The Scene: The beginning of the 2018 Purdue football season wasn’t the best case scenario at the time. Purdue sat at 1-3 on the season with a disappointing loss to Eastern Michigan at home on the record already. The idea of strolling into Lincoln for a match up with the Cornhuskers was daunting. If it wasn’t for the win against Boston College previously, I’m not sure this game feels as winnable as at did before it started. Then you factor in the comments by Nebraska Head Coach Scott Frost. Frost was quoted after the Huskers’ loss to Michigan saying

“This was a really good team, and we get a game that we could win next week.”

The comments were heard, and the September day game was set.

The Questions: What would Purdue do to continue the momentum from the Boston College win to keep it up? Purdue would need a big day from the skill positions on both sides of the ball to keep Nebraska in check as well as make enough plays to score enough points. Nebraska up to that point was in a similar position to the Boilermakers as they sat at 0-3 on the season and they were looking to build some momentum for the rest of the year. So this game wasn’t the most influential outside of Lincoln on this day. Neither team was going to compete for the Big Ten, but this game felt like a tipping point for the season. Win, and you can build some momentum. Lose, and the mountain feels too high to climb and the season feels over.

The Video:

The First Half: The game gets underway with Nebraska receiving the first half kickoff. They start strong with Adrian Martinez connecting on his first pass for a first down. Then after the first couple of plays, it seems as if Nebraska will get anything it wants on offense in this game. Purdue doesn’t seem to be able to make a play to slow down the momentum of the Huskers drive. In less than 2:30 of game time, Nebraska finds themselves near the Purdue 30 and making it look easy.

Then with just under 11:30 to play in the first quarter, Martinez hands the ball off to Ozigbo who weaves his way through the offensive line before cutting towards the sideline around the Purdue defense before diving into to score from 18 yards out. Just like that, Nebraska goes up 7-0 with 3:40 off the clock. That was about the worst-case scenario in terms of starting the game off right. The Boilermaker defense showed no push against the Nebraska offense and the Huskers made them pay by marching down the field with seemingly minimum resistance. Purdue needs to respond in kind or else it could spell a long day for the Boilers. Purdue receives the ensuing kickoff and will start their first drive on the 28-yard line.

Purdue takes a shot on first down to Jared Sparks that falls incomplete. On the next play, David Blough connects with Rondale Moore for the first time for 9 yards. On 3rd-down Markell Jones can pick up the first down and move the chains before a false start on the next play sends the Boilers back to 1st-and-15. Another penalty on the next play sends them back again and the tough start gets worse as the Purdue offense is now facing a 1st-and-20. Purdue gets it’s first big win on offense when on 2nd-and-19 the Husker defense breaks down and Zander Horvath can take a check down pass from Blough 21 yards to pick up the improbable first down. I believe that this effort from Horvath set Purdue up for the rest of the game. The Nebraska team and crowd were getting rowdy and having to punt after falling behind the chains like that would not bode well going forward. With 8:05 left in the first quarter, DJ Knox takes the first down hand-off, and winds his way through the line before taking the hand-off 42 yards to the house! Purdue answers the Nebraska touchdown with one of there own and suddenly it looks to be a shootout in Lincoln!

The offensive shootout seems to continue on the next Nebraska drive as they quickly move the ball past mid-field with chunk plays. Purdue’s defense stiffens and forces a 4th-and-1 for Nebraska on the Purdue 41 yard line where Scott Frost decides to go for it to try and set the tone for the rest of the game. Unfortunately for them, the Purdue front can get a good push and get the stop on fourth down to turn the Huskers away! Purdue takes over near mid-field with 5:38 left in the first quarter. The Boilermakers and Jeff Brohm decide to take a shot on first down and run a flea-flicker where Blough connects with Isaac Zico for 50 yards! The Boilers have taken over the momentum battle and suddenly look to increase their lead. Unfortunately, Purdue isn’t able to make anything happen from here and must settle for a field goal. Purdue up 10-7 with 3:40 remaining in the first quarter.

On the next Nebraska drive, the Purdue defense is playing with some energy. This is also where we get the first instance of the crowd turning on the refs. They miss a pretty bad pass-interference call that should have been called and the crowd lets them know about it. Things don’t get much better when a couple of plays later, a personal foul on the Nebraska line pushes the Huskers back to 2nd-and-20. The drive stalls there and the Boilermakers get the ball back as we near the end of the first half. On 3rd-and-7, Blough finds Brycen Hopkins for the first down as we end the first quarter. Starting the second quarter, Purdue finds themselves facing 3rd-and-7 again before Blough finds his first chance to scramble for a big first down. When the pocket breaks down, he moves up in the pocket before taking off and can get an easy first down and then some. On the next play, Blough finds Hopkins over top of the linebackers as he quickly picks up another 25 yards and the Boilers are in the red-zone! This is immediately followed up by DJ Knox attempting to fly, and by that, I mean that he takes the handoff and leaps from the 6-yard line trying to stretch into the endzone (See picture at the top of this article. Two plays later, David Blough pushes his way into the end-zone and with just under 13-minutes in the second, Purdue leads by 10, 17-7.

Purdue has taken hold of the game and the Nebraska crowd has been taken completely out of the game. All of the confidence that the Huskers showed on offense has completely disappeared. Before you know it, Nebraska is punting again and the Boilermakers have the ball and this feels like a make-or-break drive for Nebraska. Their defense responds in kind quickly forcing a Purdue punt. Unfortunately, as will soon become a theme in this game, penalties bite them by pushing their starting field position inside their own 10. This gives the Purdue defense some energy as they get into the backfield for a sack on Martinez and soon after, another Nebraska punt and the Boilers take over near mid-field again. With 8:34 left in half Nebraska seems to get the break they need in the form of an interception and a decent return. But, once again, a holding penalty gives the ball back to Purdue and the penalty yards are enough to give the Boilers a new set of downs. Purdue may not have been able to capitalize on the drive but it took some more time off the clock to limit the opportunities for Nebraska.

We are drawing nearer to halftime with Nebraska finding some success on the ground with Ozigbo breaking free for a long run. The Purdue defense quickly answers by shutting down the drive from there and forces another punt. After such a fiery start, the two offenses have cooled and neither can seem to find any traction. As we cross the 5-minute mark, a holding call on Purdue moves them back to 2nd-and-14 and quickly 3rd-and-14. Here we have the second instance of Nebraska forgetting about David Blough. Purdue goes five wide and at the snap of the ball all receivers streak up-field and the offensive line holds up long enough for Blough to move outside to his right and takes off with the only one near him being a defensive end. 15 yards later, first down Purdue. Followed quickly by a 12-yard jaunt by Markell Jones moves the chains again. Purdue is on the move, and they get another assist by the Husker defense two plays later. Jackson Anthrop takes a check-down pass for a couple of yards before stepping out of bounds where he is drilled by a Nebraska player, personal foul, and a free fifteen yards for Purdue.

We cross the 3-minute mark in the half with Purdue nearing the Nebraska 30 facing a third down when Nebraska gives Purdue another gift. A pass interference call on a pass to Jared Sparks gives Purdue the first and moves them into the red-zone. Purdue can’t find the endzone but they do manage the field goal to make it 20-7 Purdue. They also make sure Nebraska only has about 30 seconds before halftime. A short kickoff mixed with some short passes from Martinez moves Nebraska to the 37-yard line where they get the chance for a very long field goal before halftime. It falls short and we move to halftime with Purdue up 20-7, and it shouldn’t even be that close if the offense doesn’t settle for field goals in the red zone. A very solid half is over, but can the Boilers keep it up through the final 30 minutes?

Halftime Thoughts: I haven’t had the chance to visit too many other Big Ten football stadiums to see a game. After graduating and moving to Texas, it’s something I wish I had done more when I still lived in Indiana. I was thinking of trying to plan out a road trip one year where I just travel around the mid-west/east coast visiting all of the Big Ten stadiums in one year. I believe that it could be a lot of fun. What is your favorite non-Ross-Ade football stadium in the Big Ten? Let me know in the comment section below!

The Second Half: Purdue receives the second-half kickoff and the final 30-minutes is underway! The first play of the half is a short pass underneath to DJ Knox, who has had a very good game so far, and he makes another good play with an impressive spin move to get the half started on a good foot! Unfortunately, the drive stalls, and Purdue is forced to punt it away. Nebraska takes over and they also don’t do much with their drive and are forced to punt. This is where Purdue gets another gift when the Nebraska punter slips and the punt dribbles across the ground before settling almost exactly on the 50-yard line.

With 11:10 remaining in the third, Purdue takes over once more. Here is where the Husker gifts start coming more. On the first play of the drive, David Blough rolls to his right before throwing the ball at the feet of Knox. He is then shoved by a Nebraska DL giving Purdue a free fifteen yards into Nebraska territory. A few plays later Blough finds Zico for another 15-yard pass and sets Purdue up on Nebraska 12. Two plays later we see the beautifully designed play where Blough throws back across the field to Brycen Hopkins who walks into the end-zone untouched. Purdue extends the lead with the score now sitting at 27-7 with 8:24 remaining in the quarter.

After a Purdue penalty on the ensuing kick-off, it sets Nebraska up with decent field position and they, once again, quickly move towards mid-field. A holding penalty slows them up briefly but Adrian Martinez runs for 20 is quickly followed up by a long pass to JD Spielman who makes his way into the end-zone and Nebraska finally gets back on the board closing the gap to just 27-14 Purdue. Purdue takes over near their ten-yard line after a bad return from Rondale Moore. The Nebraska crowd has woken up and is letting the Boilermakers hear about it as they start their drive with 6:12 remaining in the third. Purdue shrugs off the noise by hitting Jared Sparks on first down for 9 and picking up the first on the ground on the next play. This quiets the crowd for a moment, but they go dead silent on the third play of the drive. Instead of forgetting about David Blough, Nebraska decides to leave Brycen Hopkins with no one within 10-yards of him as he takes the pass for nearly fifty deep into Nebraska territory. Purdue moves up to the Nebraska 6 where they face a 3rd-and-1 and DJ Knox decides he doesn’t want just the first, but 6. He finds his way through the defense before falling back into the end-zone and Purdue answers the quick Husker score with one of their own!

Purdue goes for two and gets another perfectly drawn up play with a little shovel pass underneath to Knox gets Purdue the two points to push the score to 35-14. Nebraska takes over with 3:19 left in the quarter and two plays, a chunk pass, and a pass interference call on Purdue moves them to the Purdue 30. The Purdue defense suddenly can’t find success and the Huskers are getting almost anything they want. A well-run screen-pass on the next play is set back with a holding call, but it doesn’t matter as Martinez drops a dime to the deep corner of the end-zone, and Nebraska answers quickly.

The score now sits 35-21 Purdue with 2:32 remaining in the third and the offenses have awoken from their early nap in the second half. This theme continues as on the first play of the next drive, Blough connects with Rondale Moore who makes an extremely impressive play by weaving in and out of the Nebraska defense for an immediate answer in the form of a 40-yard catch and run. A holding call two plays later puts Purdue under 2nd-and-20 and then 3rd-and-20. This is where I know that Nebraska is trying to throw the game. A pass over the head of Brycen Hopkins that would make it fourth down is instead a gifted first down when a roughing the passer penalty on Nebraska is called. The crowd displays what this means to them in the form of some ooh's I believe. Purdue gets a free first down when they were dead in the water. This is followed up by another face mask call on the defense on the very next play and the crowd once again is letting the refs hear about it.

This brings us to the start of the fourth quarter with Purdue facing a 3rd-and-2 from the Nebraska 7. Enter Markell Jones who decides that he just wants to get off the field as he forces his way into the end zone to officially double up the Nebraska score as Purdue leads 42-21. Nebraska starts the next drive with another holding penalty before hitting their tight end for a big gain of their own that moves them into Purdue territory. A few plays later, when there should have been another holding call that goes uncalled, Nebraska RB makes his way into the end zone and Nebraska once again answers a Purdue score with one of their own.

Purdue takes over on their own 24 after a block in the back call negates a good Moore return. Moore makes up for the lost yards with a great catch and runs on the first play of the drive. Purdue can’t get anything going after that and they are forced to punt the ball away. Nebraska seemed to be putting together another drive where they look unstoppable before with just over nine minutes remaining in the game. Then Martinez makes a mistake by overthrowing a pass to a receiver and it falls into the hands of Purdue safety Simeon Smiley for the first interception of the day! The Huskers get nothing and Purdue takes over near their 40-yard line trying to work the clock down and get out of Lincoln with a win!

Purdue isn’t able to get anything going on the stolen possession, but it did stop the previous Nebraska drive and forced some time off the clock. Nebraska can move the ball past mid-field where they are then forced into a 4th-and-5 where Purdue can get pressure and we get a very….interesting call by the color guy.

That was certainly one way to describe the result of the play. With the in-completion, Purdue takes over with 6:11 remaining in the game and the win edging closer and closer. The Boilers keep it on the ground for the most part before punting it away with about 4:30 remaining in the game. Nebraska once again moves into Purdue territory before a failed fourth-down conversion gives the ball back to the Boilers and that all but does it here in Lincoln. Purdue comes away with a 42-28 win!

Final Stats (ESPN)

Individual Stats

• David Blough:

  • 25/42 for 328 Yds with 1 TD and 0 INT

• Receiving:

  • Brycen Hopkins: 5 rec / 103 yards / 1 TD

  • Rondale Moore: 8 rec / 85 yards

  • Isaac Zico: 3 rec / 71 yards

  • Zander Horvath: 2 rec / 28 yards

  • DJ Knox: 2 rec / 21 yards

  • Jared Sparks: 3 rec / 14 yards

  • Jackson Anthrop: 2 rec / 6 yards

• Rushing:

  • DJ Knox: 15 car / 87 yards / 2 TD

  • Markell Jones: 14 Car / 59 Yds / 1 TD

  • David Blough: 7 car / 38 yards / 1 TD

  • Rondale Moore: 1 car / 4 yards

• Defense:

  • Navon Mosley: 14 Tackles

  • Markus Bailey: 11 Tackles / 1 Sack

  • Antonio Blackmon: 9 Tackles

  • Derrick Barnes 7 Tackles

  • Cornel Jones: 6 Tackles

  • Simeon Smiley: 5 Tackles

  • Kenneth Major: 4 Tackles

  • Giovanni Reviere: 4 Tackles

  • Lorenzo Neal: 2 Tackles

• Kicking:

  • Spencer Evans: 2-2 FG / 4-4 XP

  • Joe Schopper: 7 punts / 289 yards / 41.3 avg / 49 yard long

Team Stats:

Purdue Boilermakers:

• Rushing (Atmps/Yds/TD’s): 37/188/4

• Passing (Completions/Att/Yds/TD/INT): 25/42/328/1/0

• First Downs: 27

• Penalties/Yds: 10/75

• Turnovers: 0

Nebraska Cornhuskers:

• Rushing (Atmps/Yds/TD’s): 39/259/2

• Passing (Completions/Att/Yds/TD/INT): 25/42/323/2/1

• First Downs: 31

• Penalties/Yds: 11-136

• Turnovers: 1 INT

The Result: Nebraska got their “winnable game” and Markell Jones let Huskers HC Scott Frost know.

Purdue went into Lincoln, Nebraska, and handled the Cornhuskers in their sold-out stadium. Outside of the first drive where Nebraska drove down the field and scored fairly easily, Purdue handled them the entire game. David Blough threw a very good game getting one TD throw to Brycen Hopkins as well as picked up a few key first downs when the Nebraska defense forgot the QB had legs and allowed David to run for 10+ yards before remembering he was over there. David did what you’re supposed to do when you go on the road in the Big Ten, which is not making many mistakes and make just enough plays to get the win. He didn’t throw for 500 yards and 5 TD’s, but he also didn’t have to. The more important statistic that was missing from his box score was interceptions. David threw no interceptions which were what you need from your Senior leader

Then there was the running game which shined in this game. While only totaling 188 yards from scrimmage in this game. The running backs, plus David Blough on a QB sneak, tallied 4 touchdowns in this game. It began with DJ Knox scampering 42 yards to the house to get the scoring started for Purdue and from there, it seemed like whenever Purdue got into the red-zone, the running backs were there to push the team in to score.

Overall, Nebraska ended up not winning a game for a few more weeks to their fans’ delight before finally getting a win over Minnesota and finishing 4-8 on the season. Purdue would go on to crush Illinois in Champaign the next week before a memorable matchup against Ohio State in early October. Purdue would go on to reach a bowl game for the second straight year. Unfortunately, Purdue wouldn’t travel to or compete in the bowl game, but earning the bid is important for a program like Purdue!

Why This Game? I always enjoy games like this, and by that I mean, games where no one outside of West Lafayette thought Purdue would perform as they did. Purdue was not supposed to be able to go into Lincoln, Nebraska, and put the Huskers in the meat grinder. I chose this game because Nebraska football fans remind me of IU basketball fans. Both think their program is so historical that they are always relevant, but refuse to accept that the sport has left them behind. Watching this game, as it nears the end, you can feel the crowd processing the idea of NEBRASKA losing like this to PURDUE?! Yes, Nebraska, get used to it, you’re on Purdue’s level now. I love watching this game because Jeff Brohm brought the Boilermakers to Nebraska and never gave them a chance.

How do you feel? Leave a comment below or tweet at me your thoughts @BoilerInTexas on how you felt watching this game! As well as if you enjoy re-watching old games to re-live them!

What’s Next? Next up is a trip to Iowa city when our Boilermaker football team had their backs against the wall needing two wins in two games to return to a bowl game for the first time under Jeff Brohm. Purdue downs Iowa on their senior night to set up a home showdown with IU.

Purdue v Iowa 2017.

As always, Boiler Up, Hammer Down, Hail Purdue!