IU blasted by Purdue squad on Tiller’s final day as coach

WEST LAFAYETTE – On fourth down and two, Purdue running back Dan Dierking was tripped up just short of a first down by IU defenders.

The clock stopped its descent at 9.7 seconds left – in the fourth quarter – and the Hoosiers had their first defensive stop of the day.

Before and after those final nine seconds ticked away, the Hoosiers were made to suffer through a demoralizing 62-10 loss to Purdue. It was IU’s worst loss to its northern rival since 1893.

The Hoosiers stumbled from the gate.

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Purdue received the ball to open the game. Two minutes and eight plays later, the Boilermakers had their first seven points. After an IU punt, Purdue quarterback Curtis Painter connected with receiver Aaron Valentin for a 79-yard touchdown strike. Purdue then recovered their ensuing kickoff, setting a trend for the day’s events.

“You can look at those particular plays, but I think the bigger picture is we didn’t slow them down and didn’t move the ball,” IU coach Bill Lynch said after the game. “In the course of 60 minutes, those plays would have seemed nearly as large if we had done a better job of slowing them down throughout the afternoon.”

The bigger picture for the Hoosiers involved managing just 214 total yards on offense, as their defense let up 596.

Painter had a banner day throwing against the Hoosier secondary, as the fifth-year senior completed 38 of his 54 passing attempts for 448 yards and five touchdowns.
On the ground, senior running back Kory Sheets carried the ball 15 times and scored three touchdowns.

The Hoosiers’ lone touchdown of the game came at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Quarterback Kellen Lewis connected with wide receiver Ray Fisher for a 16-yard pass.
Senior kicker Austin Starr said the defeat was disappointing and a difficult way to end his career.

Lynch agreed with his kicker, and gave Purdue it’s due, saying for all of IU’s mistakes, a large part of Saturday’s game was because of what Purdue was able to do on both sides of the ball.

“But I have got to give (Purdue) credit,” he said. “I think they played a great football game – they certainly executed on offense and did what they do well.”