Purdue Football Hangs on to Beat Northwestern 17-9 in Final Home Game of the Season
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Purdue defense held Northwestern to 240 total yards and forced three second-half turnovers in a 17-9 victory on Saturday at Ross-Ade Stadium, sending the team's seniors out with a win in the last home game of the year.
The Wildcats looked to even the score late in the final minutes, but redshirt senior defensive end Jack Sullivan burst into the backfield on fourth down, taking down the quarterback to snuff out a comeback attempt. Sixth-year senior quarterback Aidan O’Connell threw for a season-low 159 yards but got the offense into the end zone twice in the first half to take an early lead.
“It was a defensive day for football,” Purdue coach Jeff Brohm said. “When you walked on the field, it was hard getting any footing, it was slippery and because of the weather, it was just tough to kind of be as efficient as you'd like to be.”
Purdue — now 7-4 on the season and 5-3 in conference play — will go on the road next week for a matchup with in-state rival Indiana at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Ind., with a win earning the team at least a share of the Big Ten West title.
“We talk about it all the time, don't make one game too big,” Purdue redshirt senior tight end Payne Durham said. “Obviously, we all know. We're not blind to it, but we're gonna focus on it like we would any other week and attack it and go out and play our game.”
The Wildcats were led by junior running back Even Hull’s 105 yards rushing, but they only managed 78 yards passing with sophomore walk-on quarterback Cole Freeman making the first start of his college football career.
Purdue slowly matriculated down the field on its opening possession, reaching the Northwestern 33-yard line before being stopped for no gain on fourth down. The longest play of the drive was a 19-yard carry by redshirt senior wide receiver Tyrone Tracy.
After no points to show for moving the ball into opposing territory, the Boilermakers responded with a 10-play, 70-yard scoring drive. O’Connell evaded pressure and looked to the right side of the field, finding sixth-year wide receiver Charlie Jones for a 15-yard touchdown.
Northwestern answered with a scoring drive of its own, moving the chains on fourth down near midfield thanks to an offsides penalty by Purdue at the start of the second quarter. The Wildcats capped a 13-play, 65-yard possession with a 23-yard field goal to make it 7-3 with 12:41 left to play before halftime.
The Boilermakers tallied 199 yards of total offense in the first half, including 112 on the ground, and O’Connell started 9-of-12 through the air with a pair of touchdown passes. He connected with Durham from three yards outs for the team’s second score of the game, and Purdue went into the locker room leading 14-3.
“I think we actually controlled the ball well, and especially the first half had the ball for a long time,” O’Connell said. “I just think we got behind on third down a few times. I definitely missed a couple of reads, missed a couple throws that I'd like back.”
The Boilermakers looked to fortify its lead on defense early in the second half as Jalen Graham intercepted a pass and went untouched into the end zone. However, the senior was flagged for excessive celebration during the return, which wiped the touchdown off the board.
“We can't have that happen, of course,” Brohm said. “We've got to put a stop to that, and that's hurt us the last two weeks. It was a good play negated by something foolish. We've got to get that fixed, and I think Jalen understands that.”
The offense retained possession and went just five yards in three plays to set up a 47-yard field goal into the wind for fifth-year senior kicker Mitchell Fineran. The kick didn’t have the distance and was no good. On the subsequent possession, Purdue recovered a Northwestern fumble at its own 42-yard line.
The offense gambled on fourth down after the takeaway but was unable to reach the line to gain. The Boilermakers force back-to-back turnovers and couldn’t capitalize on the opportunities gifted by the Wildcats.
The Purdue offense ran 16 total plays in the third quarter, managing only 34 yards. The team went three and out on back-to-back possessions before having a punt blocked to set up a touchdown for Northwestern early in the fourth quarter. Hull punched his way into the end zone from the 2-yard line, making it 14-9 after the Wildcats failed a 2-point conversion attempt.
The Boilermakers orchestrated just two drives in the final period, and a 26-yard field goal to go ahead by eight points with 7:08 left in the game was enough to put the game out of reach.
“I'm happy that our guys were able to gut out a tough win and send the seniors out on a good note,” Brohm said. “It's always good to do that, those guys put in a lot of long hours and time to help this team improve and have done a great job.”
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