Purdue 24, Ohio State 17

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) -- After sitting for the first 3½

quarters, Kyle Orton threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Dustin

Keller with 2:17 to play to lift Purdue to a 24-17 victory over

Ohio State on Saturday.

Orton, who started the game on the bench with a hip injury, was

inserted into the lineup in the fourth quarter after starter

Brandon Kirsch threw an interception.

Playing for the first time in more than two games, Orton entered

the huddle for his second series with the game tied 17-all and

drove the Boilermakers 80 yards in eight plays to snap their

four-game losing streak.

The senior completed all six of his passes for 51 yards, and

took advantage of a questionable pass-interference penalty on A.J.

Hawk on the drive.

The Buckeyes got the ball back with 2:12 to play, but Troy

Smith's pass glanced off the hands of freshman Ted Ginn Jr. and

Stanford Keglar intercepted to preserve the win for Purdue (6-4,

3-4 Big Ten).

The win was career victory No. 100 for coach Joe Tiller.

Tiller had been stuck on 99 for more than a month as his

Boilermakers' squandered a 5-0 start to the season with consecutive

losses to Wisconsin, Michigan, Northwestern and Iowa.

It was a fitting end for Ohio State (6-4, 3-4), which had three

turnovers in the fourth quarter to lose for the first time in four

games.

Purdue cornerback Brian Hickman twice thwarted Ohio State drives

deep in Purdue territory to help make the Boilermakers bowl

eligible for the eighth straight season.

Hickman intercepted a pass in the end zone early in the fourth

and recovered a fumble on the Purdue 5 on the next series.

Ohio State played sloppy all day, committing four turnovers and

eight penalties, possibly caused by distractions from controversy

on campus this week.

In an interview with ESPN The Magazine released this week,

former Buckeyes star Maurice Clarett accused coach Jim Tressel, his

staff and school boosters of arranging for him to get passing

grades, cars and thousands of dollars, including for bogus summer

jobs.

Athletic director Andy Geiger said many of them were found to be

baseless in investigations by the NCAA and the university.

Not surprisingly, the Buckeyes were slow out of the gates,

falling behind 17-3 in the first half.

Smith hit Santonio Holmes for a 30-yard touchdown in the third

quarter to make the score 17-10 and set up a wild fourth.

Replays showed that Holmes did not catch the ball, but officials

in the booth chose not to review the play.

After a sparkling first half in which Kirsch completed 16 of 23

passes for 178 yards and two touchdowns -- both to Kyle Ingraham --

Kirsch was yanked after he threw an interception to Quinn Pitcock

that gave the Buckeyes the ball on the Purdue 36.

The Buckeyes drove to the Purdue 6, but Antonio Pittman couldn't

hold on to a late option pitch from Smith and Hickman recovered to

end the threat.

But Ohio State came right back, forcing a punt on Orton's first

series of the game and driving 44 yards, culminating in a 5-yard

scoring run by Smith to tie the game.

That set up Orton's heroics, and the one-time Heisman hopeful

helped salvage his season with a clutch performance. He finished

the day 7-for-8 for 54 yards.

Ingraham had eight catches for 72 yards and two scores.

Smith threw for 192 yards and a touchdown and ran for 62 yards

and a score, but he threw three interceptions to lose for the first

time in four starts.