Former Gopher, Fame Ijeboi rushed for 195 yards and three touchdowns to mog Minnesota as Purdue cruised to a 41-13 win. A game that was controlled by the Boilermakers early and they never relinquished.
PJ Fleck has been proud of his team’s ability to play complementary football. All three phases playing well and coming away with wins because of it. But in this game, Purdue not only was the better offense, defense and special teams, but they had the better quarterback, they made fewer critical mistakes
and they were the better coaching staff with a strong game plan keeping Minnesota off-balance for all four quarters.
Coming into Saturday night’s game in West Lafayette, the Purdue Boilermakers were the worst rushing offense in the Big Ten, while the Gophers were the fourth-best rushing defense. The assumption was that Purdue was going to have to win this game on the arm of Ryan Browne. But Ijeboi had a career night against his former team. Clearly a talented running back, but the frustration on the part of Minnesota was that the defense looked lost and utterly incapable of stopping the counters that created massive holes for Ijeboi. Adjustments were not made and Ijeboi put his name into ring for Big Ten Player of the Week consideration.
Offensively, Minnesota struggled to find anything open on the ground or through the air. While Purdue ran the ball for 299 yards, Minnesota ran for 25. Through the air, was Drake Lindsey making poor decisions, stuck on his first read and mixing in some inconsistent throws? Yes. Was his job made significantly more difficult by playcalling that was playing right into the hands of what Purdue was doing defensively? Also, yes.
Even with a frustrating night from the opening kick, Minnesota still had opportunities.
Down 20-3, late in the second quarter, Lindsey was moving the Gopher offense into Boilermaker territory. Getting a score before the half would have given them an opportunity to double up, as they would receive the opening kickoff of the third quarter. But the Gophers didn’t score at the end of the second and they didn’t score to start the third. Instead, Purdue converted their first possession of the third quarter into a touchdown and held a 27-3 lead.
And yet, they still had opportunities. Minnesota kicked a field goal, got a stop and then Lindsey found Jalen Smith for a 42-yard touchdown. With 10 straight points, the score was 27-13, with plenty of time remaining. But a critical offside penalty on Anthony Smith and two plays later, a pass interference call on Ayden West that set up Purdue for a touchdown that put the game out of reach.
This was a tough game for Minnesota and incredibly frustrating to see the lack of adjustments and Purdue absolutely control this game for all 60 minutes.
Up next, Minnesota gets to sit with this game through the bye week before seeing Iowa in two weeks.
