College football finally returned to the virtual world in 2024 with the release of EA Sports College Football 25, allowing fans of all 134 FBS schools to take control of their favorite team. For Buckeye Nation, that means getting to dominate with one of the best rosters in the game.
The new game also allows us to get a glimpse at what the season could look like, at least if the computers had their say. Each week, Land-Grant Holy Land will simulate Ohio State's real-life matchup to see what our AI overlords think will happen.
Here are the results of our Week 11 sim:
Ohio State is looking to return home and build off the momentum from its impressive win over Penn State last weekend, and the virtual Buckeyes did just that this week with an easy victory over a lowly Purdue squad. It was a huge day for Will Howard and Jeremiah Smith as Ryan Day's unit jumped all over the Boilermakers.
It was all Ohio State right from the jump in this one, as Smith hauled in a 45-yard touchdown catch on the team's first drive of the game to give the Buckeyes an immediate 7-0 lead. Gee Scott Jr. followed that up with an 18-yard touchdown a short while later, and Jayden Fielding's 28-yard field goal to end the quarter made it 17-0 after the first frame.
Purdue tried to fight back a little bit, scoring on a 1-yard touchdown run by Reggie Love III to open the second quarter, but that was quickly negated by a 34-yard TD by Carnell Tate to make it 24-7. The Boilermakers would add three more points at the end of the first half on a 50-yard field goal, and so the game wasn't entirely out of reach just yet as the two sides headed into the break with Ohio State up 24-10.
From there, the Buckeyes suffocated Purdue on defense, and Jeremiah Smith did the rest. Ohio State would score the only three touchdowns of the second half -- all by Smith on plays of 18 yards, 45 yards and 82 yards -- and the Silver Bullets took the ball away twice on an interception by Jordan Hancock and a forced fumble by Sonny Styles as the home team left no doubt about their victory.
It was an insane day for the freshman wide receiver, making up for his first scoreless performance of the season against Penn State. Smith finished the game with eight catches for an eye-popping 223 yards and four (!) touchdowns. He was far an away the favorite target for Howard, who had a fantastic bounce back game in his own right with 391 yards passing and six touchdowns. Egbuka added six catches for 94 yards, while Gee Scott Jr. had two grabs for 39 yards.
It was a strangely quiet day for Ohio State's ground game, as TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins finished with a combined 88 yards on 23 carries, good for only 3.8 yards per attempt. The Buckeyes' longest rush of the day was actually by Egbuka, who picked up 28 yards on his only carry of the afternoon. Still, the Ohio State offense managed 540 yards of total offense thanks to a big showing through the air.
Ohio State's defense was impressive as well, racking up four sacks in the contest -- one apiece by Styles, Jack Sawyer, Tyler Bourne (J.T. Tuimoloau) and Kayden McDonald. Cody Simon was the tackles leader in the game with eight, followed by Caleb Downs and Davison Igbinson with seven each. Hancock had the team's lone interception and also broke up two passes. As a group, the Buckeyes held Purdue to 6-of-17 on third down and 0-for-2 on fourth down.
While the real life Buckeyes are 7-1 with a chance to move to 8-1, the virtual Buckeyes move to a perfect 9-0 on the year. Check back next week to see how Ohio State actually performed on the field compared to the simulation, and see how they fare in our Week 12 simulation against Northwestern.