Boilermakers plays its Card at the right time/Claim 3rd straight Bucket

By Nick Jenkinson/Excel H Sports

The Purdue Boilermakers beat the Indiana Hoosiers 35-31 Saturday Afternoon at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette to close out the season as Purdue claims their third straight Old Oaken Bucket to end the season 4-8 and 3-6 in the Big Ten under first year head coach Ryan Walters.

Indiana ends the year at 3-9 overall and 1-8 in the Big Ten and now the question will be if Indiana Head Coach Tom Allen will get to keep his job after 3 Big Ten Wins in the last three seasons. Purdue leads the all-time series 77-42-6 and are 63-32-3 in the Old Oaken Bucket dating back to 1925.

Purdue Quarterback Hudson Card returned from Injury and was 21-34 passing for 275 yards and 3 touchdown passes. The transfer from Austin, Texas ran for 85 yards and a touchdown after he did not play at Northwestern last week. Deion Burks (Redshirt sophomore, Belleville, Michigan) caught seven passes for 87 yards, George Burhenn caught 5 passes for 74 yards and a touchdown, Boonville, Indiana’s Devin Mocokbee caught 1 pass for 38 yards and a touchdown along with Cedarburg, Wisconsin’s Drew Biber who caught one pass for 16 yards and a touchdown.

McCordsville, Indiana’s Burhenn’s receptions were the first of his career. In fact, his second catch was for a score after catching his first pass the previous play.

Denton, Texas’, Brendan Sorsby was solid once again with his, 17-31 passing for the Hoosiers for 226 yards with 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. Sorsby ran 15 times for 54 yards as the Hoosiers Running Backs combined for 133 yards on 34 carries with no touchdowns. E.J. Williams Jr. led the Hoosiers in receiving with 6 catches for 97 yards, Donaven McCulley (Lawrence North), DeQuece Carter (Louisa, Virginia/Fordham transfer) and North Carolina transfer Josh Henderson all caught touchdown passes for Indiana.

Indiana led 14-12 at halftime after the Boilermakers missed two 2-point conversions.  Purdue took the lead on a 33-yard field goal by Ben Freehill 13:14 left in the third quarter to lead 15-14. Jaylin Lucas ran back the kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown and the Hoosiers were back on top 21-15 with 13:02 left in the third quarter. Freehill added a 44-yard field goal (the longest of his career) at 10:37 left in the third quarter. The Hoosiers went up 28-18 when Brendan Sorsby found Josh Henderson on a 9-yard touchdown pass with 1:43 left in the third quarter.

Purdue scored twice in the fourth quarter on a 38 Yard touchdown pass from Hudson Card to Devin Mockobee and 35-yard Ben Freehill Field Goal to tie the game at 28-28 with 8:41 left in the game. Chris Freeman put the Hoosiers ahead 35-31 on 39-yard field goal with 5:09 left in the game. Hudson Card scored on a 10-yard touchdown run with 2:39 left in the game to give the Boilermakers the win.