Purdue Boilermakers vs Indiana Hoosiers Football Recap

Despite missing out on a bowl game for the third straight season, Purdue had a chance to build optimism and gain momentum on Saturday.  Instead, the Old Oaken Bucket traveled back to Bloomington with the Indiana Hoosiers, who came from behind to beat Purdue in overtime 34-31.

With the win, Indiana snapped a 12-game Big Ten losing streak, and was victorious at Ross-Ade Stadium for the first time since 1996.  The Hoosiers also broke a streak of 15 straight Big Ten road losses.

Hoosiers quarterback Ben Chappell completed 31 of 50 passes for 330 yards and three touchdowns despite playing with a hip injury suffered in Indiana’s 83-20 loss to Wisconsin two weeks ago.

Purdue took a 21-7 lead in the first half, but never could put Indiana away. Indiana was able to tie the score on a field goal with nine seconds left in regulation after a long drive that took about five minutes.

On the first Boilermaker possession of overtime, Purdue quickly picked up a first down, and had the ball at the Indiana six-yard line.  But two plays later, quarterback Rob Henry rolled to his right and threw an inexplicably poor pass into a crowd of four Indiana defenders for an interception.  The rest was window dressing, as Hoosiers kicker Mitch Ewald would then hit a field goal for the winning points.

Henry was still not fully recovered from the finger laceration he battled for most of the season, and his erratic throws slowed down Purdue’s offense when it had chances to open up a big lead.  However, the redshirt freshman did finish with 252 yards passing and three touchdowns, including a 55-yard catch-and-run by Antavian Edison in the first quarter, and a 52-yard throw to a wide-open Cortez Smith in the third.

A marginal fourth-quarter pass interference call against cornerback Josh Johnson, on a third down leading by three points, gave Indiana a first-and-goal at the Purdue two-yard line, instead of fourth-and-goal at the 24, and led to a touchdown.  It was one of 11 penalties called against the Boilermakers, who had been flagged 66 times all season before Saturday.

Purdue was just 2-of-13 on third down, due to a struggling running game.  Uncharacteristically, the Boilers ran for just 58 yards.

Also uncharacteristically, Purdue was unable to generate much of a pass rush, which was unfortunate since Chappell was playing hurt and noticeably limping.  The Boilermakers had just one sack.

> More 2009 College Football Previews from CollegeSports-fans.com