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I said while writing up the prediction post that I thought Purdue had a real chance. Something just felt right about this one. I couldn't explain why so I went ahead and picked Nebraska. Turns out I should've listened to my gut. Purdue looked like a different team today as their rolled to their first B1G win this season and first home B1G win under Hazell. How did they do it? Turnovers and being aggressive on offense.
Coming into today's game the Purdue defense had 6 INTs. Today against Nebraska Purdue had 4 INTs. That includes three by Anthony Brown including a couple nifty ones that were seemingly stolen away. The fourth interception though was the clincher for Purdue. After going for it on 4th and 1 and failing Nebraska had the ball with a chance to go down and turn it into a one possession game. Frankie Williams found himself in the right place at the right time as the ball bounced off Purdue three times before landing with Williams who hustled the ball back to the Nebraska seven yard line. Purdue would punch it in just moments later. That put the game out of reach and gave Purdue this win.
On offense Purdue used aggressive play calling, misdirection, and a nifty game by David Blough to put plenty of points on the board. There were two big plays that exemplified today's game. The first was David Blough on a designed run to the right side which resulted in a 56 yard scamper to the endzone for the young QB. That put Purdue up 7-3. They wouldn't look back. The second play came in the third quarter or as Purdue likes to normally call it, nap time. David Blough found a streaking DeAngelo Yancey down the left sideline for an 83 yard pass. That resulted in a TD as well as Purdue's longest play of the year. Purdue was up 35-16 at this point. The lead would swell to 42-16 before it began to recede because Purdue.
Despite the fourth quarter push by Nebraska which saw them score 29 points Purdue was able to hold on and win the game. It wasn't as easy as Purdue fans would've like it to be after taking a 42-16 lead but at the end of the day it's a victory. I don't know where this team came from or where they've been the entire season but it was nice to watch Purdue football again for one week. I'll take that.
Look at this Purdue run. I mean... pic.twitter.com/ZmTDpIJcPi
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) October 31, 2015