Purdue Boilermakers vs Minnesota Golden Gophers Football Recap

The Purdue Boilermakers rode a powerful rushing attack to a 28-17 victory over Minnesota on Saturday at Ross-Ade Stadium.

Purdue rushed for 230 yards, and has rolled up at least 200 yards rushing in five straight games.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Rob Henry’s early success continued in his second career start.  Henry threw for 163 yards and a touchdown, and ran for 57 yards and three touchdowns to lead Purdue to 2-0 in the Big Ten.

Running back Dan Dierking had a career day, carrying 12 times for 126 yards.

After upsetting Northwestern on the road last week, Purdue avoided a letdown in its Homecoming game and is now off to its best conference start since 2004.

Published rumors last Friday suggested that Minnesota coach Tim Brewster would be fired if the Gophers lost Saturday, but the Gophers failed to make much of a case for their embattled leader. 

Purdue took advantage of Minnesota’s sloppy tackling all day, starting with a play on Purdue’s first drive where Gopher defenders played a key role in making Dan Dierking look like Barry Sanders as he dodged and weaved his way to a 42-yard gain.

Dierking’s highlight-reel run set up Purdue’s first touchdown, a four-yard keeper by Henry with 5:58 left in the opening quarter. Henry stretched the Boilermakers’ lead to 14-0 when he faked a handoff, rolled to the right, and ran just inside the pylon for a one-yard touchdown with 8:04 left in the first half.

Minnesota, which trailed 14-0 at halftime, had a chance to cut the Purdue lead in half on the second play of the third quarter, when Gary Tinsley picked off a Henry pass and appeared to be on his way to a touchdown. But after throwing the pick, Henry refused to give up on the play, chasing Tinsley all the way.  As Henry closed in, Tinsley tried to switch hands, but lost control of the ball.  After it popped out of Tinsley’s hands, the ball struck the pylon at the corner of the endzone, resulting in a touchback and giving possession back to Purdue.

Henry and the Boilermaker offense took advantage of the lucky break.  Thirteen plays later, Henry completed a short third-down pass to Antavian Edison, who made several defenders miss on his way to a 20-yard touchdown, which gave Purdue a 21-0 lead.

Minnesota showed life early in the fourth quarter, when Adam Weber hit Bryant Allen for an 11-yard touchdown to make it 21-9 with 12:17 to play, but Purdue had a quick answer.  Henry led the Boilermakers on a 63-yard drive, and ran four yards for his third rushing touchdown of the game.

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