Indiana Leaves Purdue in Shambles 

By Nick Jenkinson/Excel H Sports

     The #13 Excel H Sports Ranked Indiana Hoosiers did not let their foot off the gas as the dominated their archrivals the Purdue Boilermakers 66-0 on a cold and Snowy Saturday Night at a Sold-Out Memorial Stadium in Bloomington as the Hoosiers reclaim the Old Oaken Bucket for the first time since a 44-41 overtime win in 2019 in West Lafayette. The Hoosiers won their first home game against Purdue since a 26-24 win in 2016. The Hoosiers shut out the Boilers for first time since 1945 when the Hoosiers won 26-0 in Bloomington. This is 28th shutout all-time in a series that dates back to 1891. Indiana has shutout Purdue 10 times in this series Purdue has 26 shutouts and two were scoreless ties. The last shutout in this series came on November 21, 1970, in West Lafayette when Purdue won 40-0. Purdue leads the all-time series 77-43-6 and 63-33-6 since the Bucket was introduced in 1925. For Indiana it’s the largest margin of victory over their rivals in history of the series and the first shutout for Head Coach Curt Cignetti in his Indiana Coaching Career. It’s the Hoosiers largest shutout victory in Conference play since the AP Poll era began in 1936.

    Indiana finishes the regular season with an 11-1 record and 8-1 Big Ten Record with a both single season records for the most wins for any IU Football Program. The Hoosiers will finish tied for second in the Big Ten with Penn State who will face Oregon in the Big Ten Championship Game Next Saturday Night at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis as the Nittany Lions beat Maryland 44-7 after Michigan knocked off Ohio State 13-10 in Columbus to give the Buckeyes their second loss of the season. The Hoosiers under first Head Coach Curt Cignetti turned around a program that from 2021-23 won 9 total games and this year keep their hopes alive to be included in the 12 Team College Football Playoff that will be announced on December 8.

   Quarterback Kurtis Rourke finished 23-31 for 349 yards and a career high 6 touchdown passes which ties a single game record for an IU Quarterback. Elijah Sarratt set an Old Oaken Bucket game record with 165 receiving yards that was held by James Hardy who had 151 yards in 2006 which was a 28-19 Purdue win in West Lafayette, Sarratt had 8 catches and 2 touchdowns. Justice Ellison had 11 carries for 63 yards and a touchdown as the Hoosiers racked up 582 yards and 233 rushing yards in a dominating 60 minutes in which the Boilermakers were held to 67 total yards off offense with 54 through the air and 13 on the ground. Purdue ends the season 1-11 and 0-8 in the Big Ten as the hot seat gets hotter for second year Head Coach Ryan Walters who has won 5 games in 2 seasons and has a lot of questions to answer an after a season of regressing and not progressing.

    The Hoosiers lead 28-0 at halftime and dominated the Boilermakers with 334 total yards to 54 for Purdue. Kurtis Rourke was 14-17 for 219 yards and 2 touchdown passes while Purdue Quarterback Hudson Card was 6-13 for 35 yards and an interception. The Hoosiers had 115 rushing yards and held the Boilermakers to 15 yards on the ground. Elijah Sarratt caught six passes for 130 yards and a touchdown. The Hoosiers scored on four of their seven first half possessions. Indiana punted on their first possession and Nicolas Radicic missed his first field goal attempt of the season with 2:22 left in the first quarter. The Hoosiers ran 1 play for 3 yards to end the half. Purdue punted the ball 5 times and Jaylin Walker picked off Hudson Card on the Boilers second drive.

   Indiana scored on its second possession of the game when Justice Ellison scored from 2 yards out to make it 7-0 with 6:25 left in the first quarter. The Wake Forest Transfer has 10 touchdowns on the season and his first since the Washington win on October 26. Once Indiana got the ball back after the missed Radicic field goal The Hoosiers scored on three straight possessions. Kurtis Rourke found Ke’Shawn Williams on a 14-yard touchdown pass with 11:31 left in the second quarter for Williams fifth touchdown reception of the season. Rourke connected with Elijah Sarratt on an 84-yard touchdown as Sarratt got behind the Purdue defender and raced down the sideline and scored the fifth longest passing play in IU history to make 21-0 with 6:59 left in the second quarter. Sarratt gave himself the nickname “Waffle House” as just as the restaurant he is opened 24/7 and scored his seventh touchdown of the season. Ty Son Lawton scored his 12th rushing touchdown of the season scoring from 4 yards out with 2:52 left in the second quarter as the Hoosiers set the program single season record with 62 offensive touchdowns.

    In the second half Purdue brought in Ryan Browne at Quarterback and on the first play from scrimmage he handed off to Devin Mockbee who fumbled at the 19-yard line and C.J. West recovered and the Hoosiers got the ball back but could only get a 26-yard field goal from Nicolas Radicic for his 9th of the season in 10 tries to make it 31-0 with 12:15 left in the third quarter. Indiana kept rolling as Rourke threw his third touchdown pass of night and found Sarratt in the end zone for his second score of the night on a 24 yarder to make it 38-0 with 7:55 left in the third quarter.

  The Hoosiers facing a fourth down and 6 yards at the Purdue 44-yard line decided to fake the punt as Zach Carpenter ran it up the middle for 18 yards to the Purdue 18-yard line and four plays later Rourke threw his fourth touchdown pass with a 5 yarder to tight end Zach Horton to make it 45-0 with 1:35 left in the third quarter. Indiana added to its lead as Rourke threw his fifth touchdown pass of the night with a 34-yard pass to Miles Cross with 12:47 left to make it 52-0 Hoosiers. It went from bad to worse for Purdue as Devin Mockbee fumbled for the second time as Jaylin Walker forced it out and Lanell Carr recovered at the Purdue 25-yard line and returned it 8 yards to the 17-yard line.

     It took one play for Kurtis Rourke to throw his sixth touchdown pass of the night finding Omar Cooper Jr. in the end zone for 17 yards and 59-0 lead 12:06 left in the game. Tayven Jackson came in and scored on a 4-yard run with 1:48 left to make it 66-0 Ryan Browne who replaced Hudson Card in the second half finished 3-8 passing for 19 yards as picked off with 1:02 left in the game as the Boilermakers had 5 turnovers with 3 fumbles and 2 interceptions and punted the ball away 9 times. Indiana who scored on 10 of their 15 possessions with 2 punts along with a missed field goal and 2 drives that ended both the first half and the game.

    It’s been an historic year for Indiana and the Hoosiers took care of business as they were expected too to keep its College Football Playoff hopes alive. Despite the cold temperatures and snow flying around in the first half the sold-out crowd enjoyed the entire game and there is more work to do as the Hoosiers will focus on the post season but the most prized possession in the State of Indiana the Old Oaken Bucket is back in Bloomington and will remain here for a year as the Hoosiers made a loud statement not only to Purdue but to the College Football World that come December 8 they belong in the 12 team College Football Playoff.