BIG TEN Ohio State's offense seeking consistency

The surge began three games ago against Indiana.
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COLUMBUS -- It might be inappropriate for the Ohio State Buckeyes to have found their turning point. Without victories in their next two games, no one will care.
But as No. 4 OSU (9-1, 5-1) plays host to No. 11 Purdue (8-2, 5-1) today in a game with huge Big Ten and national implications, the Buckeyes hope to continue an offensive surge that began three games ago at Indiana.
Buckeye treasure
That's when Ohio State found a running game with junior tailback Lydell Ross. That's when the Buckeyes rolled up 603 yards and scored 35 points, their season high for a non-overtime game. That's also when their confidence began to rise, that they began to believe they had a complement for the nation's fifth-ranked defense and that they could contend for their second consecutive national title.
"It's sort of been momentum from the Indiana game," senior right tackle Shane Olivea said. "We've been playing better and better every week. That's one thing we want to keep building on. We had opportunities in the last game to score more points and we didn't get it done. We've yet to play a complete game, but we're stepping in the right direction."
Settling for a season-high four field goals from Mike Nugent in last weekend's 33-23 victory over then-No. 14 Michigan State brought some cause for concern.
"As good as we're starting to play now, we still haven't peaked yet," senior tight end Ben Hartsock said. "Hopefully this will be the week we go out and amaze ourselves."
Such an offensive performance might be wishful thinking against a defense that ranks third in the Big Ten and 10th in the nation (283.1 yards per game). The Boilermakers also rank seventh in the country in rushing defense (82.6 yards) and 11th in scoring defense (16 points per game).
"I'm confident we can continue to get better," OSU senior quarterback Craig Krenzel said earlier this week. "We're going to have to. We're playing a Purdue defense that is extremely talented, the best we've seen all year."
One year ago
Senior left guard Adrien Clarke still remembers OSU's offensive struggles in last year's 10-6 victory at Purdue, won on Krenzel's 37-yard touchdown pass to split end Michael Jenkins with 1:36 to go.
"Their defensive scheme is one of the best we've gone up against," Clarke said. "They like to walk up the [strong-side linebacker] outside, as well as bring up the strong side safety, so they have three people outside slanting to the boundary.
"That causes us a lot of problems because we run off-tackle and the power a lot. We have to pick it up, beat the blitz and take it to the house."