So I have this friend who’s a huge Ohio State fan living in northwest Indiana. He was trying to keep his spirits up Sunday, but it wasn’t easy. He was hosting a big birthday party at his home for a fellow friend, and he was a fine bartender and host for 50 or so people. There was Ohio State stuff on every wall.

He had watched No. 2 Ohio State’s ugly and brutally disappointing 49-20 loss the Purdue the night before, and he hated watching the Buckeyes’ unbeaten season come crashing down. He had to take jabs from the Purdue fans at the party, and he took them all.

He’d seen this same scenario before, of course. It was just last year that Ohio State lost its potential College Football Playoff berth when it went to Iowa and got thrashed 55-24 to the unranked Hawkeyes.

The Hawkeyes played with a purpose last year. Purdue played with a purpose Saturday night, playing for cancer patient and Purdue supporter Tyler Trent, who was featured on College Gameday earlier in the day. And Ohio State paid for it — dearly.

The common thread?

“It’s those cancer kids. Cancer sucks,” my friend said with a tight-lipped smile. “It was just too much for us.”

Last year, Iowa’s new first-quarter tradition of having everyone in the stadium wave to the cancer patients in the new hospital wing adjacent to the stadium had become a national phenomenon. The inspired Hawkeyes made their season by beating Ohio State, then ranked No. 6 in the country. Ohio State would go on to win the Big Ten and Iowa would lose five game. The loss was so ugly that the selection committee kept OSU out of the playoffs, even as Big Ten champs. That had never happened before in the short life of the playoffs.

And then here comes Saturday night. Purdue had started the season 0-3 but was on a three-game winning streak. They were playing better, but Ohio State was still a prohibitive 14-point favorite. Tyler Trent, battling cancer so hard, was their inspiration.

And then Purdue went out and spanked them, winning by 29 points against the No. 2 team in the country that many have talked about as being the only team who could handle No. 1 Alabama athletically.

Those conversations are now over.

And rightly so.

Even Ohio State coach Urban Meyer admitted Saturday that Ohio State wasn’t as good as their ranking. That’s saying a lot for someone who usually defends his players regardless of what’s going on, off the field or on.

“The glaring shortcomings we have were exposed,” Meyer said. “Number one, off the top, is our red zone offense. We go down there a few times, two field goals and one missed field goal. We’ve never had this issue. We’re going to get a real thorough evaluation of that. And then the big plays on defense.”

Yes, that’s right, there was plenty of blame to go around.

Ohio State’s offense went up and down the field all night, just like they’ve done all year. Quarterback Dwyane Haskins, who’s been great all year, threw for 470 yards, but he had to pass the ball a whipping 73 times to do that.

Why so many passes? Because Ohio State couldn’t run the ball against a Purdue defense that ranked a very average 54th in the country against the run, allowing 147 yards per game. Ohio State ran for 76 yards on 25 carries, a measly 3.0 yards per carry.

Ohio State has 5-star running backs and 4-star and 5-star lineman across their front. Getting stymied by Purdue is simply unacceptable.

And the defense was just as culpable. Purdue rolled up 539 yards of their own. Quarterback David Blough was 25-of-43 passing for 378 yards and three touchdowns, and the Boilermakers also ran for 161 yards.

It was Iowa all over again, a major meltdown by an Ohio State defense loaded with big-time recruits, too.

Sure, they’re missing some key pieces like Nick Bosa and others, but there’s still plenty of talent there. They have just woefully underachieved.

Again.

Now it looks like Michigan really is the best team in the Big Ten. Ohio State still controls its own destiny despite the loss, and the Nov. 24 showdown with Michigan, as it has a million times in the past, will likely decide the Big Ten race.

Still, it’s disheartening to see the Buckeyes play that way. They’re better than that, far better. But they didn’t show it. And that’s a bad trend.

Very bad.