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With Purdue having its bye week so close to the midway point of the season it is a great time to check in on the record books. We have already had a few records fall this year, but there are a few players that are on pace for some season marks. Others are climbing the all-time lists in a few of their respective categories.
Records Established:
Single Game Passing yards – David Blough vs. Missouri – It came in a losing effort and it should have had 9 more yards added with the revoked touchdown to Jared Sparks, but Blough’s game against the Tigers was impressive. He threw for 572 yards, breaking the single game record of 546 set by Curtis Painter against Central Michigan in the 2007 Motor City Bowl.
Single Game Total Offense - David Blough vs. Missouri – For good measure Blough added 18 rushing yards to finish with 590 yards of total offense. Not only was this a Purdue record, it was also a Big Ten record.
Single Game All-Purpose Yards – Rondale Moore vs. Northwestern – Otis Armstrong held this record for 46 years at 312 before Moore broke it in nearly one half of his first collegiate game. Moore had 302 in the first half alone before finishing with 313 between receptions, rushing, and kickoffs. Does he have a 400 yard game in him? It’s possible with him on punt returns now.
Milestones Watch
David Blough – Assuming Blough has cemented himself as the starting QB for the rest of the season he is going to finish in the top 5 of a lot of all-time categories. He is currently at 7,347 passing yards for his career, moving past Jim Everett for 6th place this past Saturday. Against Illinois he will likely pass Scott Campbell (7,526) to move into the top 5. He’ll need a very strong finish to get into the top 4. Mark Herrmann (9,134) is probably reasonable with a bowl game. Kyle Orton in third at 9,653 is probably pretty distant. Blough’s best total season was 3,352 in 2016, which is about 2,000 more than this season so far. He has already topped his numbers from last season when he split time with Elijah Sindelar and missed the final four games with an injury.
Blough is also currently 5th on the school passing touchdowns list with 51. With 12 more he will tie Orton’s 63, with Curtis Painter’s 67 and Herrmann’s 71 within reach with a bowl game. The school record of 90 by Drew Brees is out of reach, but getting to 72 with 21 more TDs this year would put him in second place.
With 669 completions Blough is currently fifth, having just moved past Scott Campbell. He is sitting at 103 on the season, with the possibility of 250 or so total with a bowl game. If he gets to 800 for his career he would be third behind Painter and Brees, passing Herrmann (772) and Orton (786). With 1,118 attempts Blough is also 5th all-time. He needs a little less than 200 more attempts for fourth.
As far as one record Blough could get all to himself he has 12 rushing touchdowns in his career. With three more he would tie Mark Vitali for the most rushing TDs by a quarterback with 15. He would even move into the top 15 all-time for rushing touchdowns period then, too.
Markell Jones – Markell has been the No. 2 back behind DJ Knox this year, but he has still done some heavy lifting to move up the all-time rushing lists. He has 240 rushing yards this season to get to 2,297 for his career. That’s 10th all-time. The top 6 is a possibility with Jerod Void (2,429), Corey Rogers (2,436), Harry Szulborski (2,478) and Edwin Watson (2,520) all grouped closely together. Montrell Lowe would be fifth at 2,648.
Markell is sitting at 16 career rushing touchdowns now after Saturday, tied for 11th in school history with Wally Jones and Tony Butkovich. With two more rushing attempts Markell will move into the top 10 in that category.
DJ Knox – Knox is having an excellent senior season and is a candidate for a 1,000 yards year. He is sitting at 390 yards on the year, and with 640 more he would not only top 1,000 for this year, but 2,000 for his career. It would be just the ninth 1,000 yard rushing season in school history, and getting to 2,000 for his career would put Knox at 14th on the all-time list.
Knox also has a career high five rushing touchdowns already. With nine in his career he needs five more to get into the top 20, and 10 in a single season would be in the top 15.
Rondale Moore – What receiving records aren’t in play for him? It is a little early to think about career marks, but Moore is well on pace for some single-season marks. Right now he is at 41 receptions for 457 yards and 4 touchdowns. At this rate just the second 100 reception season in school history is possible. The record is 121 by Taylor Stubblefield. We have only had 12 1,000 yard receiving seasons, last by Keith Smith in 2009. John Standeford holds the record with 1,307 in 2002. As far as receiving touchdowns, Stubblefield holds that record with 16 in 2004.
Moore is on pace for the single-season all-purpose yardage record too. He has 895 all-purpose yards on the year (136 rushing, 457 receiving, 33 punt returns, 269 kickoff returns). Dorien Bryant holds the record with 2,121 in 2007. Moore is averaging 179 all-purpose yards per game, and if that pace holds he would finish at 2,327 assuming Purdue makes a bowl game. Even without a bowl game he would break the record if he keeps up the pace.
Spencer Evans – Purdue has attempted a lot of field goals so far. Evans is 9 of 12 on the season and could actually get close to the school record of 25 in a single season set by Ben Jones in 2003. With 17 in his career he is 12th in school history and 3 behind teammate J.D. Dellinger, who is now at 20 after making one in relief duty against Boston College. Purdue has only had two seasons of 20 made field goals with Jones hitting 25 in 2003 and Travis Dorsch hitting 22 in 2001.
Evans is 17 of 23 on field goal attempts in his career for a percentage of 73.9%. That would actually be a career best at Purdue. The record is 73.7% by Carson Wiggs.
Joe Schopper – Your reigning Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week now third all-time in total punts at Purdue with 209. Even with the offense doing well he will later pass Cody Webster for second at 232 punts. Let’s hope he doesn’t have 64 more punts in him, as that would tie him with the legend himself: Shawn McCarthy.