Game Recap - Purdue 31, Maryland 29

Purdue overcame 3 second half turnovers to beat Maryland 31-29 on the road to move 4-2 on the season.

Aidan O’Connell threw for over 300 yards and Purdue put up 31 points on the road, and they needed every bit of both to hold off Taulia Tagovailoa and the Maryland Terrapins.

Purdue tight end Payne Durham went for 107 yards, his first 100 yard receiving game of the season, including a 58 yarder late in the fourth quarter to extend Purdue’s lead to 8 when Maryland defenders lost the tight end completely before the big 87 carried multiple defenders all the way down to the two yard line with just over 2 minutes left.

Coach Brohm proceeded to run as much clock as possible, having AOC fall short of the end zone on two sneaks before Devin Mockabee rammed in his first touchdown of the game on third down. The ensuing extra point gave Purdue an 8 point lead with 70 seconds left.

Despite having no timeouts, Tagovailoa went quickly to work against Purdue’s prevent defense. Maryland only needed half the time on the clock to go 68 yards on 4 plays and score a touchdown that got them within two. Tagovailoa appeared to convert a two point conversion to tie the game, but a Maryland offensive lineman was flagged for ineligible player downfield. Tagovailoa’s second attempt from seven yards out just bounced off his receivers hand in the back left of the end zone, and Maryland’s onside kick failed.

Despite giving up two more touchdowns in the last minute of a half, Coach Brohm’s Boilermakers move to the top of the Big Ten West with their second straight road victory. It wasn’t always pretty, even though AOC was hyper efficient, completing 30 of 41 pass attempts, Purdue’s offense couldn’t hold onto the ball to start the second half.

They started off losing a fumble, tipping a ball into a defender’s hands, and fumbling again in their first three possessions.

Maryland kept Purdue’s best weapon in check. Charlie Jones had just 15 yards on three catches, both season lows, but AOC was able to move the ball finding ten different receivers, including Mershawn Rice who is back from injury and caught 5 passes for 54 yards and a touchdown.