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Opponent Preview BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com BY BRIAN NEUBERT First it was Denard Robinson, Ball combined to run for near- ly 500 yards on Purdue, this weekend's visitors to Ohio Sta- dium had better hope for far, far different results. Good luck with that. As just a sophomore, Mill- Purdue faces unbeaten and seventh-ranked Ohio State and star quarterback Braxton Mill- er, the Boilermakers can say they will have played against the Big Ten's three best offen- sive players in back-to-back-to- back weeks. And after Robinson and then Montee Ball. Now, on Saturday, when ROLLING BUCKEYES NEXT UP FOR REELING BOILERMAKERS Game 7: Ohio State Buckeyes Noon ET • Ohio Stadium • TV: ABC Regional (ESPN2) good at what he does," Purdue defensive tackle Kawann Short said. Yeah, he is. Meyer recently tabbed Miller and NFL star Percy Harvin — not Tebow — as "the two best runners" the two- time national champion coach has had. "He's a special player," Boilermaker corner Ricar- do Allen said. "He's really good in the open field. He knows how to find holes and if you mess up, he can throw the ball well. … He's an all-around good player." The ultra-athletic er has blown up in first-year Buckeye coach Urban Meyer's system, the very attack that once made Tim Tebow kind of a big deal. "Braxton Miller is pretty sophomore is way ahead of schedule, already con- Ohio State Braxton Miller has developed into one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in all of college football with his running and passing in 2012. sidered by most everyone to be one of the prime contend- ers for the Heisman Trophy, his candidacy picking up steam this past weekend when he totaled 360 yards and three touchdowns in a shootout with Indiana the same day fel- low front-runner Geno Smith and his West Virginia team got blown out by Texas Tech. "Last season (as a fresh- man), Miller was an athlete playing times just an athlete taking snaps," said Ben Axelrod, who covers Ohio State for Buck- eyeGrove.com. "This year, he's really come around as a pass- er, and Meyer's offense has plays designed for him to run, whereas last season he was just making something out of nothing. He was the No. 1 re- cruit in his class coming out of high school, so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that he's finding success, although I quarterback, some- Defensive lineman John Simon leads a Buckeye defense that has given up 43.5 points per game the last two weeks. The good thing for Simon and OSU? The Buckeyes won both. Ohio State don't think many people could have rationally predicted that he'd be a Heisman Trophy con- tender past the midway point of his sophomore season." Miller's a weapon, one of college football's finest, but he's just a weapon in an of- fense full of them. GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 23, EXPRESS 7 • 7