Indiana 66-0 Purdue (November 30, 2024) Game Recap

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana capped a historic regular season with a record-setting performance.

Now the 10th-ranked Hoosiers will have to wait to see if they will be in the College Football Playoff.

Kurtis Rourke threw two of his record-setting six touchdown passes to Elijah Sarratt, Justice Ellison and Ty Son Lawton each ran for scores and the Hoosiers beat rival Purdue 66-0 to reclaim the Old Oaken Bucket – and perhaps a spot on Saturday secure in the playoffs.

“It was a great season, these guys had a lot of success, the leadership was great and it was a great year for Indiana,” coach Curt Cignetti said. “We are not finished yet and we are not satisfied.”

When Cignetti was asked if Indiana had clinched a playoff spot, he added, “Yes, absolutely.”

No. 11 Indiana (11-1, 8-1 Big Ten) extended its school single-season winning record by handing Purdue its most lopsided loss in the 125-game series, breaking its previous mark of 52-7 from the Year 1988 exceeded. It was also Indiana’s largest home win in the series, surpassing the 37-0 victory of 1917 and marking the largest league victory in school history.

The only blemish: Indiana was eliminated from the Big Ten championship game when No. 4 Penn State beat Maryland 44-7 earlier in the day.

But that didn’t dampen the celebration of the team with the most losses in FBS competition (714).

“It was a pretty dominant win,” Cignetti said. “I thought we played really well on defense and missed some opportunities on offense, but it’s a rivalry game.”

Purdue (1-11, 0-9) ended the season with another ugly chapter.

The Boilermakers lost their last 11 games, suffered three shutouts and six losses by 35 points or more, including Saturday’s – the most lopsided loss in Purdue history, surpassing the 66-7 mark set earlier this season.

Purdue went winless in league play for the fourth time since 1946, failed to defeat an FBS opponent for the second time in the modern era of college football, and was shut out by Indiana for the first time since 1945.

The cold, snowy conditions that forced field crew members to use leaf blowers to clear markers and yard lines in the first half only made this loss worse.

“It was the worst offensive performance I’ve ever seen,” embattled Purdue coach Ryan Walters said. “We couldn’t do anything. I didn’t see that coming. I thought we had a good week of training, but when we play against top 10 teams we’ll see how far we have to go.”

Ellison’s 2-yard run midway through the first quarter gave Indiana the lead. The Hoosiers made it 28-0 with three points in the second quarter – a 14-yard pass from Rourke to Ke’Shawn Williams, an 84-yard TD pass from Rourke to Elijah Sarratt and Lawton’s 4-yard run .

The Boilermakers never recovered.

Rourke was 23 of 31 for 349 yards, becoming the third Indiana player with six TD passes in a game. Sarratt caught eight passes for 165 yards as Indiana outgained Purdue 582-67 total yards.

Boilermakers quarterback Hudson Card was 6 of 13 for 35 yards and an interception. He was not used in the second half.

Takeaways

Purdue: The Boilermakers added another sad reminder to perhaps the worst season in school history: the giving away of the old oak bucket. Now the questions begin. What went wrong? What can be fixed? Will coach Ryan Walters return for his third season?

Indiana: The Hoosiers bounced back from their first loss with another good performance. Indiana has fixed the blocking errors that had plagued it the past two weeks, and even though the Hoosiers narrowly fell short of playing for a Big Ten title, they still hope to be in the expanded playoff field.

Impact on the survey

The madness of rivalry week could push Indiana up a few spots, although they’re more interested in seeing where the playoff selection committee ranks the Hoosiers.

Next

Purdue: Winter Training and Spring Training.

Indiana: Waiting to hear his next opponent and word from the CFP committee.

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