During Saturday’s game, Northwestern wide receiver Jon Schweighardt rode an exercise bike on the sideline to stay warm in between plays.
On the field, Schweighardt and the Wildcats’ offense never found consistency and couldn’t move the ball much more than Schweighardt progressed on the stationary bike.
With the Cats’ offense failing to take advantage of Purdue’s early mistakes, coach Joe Tiller’s pass-happy Boilermakers (4-5, 2-3 Big Ten) rode running backs Brandon Jones and Joey Harris for more than 400 yards rushing and a 42-13 victory over NU (2-7, 0-4) Saturday at Ryan Field in front of a Homecoming crowd of 30,158.
“It was extremely frustrating, and I’m not going to spend much time analyzing it,” NU coach Randy Walker said. “There are two things you need to respond to: When you get a turnover you need to cash it in, and when things are going bad you need to … make some stops.
“We didn’t cash in and we didn’t respond very well.”
Purdue completely controlled both the tempo and pace of the game, holding the ball for more than 35 minutes and outgaining NU 551 yards to 268 yards.
After NU wide receiver Kunle Patrick threw an interception deep downfield on a reverse play on NU’s first possession, Purdue marched down the field to score and grab a lead it would hold through the final whistle.
But two fumbles by Purdue near midfield on consecutive possessions in the second quarter gave the Cats a chance to grab the momentum.
“Anytime we get turnovers we need to put some points on the board,” Schweighardt said. “That’s a big reason why we didn’t make it a game today. We weren’t capitalizing on those turnovers.”
After NU linebacker Doug Szymul forced a fumble that David Thompson recovered, the Cats’ offense responded with its first score since Oct. 10 at Minnesota — ending an 86-minute scoreless streak. Running back Jason Wright, who finished with 101 yards on 15 carries, scored on a 1-yard touchdown run.
On the next series, NU linebacker Vincent Cartaya fell on a fumbled snap, but the offense went three-and-out. The defense answered again, this time with a goal-line stand in the final minutes of the first half, but again the offense stalled near midfield.
“We had to punch it in when we got the second turnover,” NU quarterback Tony Stauss said. “That was the turning point of the game. We had to score there. I think it would have been a different outcome if we would have taken care of that series.”
The Cats didn’t score on that drive and never developed a rhythm under Stauss. They failed to get a first down in the third quarter and had only 12 first downs all game.
Walker said the team adapted the offense to Stauss last week, but Stauss admitted he’s still not a good fit.
“This week we tried to tailor it to my strengths as much as possible, but I don’t think that’s our offense’s strength — the drop-back game,” Stauss said. “Our offense is more predicated on a guy who’s fast. This offense came from Clemson and Woody Dantzler. I ain’t Woody Dantzler.”
Stauss completed 18 of 34 passes but finished with only 150 yards, 8.3 yards per completion and one interception.
Most of the passes were short flares in the flat: Patrick had four catches for three yards before a nine-yard reception in the fourth quarter, and one of Schweighardt’s catches went for zero yards.
“I would like to score and get more than four yards on a reception,” Schweighardt said. “A couple of times we had shots downfield but were unable to connect if it was underthrown or out of bounds.
“We got to keep the ball and put it in the endzone and not get the defense rushed on the field so fast. Our drives are so short. Sometimes we go three-and-out, and it’s killing our defense.”
Purdue’s rushing attack played a major role in NU’s defensive demise.
In the past six seasons under Tiller, the Boilermakers had never rushed for more than 280 yards in a game or carried the ball more than 56 times. On Saturday, Purdue rushed for more than 400 yards on 69 attempts as both Jones and Harris rushed for more than 100 yards.
“If we don’t stop the run they might as well keep running it,” Walker said. “We didn’t stop the run effectively, and they ran through us pretty well.”
The Boilermakers attempted only 10 passes, a record low during Tiller’s reign. Freshman Brandon Kirsch threw for 144 yards and two touchdowns. In his first career start, Kirsch was 3-for-3 on third-down passes in the first drive of the game and completed two passes for more than 35 yards.
But the rushing game was what killed NU’s defense.
“We knew they were going to try to establish a ground game coming in,” safety Mark Roush said. “We prepared for that, but we just couldn’t get our job done today.”
The defense couldn’t stop the run, and the offense never got on a run — forcing Schweighardt to ride the bike for warmth.
And the offense’s inability to move the ball up the field concerned Walker.
“It’s really frustrating because we did make plays and got a couple of turnovers, but we couldn’t capitalize,” Walker said. “I have no magic wand when it comes down to making plays, and we’re not making the plays we need to make.”
PURDUE 42
NU 13
