If Ohio State tailback Chris “Beanie” Wells is looking for daily improvement with his right foot/toe injury, he can keep searching.

It is becoming evident to Wells that the injury is going to linger all year and might not get better until after the season. The good news for the No. 12 Buckeyes (5-1, 2-0 Big Ten) is that Wells has already proven he can be extremely effective even with the ailment. He burned a good Wisconsin defense for 168 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries last week. However, the pain he's enduring each day is considerable.

“I feel very sore and that’s why I was a little late (for the interview session),” Wells said. “I was in there getting treatment.”

However, Wells says he’s not worried that the injury isn’t healing as fast as he would like.

“I’m not really concerned about it because I don’t think it’s going to get any worse,” he said. “It’s just something that I am going to have to go through.”

Wells says not playing against visiting Purdue (2-3, 0-1) this Saturday (3:30 p.m.; ABC) is not an option. He would like to rest the foot/toe, but not at the expense of missing another game. He already missed the showdown against USC, as well as two other games, which has almost taken him out of the Heisman Trophy discussion.

“No, not a chance at all that I won't play,” Wells said.

As he mentioned last week, Wells says he is not limited in practice in any way. He feels the pain, but goes through all the drills and team activities.

“No, there’s not anything that I can’t do,” Wells said. “I go through everything with all the other running backs.”

Wells battled through an ankle injury last year (he later suffered a broken bone in his hand as well). Wells was asked pain-wise if the injury last year is similar to the one this season.

“I mean, I guess you could say similar,” he said. “It hurts pretty much the same and there’s going to be pain week in and week out and I’ve just got to play through it.”

Wells knows he’s not fully healthy, but he can’t pinpoint exactly how he feels on a percentage scale.

“I don’t want to get into pinning a number on it,” he said. “Whether it would be 80 or 75 percent, it hurts.

“In the game, I really try not to think about it as much. I mean, there’s going to be some pain there, but sometimes your adrenaline will eliminate some pain.”

Wells says he has never taken a shot to reduce the pain and there are no plans to.

“Nope,” he said.

Wells obviously doesn’t like talking too much about his injury. But one thing he does like is Ohio State’s new option attack that features him and freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor.

“I do like the option,” Wells said. “Because when you’ve got a guy like Terrelle in there, it gives the defense two things to worry about. Whether he is going to keep the ball or pitch it to the running back.”

Wells says that the Buckeyes’ offense is reflecting the strengths that Pryor brings to the table.

“Definitely,” he said. “When you’ve got a guy like that in there, you’ve got to adjust things. But that’s any player. You’ve got to adjust to what your players are good at and that’s what Coach Tressel is doing right now.”

Before the 12-play, 80-yard drive against Wisconsin last week, Wells challenged Pryor. And it apparently worked because Pryor played well on the drive and scored the winning touchdown on an 11-yard run on an option play.

“I asked him if he was ready to step into manhood,” Wells said. “And he said, ‘Yeah,’ and he showed it.”

Wells enjoyed the atmosphere last week at Camp Randall Stadium. He was “jumping around” between the third and fourth quarters and enjoying himself.

“Yeah, I did,” Wells said. “I was also on the field dancing. It was a good time. We had planned that as the stadium got louder, we had to get tougher. It showed that we were not going to back down.”

Boone playing his best ball

It was a rough start to the season for Ohio State senior left tackle Alex Boone. Expected to be one of the top players at his position in the country, Boone didn’t play that way early in the year. However, Tressel mentioned that Boone had his best game of the season in the win over Wisconsin and the big lineman agreed.

“Yeah, I think it was my best game,” Boone said. “A lot of flying around and hitting. The coaches were reminding us on the sideline that it was going to be a fight and two of our players got knocked out, literally. I was just trying not to hurt anybody.”

Boone has been solid in run blocking all year, but it was his pass protection that was an early disappointment. He explained why he thinks he played better against the Badgers.

“Me and the other linemen were talking and I think it’s just the fact that it’s the Big Ten,” Boone said. “When you play in the Big Ten, you feel more at home. You feel more like it’s the right thing. I thought against Minnesota I played real well and this past week I played real well. The games are more physical and I like that. That brings me up. So, I’ve just got to keep going.”

Boone talked about what was going through his mind during the winning drive against Wisconsin.

“I was more pissed off than anything,” he said. “The whole game I was just screaming at the defense and trying to get them up, and trying to get our guys on the offense up. I didn’t even think about it being the last drive. I just said, ‘We’re going to take the ball right down the field and we’re going to run the ball; we’re going to pass the ball.’ When we were out there, it just felt comfortable. We got in some situations, but we got out of them, luckily. It was just like any other drive. Go down, be calm, be cool. And then when we scored, everything went crazy.

“We wanted it more than they did. You could look in guys’ eyes and see it. I mean, they were physical, they were tough, but we weren’t leaving there without a W. And you could just look in our guys’ eyes and see that. There was confidence everywhere.”

Boone had an excellent block on Pryor’s winning touchdown as he drove a defender several yards back and took him completely out of the play. However, one member of Boone’s family thought he might have gotten away with one.

“My grandmother said I was holding him,” Boone said. “I couldn’t believe that, my own grandma. Me and Jake (Ballard) just went hard and I blocked the guy and he fell and Terrelle scored and then everyone was just smacking me. My grandma said it was holding, so it doesn’t count, but I don’t know.”

What did the film show?

“Oh, it was a clean block,” Boone said. “Absolutely.”

And while Ohio State started the game strong against Wisconsin with a touchdown drive and ended it strong, the Buckeyes were unable to punch the ball in for touchdowns between the first and last drives. Boone was asked what the problem was on all the other drives.

“Just different things,” he said. “Sometimes you get out there and they throw something at you that you’re not used to and it kind of just throws everybody off balance and throws you off balance for the next play too. So, when you go out there, you’ve just got to be ready for everything and just expect that anything can be thrown at you.”

In the third quarter, Ohio State found itself with a first-and-goal at the 3, but lined up in the shotgun. Boone was asked what he thought of running plays out of the shotgun on first-and-goal instead of just pounding the ball with Wells.

“No comment,” he said. “No, Beanie hit that long run (on OSU’s play of the third quarter) and I told some of our coaches, ‘Let’s start running the ball. We need to stop passing the ball.’ Obviously, we can do a great job with it, but the running game is where we are at. That’s the kind of team I think we are. So, I just kind of told them, ‘Look, let’s run. If you want to run somewhere, I’ll get my guy hopefully, so let’s do it.’ I think they got the message after that.”

Turning the page to Purdue, Boone knows the Buckeyes will be facing a defense that blitzes as much as any team in the Big Ten.

“They do. They like to blitz,” Boone said. “I know they’ve been moving some people around and their defensive ends are tough and they’re physical guys. That’s the one thing that we like about them.”

Boone also explained what improvements Ohio State has been trying to make on its offensive line. And instead of talking about technique, Boone says it just comes down to getting the body moving at a quicker pace.

“Yeah, just trying to play faster,” Boone said. “And if you screw up, make sure you hit somebody. Whatever you do, do it fast. And that’s just basically it. Everyone thought it was about being more physical – which it always is – but we just need to go. Just go hit somebody; do something. Don’t just stand around and I think that’s working out well for us.”

Boone likes the “new look” of OSU’s offensive line with junior Jim Cordle at left guard and freshman Michael Brewster at center. The right guard and right tackle spots will be manned by sophomore Bryant Browning, senior Ben Person and senior Steve Rehring as part of a rotation.

“Yeah, I definitely think that Steve is going to be on the right side and it will be me and Jimmy the whole year on the left,” Boone said. “Obviously that’s up to Coach Bolls and Coach Tress, but the way it’s working right now, I kind of like it. I like playing next to Jimmy and it’s working out well.”

Smith not overlooking Purdue

As a fifth-year senior, Brandon Smith knows better than to look past any Big Ten team. Especially one like Purdue that has given OSU fits this decade. The Buckeyes’ fullback/tight end is expecting a difficult game from a team with its back against the wall.

“It’s going to be tough because they’ve lost some games, lost some tough games and they’re going to come in hungry,” Smith said. “It’s the Big Ten and it’s vital to get to where we need to be. We can’t lose because every game is a playoff for us at this point in the season. The way things shake out in college football, we’ve just got to keep winning.”

Smith is playing a big role in OSU’s offense this season. He’s made some key receptions and had some big blocks already this year. And for a guy who didn’t see much playing time until this year, it feels good.

“Yeah, I’m excited,” he said. “Like you said, I’m finally getting to play a lot and just to contribute and play, I don’t know what I can say about it other than that I’m excited and happy.”

With OSU senior tight end Rory Nicol out probably another week with an injury, Smith is getting a lot of work with the tight ends. Smith was OSU’s No. 3 TE the last two years, but moved to fullback this year where he earned the starting job.

“Our philosophy as a team is always two and a spare,” Smith said. “So, I don’t know if I was ever completely out of the tight end stuff. I always had to keep an eye and an ear to that position. Jermil (Martin) has been getting a lot of work offensively, both on the scout team and with the offense. So, I think the coaches are doing their best to make sure everyone advanced as the season goes on.”

Probably the best way to classify Smith would be to call him an H-back (hybrid fullback/tight end). But the name of his position isn’t important to him.

“Yeah, I don’t care,” he said. “I’m just excited to play. Tight end, fullback, whatever.”

As for Pryor winning the starting quarterback job over senior Todd Boeckman, that could lead to strife in a lot of locker rooms. But Smith says that has not been the case with the Buckeyes because most of the veterans have embraced Pryor.

“In all honestly, if you didn’t know the ranks of the class and you were in the locker room, you wouldn’t notice any cliques like that,” Smith said. “People hang and mingle about. The older guys and the younger guys, we’re all working together and we’re enjoying ourselves every step of the way.”

Smith explained what Pryor is like as a person off the field.

“He goofs around every now and then,” he said. “He messes around just like any other guy. They’re all good guys, all the freshmen.

“But Terrelle is silly and he cracks jokes all the time. Off the field and outside of the locker room, I’m not really sure because the freshmen, they’ve got a lot of academic responsibilities, especially with it being the first quarter of school. So, I don’t know how much free time they have to actually hang around campus, but they’re all silly guys.”

In addition to having true freshmen start at quarterback and center, the Buckeyes are expected to get more playing time out of freshmen receivers DeVier Posey and Lamaar Thomas against Purdue.

“They’ve been working hard and making plays in practice,” Smith said. “The coaches have proven that the best guys are going to play and it sounds like they’re going to get more of a chance this week.”