While Purdue won Saturday’s game with Nebraska 31-27, it was not a game wihout cost for the Boilermakers. After the game Jeff Brohm said that quarterback Jack Plummer was likely out for the rest of the 2019 season.
Brohm: Jack Plummer is “probably out for the year”
— mike carmin (@carmin_jc) November 2, 2019
Plummer had a solid outing on Saturday after two very ugly interceptions. He threw for 242 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for an additional 61 yards on the ground, but it was after a 4-yard scramble in the fourth quarter that he came up injured. He was unable to put any weight on his right foot and ad to be helped off the field.
That makes the quarterback situation as follows for Purdue:
Elijah Sindelar - Out, Collarbone
Jack Plummer - Out, foot/leg
Nick Sipe - Out permanently, back
Aidan O’Connell (walk-on) - Presumptive starter
Paul Piferi - True freshman, no experience
Danny Carollo (walk-on) - currently the holder on placekicks and pooch punter.
For good measure receiver Jared Sparks, who began his career at quarterback at Purdue and has a few wildcat snaps as well as a TD pass last year at Illinois, has also bee out most of the season and played only briefly at Iowa.
O’Connell is now the likely starter and he did lead Saturday’s game winning drive by all six of his passes on the drive for 67 yards. He has 133 yards passing this season and a TD last week against Illinois.
Piferi, who did enroll early and went through spring practice, is likely the backup now and if he did have to play he would not burn his redshirt, as he has not played at all yet.
There is at least a chance Sindelar can return. He was originally expected to be out 6-8 weeks after surgery for a broken collarbone, but that was five weeks ago following the Minnesota game. Saturday at Northwestern would be right on the edge of his ability to return, but after that Purdue has a week off. He could potentially come back at Wisconsin, which would be 8 weeks after the Minnesota game.
So can O’Connell win at offensively-challenged Northwestern? We might find out.