Nebraska 27, Purdue 14: Let the Healing Begin

We were promised a beatdown by Nebraska fans. Corn Nation was openly talking about playing their backups to get valuable experience. There was little reason to think Purdue was going to put up a fight on paper. For once, Purdue exceeded those "on paper" expectations.

What else is there to say? Nebraska is a pretty good team and they are ranked in the top 10 nationally as one of the few remaining undefeated teams. Purdue went into their house and dominated the first half to lead 14-10. They fought tooth and nail despite a depleted defensive line and the loss of a head coach to lose only 27-14 in a game that was closer than that final score.

Think about that, for a moment. Purdue lost by 14 last week and it was nowhere near that close. This week Purdue lst by 13 and it was far closer than that. I hope that makes sense.

The Boilers had the ball inside the Nebraska in the last 5 minutes needing a score-stop-onside recovery/score for the in. It came within inches of getting the first third of that equation and still pushing the Cornhuskers despite everything going on behind the scenes.

Nebraska was expecting to walk through today. Purdue bloodied their mouths and made them work for it. After 39 games of sub-mediocrity, that counts as improvement.

I don’t care that Penn State just beat Ohio State, Purdue will beat the Nittany Lions if it plays with that effort next week. That is what we can take from this. Purdue fought tooth and nail for 60 minutes in a game it had no business fighting in.

For now, that is enough.