It’s pretty wild to think about, but since 2000, there really hasn’t been a Big Ten program to give Ohio State problems more consistently than Purdue has. The Buckeyes are 8-4 against the Boliermakers since 2000, giving them a 67 percent winning percentage. The next lowest winning percentages against a Big Ten team comes against Wisconsin, at 73 percent, and Penn State at 74 percent.
That’s all to say that Purdue, more often than not, plays Ohio State as close if not closer than any team in the Big Ten. That’s strange because, well, Purdue is not the historical power that schools like Wisconsin, Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State or even Nebraska, all of whom Ohio State has been significantly better against since the turn of the century.