Purdue loses sight of Penn State in seconds half

Written by Erik Slaby

West Lafayette, IN – On a cool, sunny afternoon here in West Lafayette at Ross-Ade Stadium, the Purdue University Boilermakers fell to the 24th ranked Penn State Nittany Lions 62-24. This loss drops the Boilermakers to a 3-5 record over and a 1-4 record in the Big Ten. By halftime, it was tied 17-17 and it looked like Purdue may have a chance at the upset and defeat a ranked opponent for the first time since 2011. It was not to be though.

In the third quarter, Penn State exploded offensively with 24 total points. They were up 34 -17 before Purdue managed to get on the board with 62 yard touchdown pass from quarterback David Blough to wide receiver DeAngelo Yancey. This brought the game within in a score. After that point though, it was all Penn State as they scored on their next four possessions. Penn State head coach James Franklin spoke after the game about the performances in both halves.

“We knew we were going to have a battle,” Franklin said. “Early in the game, we just made too many mistakes. We are usually one of the most disciplined teams in football. I don’t want to say we’re a second-half team, but in the locker room, we decided we were a second-half team. We made plays, and their turnovers were huge.”

Offensively, Penn State was led by quarterback Trace McSorley who completed 12 of 23 passes for 228 yards and three touchdowns. The real star of the night though for Penn State was probably running back Saquon Barkley. He finished the game with 18 carries for 207 yards rushing and two touchdowns. He also had three catches for 70 yards. Barkley also may have had the highlight of the night for Penn State when he sprinted down the field for an 81 yard run. It was the longest run for Penn State since 2002.

Purdue was led by Blough, who completed 34 of 50 passes for 281 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Offensively, the struggled running the ball as they only had net total 46 rushing yards. Running back Markell Jones did have a one yard touchdown run early on in the game. Blough spoke after the game about the performance of the offense.
“We haven’t been able to take care of the ball in the second half, and that is the biggest thing,” Blough said. “We scored only seven points in the second half, and that is unacceptable for the expectations we have for this offense.”
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Next week, Purdue continues their inter-conference play next week on the road against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. This will be a tough matchup for Purdue as Minnesota is 6-2 so far this season a have a pretty good offense. For Purdue to become bowl eligible though, it starts with this game. If they are able to beat Minnesota, maybe this will represent a change of momentum in their season.