For the past two weeks, Ohio State had not been on schedule.

Penalties ravaged the Buckeyes offensive line, freshman running back TreVeyon Henderson took the ball backwards more than he had those home-run hits he had against Tulsa, Akron, Rutgers and Indiana.

After Ohio State’s worst performance in the run game since Oct. 20, 2018 — the Buckeyes’ loss to Purdue, their last loss in Big Ten play — head coach Ryan Day’s message shifted to one simple phrase: remaining on schedule.

It was about turning three-yard gains into five-and-six-yard gains. It was about limiting the amount of times the offensive line moved the entire offense back five yards, whether it be snap infractions or false starts.

Day wasn’t asking for much. Based on the talent he had at his disposal — four tackles occupying four offensive line spots, a running back who’s developed into the most explosive freshman in the country — he knew the big hits would come.

It was the consistency in short-yardage situations that the head coach was looking for. And it’s consistency he got when he needed it most against Purdue.

Redshirt freshman quarterback C.J. Stroud brought Ohio State in the red zone with a nine-yard pass to Chris Olave, extended even further with a face mask penalty by Purdue safety Cam Allen, bringing Ohio State a first down with six yards to go; an area the Buckeyes had had so much trouble in against Nebraska and Penn State: ending eight of their last 12 scoring drives with a field goal.

On Saturday, Henderson and the Ohio State offensive line did what it needed to do on that first opportunity: taking two rushes for three yards each, pushing the back forward across the goal line for the Buckeyes’ second score of the day.

And then Ohio State did it again.

At the start of the fourth quarter, with Ohio State in the red zone, Henderson combined for 11 yards on two rushes, setting up a five-yard pass to Olave for the Buckeyes’ final score of the day.

“When TreVeyon was down in there inside the 10-yard line, he was making three-yard gains five or six,” Day said. “It doesn’t look like much, but down there, a yard is everything, and he did it.”

That’s something the Ohio State rushing game couldn’t do two weeks ago. It also couldn’t grind the clock out, ending the game with a 11-play drive lasting nearly eight minutes, playing keep-away with Purdue until Stroud could take a knee.

But it’s something Ohio State could do Saturday even without Master Teague III available, using redshirt freshman Miyan Williams for 66 yards and four first downs on eight rushes, securing the 28-point win.

“I thought he got in a rhythm at the end where he was just running vertical,” Day said. “I thought a couple of plays he bounced and then he made up his mind that we would get upfield. I thought the tight ends and the offensive line were really rocking off the ball there. He started getting vertical, and it was good to see him start getting in a rhythm again.”

That’s what Day’s goal for the entire run game was: to get back in a rhythm again. It didn’t need to be the focal point of the offense, but it needed to be trustworthy.

Saturday afternoon, it was, leading to 263 yards on 31 carries — Ohio State’s best rushing performance since the Tulsa game — balancing those five-to-six-yard carries with 50-plus-yard home-run hits by Henderson and wide receiver Garrett Wilson for touchdowns.

With that, the passing offense shined, leading to Stroud’s most efficient day as a passer this season, completing 81.6% of his passes for 361 passing yards and five touchdowns.

This was all Day was striving for, finding that balance of the run game and perimeter passes along with the vertical pass game Stroud has developed with Olave, Wilson and sophomore Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

The clear goal of a balanced offense, the 31 rushing attempts and 38 pass attempts, is just about finishing drives, to make sure Day’s offense is scoring touchdowns, something the Buckeyes did on seven of their first eight drives against the Boilermakers.

Ohio State was back on schedule. Its offense returned to form.

All it took was a bit of consistency.

“I think it’s going to build a lot of confidence,” Day said. “ I don’t think our guys are lacking confidence. I just think after the last two weeks, we were a bit on edge this week, to be quite honest with you. We just wanted to get back in this game, score in the red zone, get our nose dirty a bit, and I think we did that.”