The Day After: Purdue 49 – Indiana State 0

After taking the night to digest, here’s the overview of Purdue’s beat down of the Terre Haute Trees.

Purdue 49 – Indiana State 0

Welcome back to College Football everyone. In it’s Week 1 matchup, Purdue took on FCS team, Indiana State. Purdue had never previously lost to the Sycamores, winning most recently in 2022 by a score of 56-0. Much of the same occurred today as the Boilermakers asserted their collective wills and won 49-0, improving to 7-0 all time against Indiana State.

Pre-Game

Before the game began, there was noticeable electricity in the air. Yes, Purdue was playing an FCS team but the fans still showed up in droves with a game attendance north of 59,000. The student section was packed on the beautiful last day of August and everyone seemed relieved that we no longer had to wait to see Ryan Walters and company.

Alex Martin/Journal and Courier / USA TODAY NETWORK

A few changes were of note before the game began. DL Joe Anderson and LT Corey Stewart were late scratches and accompanied at least 40 other players that did not dress for the game, primarily freshmen. Joshua Sales and Damarjhe Lewis would start in their place.

First Half

After winning the coin toss, Purdue deffered to the second half, meaning its defense would see the field first. The very first play was a stuffed rushing attempt of ISU by Jeffrey M’Ba, who looked very solid on the day. Two more small gains resulted in a 3 and out. This year, Purdue is bringing out All-American safety, Dillon Thieneman to return punts and the newest of the Thieneman brothers took his first return back 14 yards with some shifty footwork.

On the offenses first drive, QB Hudson Card looked absolutely locked in. Card was 5-5 on the drive, the first two of which were quick passes to transfer Jahmal Edrine, who is back after tearing his ACL before being able to play in a game for Purdue last season. Edrine was quick on the passes and danced his way up field for 10 plus yards each time. The fifth Card pass came following the lone sack of the game for Indiana State in which the coverage was good enough in the endzone that the defensive line had time to bring Card down. Purdue immediately followed that with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Max Klare up the seam in the endzone. The point after attempt was kicked by Freshman, Spencer Porath, who would go 7-7 in PATs throughout the day. Purdue’s other kicker, Ben Freehill also kicked but only on kickoffs.

The ensuing Indiana State drive saw a first down QB keep on the first play, followed by a defacto 3 and out. Purdue’s next drive was also moving down the field as Hudson Card was spreading the ball out while Devon Mockobee and Reggie Love were rushing well. Card’s lone incompletion came on the drive when he missed a deep ball to Edrine by about a yard. The drive would continue down inside the ISU 30 when on 3rd and 1, an out route to TE Drew Biber was completed and then fumbled to be recovered by the ISU defense. This was the lone turnover for either side on the day.

Indiana State would again punt on their next possession, though they did another first down. The Purdue offense would again march right down the field, this time 76 yards and capped off by a crossing route from Card to Jaron Tibbs who cut up into the endzone. Another Indiana State 3 and out followed by a short punt set up Purdue at their own 43 yard line. The next three plays were as follows: 36-yard Devin Mockobee run, 13-yard Devin Mockobee run, and an 8-yard passing touchdown from Card to De’Nylon Morrissette who was wide open in the corner of the endzone. Purdue would go up 21-0 with 10:29 remaining in the half.

Indiana States next drive would have been a 4-play drive and punt but on 3rd down, a questionable roughing the passer penalty extended the drive. Indiana State would make it into Purdue territory for the first time before stalling out and punting. Purdue’s ensuing drive would just be derailed by offensive penalties as 2 holding penalties negated a 27-yard completion to Edrine and a 34-yard completion to Klare. Throw in a false start penalty and Purdue was forced to punt for the first time. Transfer punter, Keelan Crimmins, gave it a boot and flipped the field with a 43-yard punt that bounced out of bounds with 1:46 remaining in the half.

The final drive for Indiana State again was aided by Purdue penalty as a facemask added 15 yards following a short run that would have made it 3rd and 7. A 20-yard scramble on a 0-man blitz brought the Sycamores all the way down to the Purdue 26 yard line and if not for an overthrown receiver, Indiana State would have scored a touchdown on the very next play. Instead, ISU ran the ball once more before attempting a 45-yard field goal that missed wide left. At halftime, Purdue was up 21-0, but it felt like there was plenty of meat left on the bone.

Second Half

The second half began with a nice kickoff return from RB Elijah Jackson, setting up Purdue at the ISU 34 yard line. Purdue would march right back down the field for a 9-play, 66 yard drive that ended with a 6-yard rushing touchdown for Reggie Love III on 4th and 1. Hudson Card was again 5-5 passing on this drive and had a 12-yard scramble to extend the drive on 3rd down.

The next Indiana State drive again saw a first down on the first play followed by three plays that could not get a first down. Will Heldt helped this with a quick inside step of the right tackle, followed by direct path to the ISU quarterback for a sack. On the punt, Dillon Thieneman would again return the ball, this time for 12 yards to midfield.

On the last drive of the day for the offensive starters, it took 4 plays to reach the end zone: a 6-yard rush and 7-yard rush from Reggie Love III (the second was brought back 10 yards on a hold downfield), a 16-yard pass to Leland Smith, and a 31-yard pass over the top to Smith who hauled in an acrobatic pass. All told, Hudson Card finished with a career day, passing for 273 yards, 4 touchdowns, and a 96% completion percentage.

The defense would keep on chugging as they forced a punt on a drive that ended in -2 total yard on 3 straight rushes. Following a short punt return (Dillon Thieneman’s last of the day), it was time for Ryan Browne to command the offense. The drive started well enough with a first down on a 5-yard Brown rush, but it sputtered when De’Nylon Morrissette was called for a late hit while blocking just after the whistle. The offense could not recover from the setback and saw Keelan Crimmins punt again, this time a booming kick that traveled nearly 60 yards in the air and bounced through the end zone for a touchback.

The beginning of the next ISU drive saw it’s longest pass of the day, a 15-yard catch the was initially called incomplete but reviewed and changed. This time, Indiana State was called for a hold that set the drive back on the first play of the fourth quarter. Now in to return the punt was WR Andrew Sowinski who fair-caught the ball at the Purdue 9-yardline.

The next Purdue drive would see the largest play of the game. Following a few completions from Ryan Browne and a 2-yard rush by Elijah Jackson, Jackson cut back on a second and 8 play, turned on the jets, and bolted for a 69-yard rushing touchdown. It was longest rushing play for Purdue since a man named Rondale Moore ran for 76 against Northwestern.

Similar to other drives, Indiana State ran the ball 3 times and punted on their next drive. At this point, almost no starters were in the game at all. The punt did see a 14-yard return from Sowinski this time and the following Purdue again was stalled by multiple holding penalties on big gain plays. Keelan Crimmins would punt for the third and final time down to the ISU 16 for 43 yards. Almost identically to the previous drive, ISU ran three times and punted, draining 2 and a half minutes off the clock. On this punt however, Leland Smith was able to rush to the punter and blocked it, causing the ball to be downed at the ISU 35. 5 plays later, Purdue was set up at the 4 yard line and it was Jaheim Merriweather that muscled his way into the endzone for a touchdown rush. This was the final score for Purdue with exactly 2 minutes to go in the game.

A nice ISU return on the ensuing kickoff gave a final sliver of hope for Indiana State to score but return man Rashad Rochelle was brought down at the ISU 33. ISU would run three more times to bleed out the remaining 1:49 and the game ended with a 49-0 Purdue victory, their largest since beating ISU 56-0 just a few seasons ago.

Stats

**Provided by PurdueStats.com**

Takeaways

This was a game that Purdue was expected to win big, so we have to temper our expectations. That said, there are both positives to build on and some negatives that need to be addressed:

CONS

• Penalties. Penalties kept this game from being a 70-point blowout; on both sides of the ball, too. ISU drives were extended and Purdue drives stalled due to the yellow flags. Need to clean that up first and foremost.
• 2-minute defense. This may be nitpicking but ISU’s 2-minute drill to end the first half got them comfortably in field goal range and was an overthrow away from a touchdown. The long scramble came on an all-out blitz, so it was more so a bad play matchup, but sending 6 guys should not result in a long QB run.
• No turnovers. The defense did not force any turnovers, though they had few opportunities for interceptions on just 10 passes. There were no fumbles to recover from either, so we will have to wait to see Purdue pounce.
• Fumble. Going hand in hand with the lack of takeaways, Purdue had the lone turnover of the day. It doesn’t affect the win and loss column, but against bigger and better teams, you’ve got to hold on to the ball.
• No Davila. Because Purdue stalled a few times in the first half, the starters needed to come in for the majority of the third quarter. This provided a log-jam that resulted in freshman Marcos Davila not being able to play. As potentially the future QB1 of Purdue, it would have been nice to see him in action.

PROS

• QB1. Hudson Card was excellent in this game. His only miss was a 45+ yard shot that missed by maybe a yard and his receiver may have lost track of it a little. 273 yards and 4 tds later, it was a perfect start for Card.
• WR depth. The WR room looked deep coming in and it looks even deeper now. The Purdue qb’s had targets on targets to throw to and guys like Jahmal Edrine and Jaron Tibbs look like studs.
• Defensive Line. Will Heldt and Jeffrey M’Ba in particular but the line was doing a nice job all day to limit a team that only threw the ball 10 times.
• P/K. Keelan Crimmins is the next Aussie punter for Purdue and he did well. He showed that he could boot the ball or chip it inside the 20. As for Spencer Porvath, his first game didn’t see him need to attempt a kick longer than 25 yards (1 extra point was moved back for a delay of game), but the freshman did well and drove everything down the middle.
• Newcomers. All 7 of Purdue’s touchdowns were the first for a player in a Boilermaker uniform. It’s showing that there is real talent coming in under Ryan Walters and looks positive for the future of the program.
• Injuries. There were no major injuries which is exactly what you want from these games.
• Ross Ade. Ross Ade Stadium was loud and proud on a gorgeous August afternoon. It felt electric and Ryan Walters summed it up best that fans came out for an FCS game following a 4-8 season. Keep it up Purdue fans!

We will see all of you in 2 weeks against Notre Dame. Boiler up!