The Boilers later drove to the OSU 26, but lost possession on downs when Painter’s fourth-down pass with 28 seconds left fell incomplete.

Tressel praised the defense for largely slamming the door on the Boilers.

“I thought the defense did a great job with their plan,” he said. “I think our defensive guys prepared very well. You could tell that they diagnosed things and broke on the ball, anticipated, knew the formations, the way that Purdue does things, and just kept coming and coming and coming.

“Purdue made some plays, but I think our defense never got flustered. They tried a couple over-50 field goals. That was as close as they got, which that's pretty good, plus we came up with takeaways.”

Also Notable

* OSU’s Wilson left the game with an apparent injury to his left knee sustained on Purdue’s final offensive play of the second half. Wilson was examined at halftime and returned to the field in the second half on crutches. His status was not immediately known. Tressel said Wilson would have an MRI on Sunday.

Defensive tackle Doug Worthington shared his view on the Wilson injury.

“I feel Lawrence is OK,” Worthington said. “I saw him walking on it and he is in (good) spirit. It was a little twist or something like that. If he can’t play, we have a lot of guys who are ready to back him up – Rob Rose, Cam Heyward, Thaddeus Gibson, Solomon Thomas.

“You can’t replace Lawrence Wilson, though. He will be missed if he is hurt that bad. Hopefully he’s not.”

* Wells was denied in his bid to post a fourth 100-yard game this season. His string of 100-yard games was snapped at five, dating to last year.

Wells moved into 10th place on Ohio State's all-time rushing list with 2,664 yards, passing Calvin Murray, who ran for 2,576 yards from 1977-80.

* Laurinaitis now has 13 career games with 10 or more tackles and 44 in his last three games going into Saturday.

* Gibson caused his second fumble in as many games and the third of his career. Gibson also recorded a career-high with six tackles. His previous career high was four this season against Minnesota.

* Jenkins picked off his second interception in as many games and his third of the season on the first play of the second quarter. It was the 11th of his career. There was no return. Jenkins finished with four solo tackles, one pass breakup, one blocked punt and one interception.

* OSU recorded its first blocked punt for a touchdown since A.J. Hawk in 2005 vs. Northwestern. It also was Jenkins' first blocked kick of his career.

* Pettrey kicked a 49-yard FG in the second quarter. He is now 2-of-2 on the season.

* Ohio State now leads the all-time series with Purdue 37-12-2, including 25-5-2 in Columbus. Ohio State has won 12 of the last 14 games in the series overall, including the last seven home games against Purdue since a 31-26 loss to the Boilers in 1988.

Tiller is 2-6 against Ohio State. The two wins came in 2000 (31-27) and 2004 (24-17) at West Lafayette.

* Purdue is now 12-37 all-time against ranked teams under Tiller. Purdue last defeated a top-25 team in 2003 when it bested No. 10 Iowa 27-14 in West Lafayette.

* Under Tressel, the Buckeyes have compiled a conference record of 48-11 (.814).

* OSU is now 49-5 at home under Tressel. The five losses were to Wisconsin and Illinois in 2001, Wisconsin in 2004, Texas in 2005 and Illinois last year.

The Buckeyes have now won 23 of their last 24 in the Horseshoe.

* Ohio State visits Michigan State next Saturday (3:30 p.m., ABC regional telecast). The Spartans (6-1, 3-0) won their sixth straight game with Saturday’s 37-20 win over previously unbeaten Northwestern.