COLUMBUS: The clearly defined low-water mark in the 2009 season for the Ohio State Buckeyes was a 26-18 loss at Purdue in their seventh game. The Buckeyes rushed the ball 28 times in that game for a meager 66 yards — 2.4 yards per carry — an almost certain formula for defeat.

As it prepares for the Jan. 1 meeting with Oregon in the Rose Bowl, Ohio State wants to put that performance farther and farther into the rear-view mirror.

”After the Purdue game, we really got our act together and played well,” OSU junior running back Brandon Saine said.

The following week, the Buckeyes rushed for 270 yards on 49 carries against Minnesota in a 38-7 rout, the first of five consecutive wins. They averaged a crisp 5.5 yards per carry against the Golden Gophers.

”I just think the offensive line started to play with a little bit of a chip on its shoulder and they knew they had to get the job done,” Saine said. ”As running backs, we were able to feed off of their energy and do well also.”

The Buckeyes continued to run the ball with much success for the remainder of the season, and ended the year with 2,387 yards rushing, 20 rushing touchdowns and an average of 4.7 yards per carry.

Saine finished the season with 694 yards rushing, second on the team to quarterback Terrelle Pryor’s 707 yards. Sophomore Dan Herron missed the better part of four games, but finished with 558 rushing yards.

”Statistically, particularly in the back half of the year, we did a much better job taking care of the football and a much better job running the football,” Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said. ”Therefore, we did a much better job winning.”

The Buckeyes expect to need that power-running, ball-control offense humming along at high efficiency when they face the Ducks. Ohio State senior offensive lineman Jim Cordle said that will serve two purposes — producing points, and matching the often explosive Oregon attack.

”We’re going to have to score some points, because as good as our defense is, Oregon will do something our defense hasn’t seen and they will score,” Cordle said. ”Obviously, we just want to go out and execute. Coach Tressel will do a good job of managing the game, and we’ll score what we need to score.”

That need might be elevated, since the Ducks average nearly 38 points per game. Saine said the Buckeyes have to sustain the momentum the running game has built up during the final five games of the season.

”We definitely don’t want to digress,” he said. ”We’re moving forward in our running game, and it’s working well for us. If we just do what we’ve been doing and stay focused, we’re going to have fun out there.”

That OSU running approach will likely include more of Pryor, who was dinged up in the New Mexico State game on Oct. 31 and hobbled for a couple of games after that. Pryor carried the ball just 13 times in the next two games, after averaging better than 12 carries per game through the first nine games of the season.

”I think for the first two games in November, it was something we had to think about,” Tressel said about Pryor’s injury. ”Once we got to that third week in November, he was a 100 percent. He’s at 100 percent now. We’ve got to make sure he stays that way. So if we can go in with all the folks ready to rock and roll and be healthy, hopefully we can create more problems for their defense.”

Herron said Oregon is going to be well-schooled about the Buckeyes’ preference to run the football, and he expects a few new wrinkles to be added to the offense to try to catch the Ducks loading up against the run.

”Everyone knows Ohio State is known for running the ball — in the Big Ten, you run the ball,” Herron said. ”So of course, we want to get our running game going. But at the same time, we want those tricks in there, or to try some things to get the ball down the field and put some points on the board.”