Purdue Boilermakers vs Illinois Fighting Illini: Fourth Quarter Highlights

A solid third quarter of play by the Purdue Boilermakers gave them a 31-27 lead heading into the fourth quarter. 15 minutes left before the Boilermakers could claim their first Big Ten victory in almost two years, and coach Darrell Hazell’s first Big Ten victory of his career.

Here are the highlights from the fourth quarter:

• Keyante Green‘s 53-yard run setup the Boilermakers on the Illinois 13. A short 9-yard pass by Austin Appleby to Gabe Holmes got the Boilers to the 1-yard line and Appleby ran it in for his second rushing touchdown of the day. Purdue had scored on five of their last six drives.
• Illinois’ drive stalled after the Appleby touchdown and they attempted to cut the lead to eight with a field goal, but Purdue’s Ryan Watson got his hand up and blocked the kick. Purdue recovered the ball on their own 22 yard line.
• With less than four minutes to go in the game the Illini were on the Purdue 5-yard line, but looking at 4th and goal. They had lost starting quarterback Wes Lunt on the previous drive, so they turned to Reilly O’Toole to bring them back. He ended up being sacked on fourth down by Jalani Phillips, turning the ball back over to the Boilermakers with 3:33 left.
• The Fighting Illini stopped the Boilermakers to give themselves one last chance to cut the lead to three or four, but O’Toole threw an interception in the endzone. It was Landon Feichter who picked it off for the Boilermakers, sealing the victory for the team.

It was a pretty lackluster quarter, at least compared to the first three. Purdue scored a touchdown and was able to keep the Illini out of the endzone and uprights. The Boilermakers pulled out a 38-27 victory, their first Big Ten win since Week 12 of the 2012 season when they defeated the Indiana Hoosiers. This was also head coach Darrell Hazell’s first Big Ten victory of his career.

Purdue Game Stats

• Austin Appleby – 15/20, 202 yards, 1 touchdown and zero interceptions. 7 carries for 76 yards and two touchdowns.
• Akeem Hunt – 30 carries for 177 yards and a touchdown.
• Keyante Green – 3 carries for 51 yards.
• Raheem Mostert – 3 carries for 48 yards and a touchdown.
• Danny Anthrop – 3 catches for 99 yards and a touchdown.
• Defense gave up 515 yards – 414 passing and 65 rushing. They also recorded an interception (Landon Feichter) and a fumble recovery (Jimmy Herman).