Purdue played both quarterbacks again this week. For the second straight week, Elijah Sindelar got the start. His stats are misleading as he was 4 for 10 for 60 yards and a touchdown. Early on the nerves hit as there were four dropped passes by the Purdue receivers. Sindelar easily could’ve been 8 for 10. David Blough came in and played the majority of the game after the first few series. Blough went 11 for 13 for 235 yards and 3 touchdowns including a 62 pass on a double reverse flea flicker that looked straight out of a video game in the second quarter. “They (coaches) had that in the back pocket. We didn’t run it last week,” Blough said.
Leading the way for the receiving core was Cole Herdman who was on the receiving end of the trick play. He had two receptions for 87 yards and the touchdown. Tight end Brycen Hopkins added four receptions for 85 yards and a touchdown.
Kicker Spencer Evans had a great game connecting on a 36-yard field goal on Purdue’s opening drive to give them a 3-0 lead. He followed that up by nailing a 22-yard field goal with 51 seconds left in the second quarter and a 38-yard field goal in the 4th quarter for Purdue’s final score. Spencer set the tone on special teams as he had several touchbacks which continually gave the Bobcats a long field. The Bobcats got their first touchdown on a three-yard run by running back A.J. Ouellette in the first quarter to bring the score to 10-7 in favor of Purdue. Purdue then scored 24 unanswered points in 11 minutes fueled by back to back fumbles by Ohio. “One of our main goals is stopping the ball and be physical. We can’t let teams run the ball on us,” linebacker Marcus Bailey said. At half time, the score was 34 to 7. Coach Brohm warned his team not to watch the scoreboard. Last week they started off the 3rd quarter with the lead but couldn’t hold on for the win. Ohio’s opening drive they scored a touchdown on five straight pass plays. There wasn’t a lot of resistance from the Purdue defense. Purdue came right back and scored a touchdown of their own when Blough connected with Jackson Anthrop for a 5-yard pass.
The rest of the game saw the Boilermakers defense bend but not break as Ohio had success moving the ball much of the 2nd half but they couldn’t finish a drive. They did connect on a 25- yard pass from Nathan Rourke to Cameron Odom with 4:27 left in the game.
Purdue Team Stats
Purdue had 25 first downs with 14 coming by the run, 10 by passing and one by a penalty.
Purdue committed four penalties for 45 yards. They had two kickoff returns for 28 yards and 2 punt returns for five yards. Purdue was 3-10 on 3rd down and 1-1 on 4th down.
Purdue had the ball for 31:52 and had a total of 558 yards on 67 plays. They averaged 8.3 yards 263 yards came by way of rushing and 295 came through the air. Perhaps the best stat for Purdue is that they had zero turnovers.
Ohio Team Stats
Ohio had 22 first downs with seven coming by the run, 14 by passing and one by a penalty. They committed 3 penalties for 30 yards. Ohio had two kick returns for 32 yards and one punt return for 18. Ohio was 5-13 on 3rd down and 1-2 on 4th down.
The Bobcats had the ball for 28:08 and had a total of 396 yards on 67 plays. They averaged 5.9 yards. Ohio had 160 rushing yards and 236 passing yards. They had two costly fumbles that helped break the game open for Purdue.
Purdue will go to Faurot Field to play University of Missouri Tigers on Saturday, September 16th, the game will kickoff at 4 PM EST, you can catch this game on SECN. The Bobcats will be at home in Peden Stadium Saturday, Septmber 16th to take on Kansas Jayhawks at 2pm EST, this game can be caught on ESPN3.
