Ohio State had plenty to play for on Saturday afternoon. It showed, as the Buckeyes blitzed Purdue to the tune of 59-31.

But although the final was lopsided, not all was lost for Purdue.

Let’s grade the Boilermakers after the loss in Columbus:

Passing offense

Once again, Aidan O’Connell and Purdue’s passing offense were dialed in, moving the ball, scoring touchdowns and making very few mistakes.

Unfortunately, the performance came on an afternoon when other miscues undid the Boilermakers early and made the bid for another upset an impossibility. But O’Connell was excellent. The senior quarterback hit 40 of 52 attempts for 390 yards and 4 touchdowns. He would have had a 5th TD, but a 4th-quarter toss was dropped by receiver David Bell, a rare mistake by the All-American junior.

O’Connell is operating at a high level. His passes are highly accurate, maybe none more so than the 2nd-half toss to Jackson Anthrop on the left sideline, when O’Connell dropped the ball just beyond 2 defenders and in front of a 3rd. It was an NFL-quality pass. It helps, too, that O’Connell has receivers who are performing at a high level — not only Bell, but Milton Wright, Anthrop and tight end Payne Durham.

Bell had 11 receptions for 103 yards. Wright had 98 yards on 7 catches with a TD. Anthrop scored twice. Fellow slot TJ Sheffield had 54 yards.

And O’Connell wasn’t sacked once. He generally had plenty of time; once, he scanned through his first 3 reads before coming back to the primary target, Bell, and completing the pass. Too much is made of O’Connell’s lack of athleticism, but he has grown significantly in his ability to weave through traffic in the pocket while keeping his eyes up to look for a target.

Grade: A

Rushing offense

Perhaps the most surprising part of the Boilermakers’ offensive performance against Ohio State was the rushing attack.

Purdue found running room to the tune of 91 yards on 19 carries, an impressive 4.9 yards per carry. The Boilermakers, with their 3-headed running back room of King Doerue, Zander Horvath and Anthrop, are finding seams through the offensive line. And while they perhaps don’t have the top-end speed to generate big plays, they are getting solid 1st- and 2nd-down carries to keep Purdue on schedule.

Although Purdue might not have “balance” between its passing and running games, it is doing enough lately to force opponents to at least respect its ability to run. And it’s going a long way toward making the Boilermakers more efficient.

Purdue also got a 4th-down conversion when Bell took an end-around for a 1st down.

But it wasn’t all good. When Jack Plummer came in for a 1st-half play, there was backfield confusion on where the ball was supposed to go. Doerue didn’t anticipate getting a handoff, very possibly because the ball wasn’t supposed to go to him. It was a critical early turnover for Purdue, at a time when it was trying to keep pace on the scoreboard.

Grade: B

Offense

The fumble aside, the offense wasn’t Purdue’s problem.

Instead, the Boilermakers showed that the offense is clicking, racking up 481 yards while scoring 31 points. They converted 5 of 10 3rd-down attempts and 1 of 2 4th downs.

Yes, the fumble, which came after a trick play that didn’t work, was bad and smoked Purdue’s momentum. And it came at an unneeded time, as in Jeff Brohm didn’t need to turn to Plummer after the missed gadget.

Grade: A-

Passing defense

Purdue’s defense struggled to locate all of Ohio State’s weapons, particularly in the secondary.

Buckeyes were running wide open, taking advantage of their speed edge but also of Boilermakers breakdowns. OSU wide receiver Garrett Wilson scored 1 of his 3 touchdowns when he simply ran by 2 Boilermakers, neither of whom decided to follow him toward the end zone.

It happened too often, with Purdue leaving receivers open. C.J. Stroud finished with 5 TDs on 31-of-38 passing for 361 yards. Purdue didn’t affect him much in the pocket, barely ever pressuring him and never sacking him.

The Buckeyes had 3 receivers with at least 85 yards, with each scoring a touchdown.

Grade: D-

Rushing defense

Ohio State had 50-plus yard touchdown runs on which the runner wasn’t even touched.

That was telling of the problems the Boilermakers had. Purdue got pushed around on the offensive line, but more critically, OSU blockers knocked the 2nd-level defenders off the ball. Purdue was pushed off the edge too frequently, and its linebackers couldn’t flow quickly enough to fill the gaps.

Ohio State had 263 yards rushing, averaging 8.5 per attempt.

Grade: F

Defense

The numbers speak for themselves: OSU racked up 59 points on 624 yards, while averaging 9 yards per play.

Purdue barely ever even got Ohio State into 3rd-down situations, let alone held them. The Buckeyes were 4-of-7 on 3rd downs, and they converted their only 4th (which resulted in a 25-yard touchdown pass).

It was ugly.

OSU didn’t even punt until midway thought the 3rd, and that was the only one on the afternoon.

The Boilermakers too often found themselves in 1-on-1 matchups and lost, in part due to being beaten by athleticism or speed, but also because of poor tackling.

Grade: F

Special teams

Purdue made a couple of glaringly bad special teams plays.

Jack Ansell’s 1st punt was shanked, as he sent it only 16 yards to give the Ohio State offense a short field. Then, Anthrop muffed a kick return, turning the ball over to the Buckeyes after he hesitated on whether to call for a fair catch, then couldn’t deal with the wind. He was replaced as the primary return man after letting a ball bounce on a later kickoff.

Mitchell Fineran did make his only field-goal attempt.

Grade: D-

Coaching

One could argue that Brohm should have recognized that his offense was performing well early and didn’t need gadgets to keep up with the Buckeyes. Because when he went with the tricks, the offense stalled then turned the ball over.

But it’s hard to be overly critical, because Brohm was trying to do what he’d done in earlier upsets vs. Iowa and Michigan State.

Purdue got punched in the face early, made mistakes and didn’t compete the way it wanted to. But it was prepared to play.

Grade: B

Overall

Purdue was likely to lose at Ohio State, where the Buckeyes very frequently are victorious.

It didn’t want to lose in such fashion, however, getting down by allowing 45 1st-half points.

The defense showed flaws, but it’s unlikely to face an offense like Ohio State’s again this year. And the offense proved, even in a loss, that it has the goods to compete.

Move on.

Purdue will play next week at Wrigley Field against Northwestern, looking to get back on track.

Grade: D