WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – In the first half of Northwestern’s 34-29 win at Purdue on Saturday, the Wildcats offense was a runaway locomotive, speeding up and down Ross-Ade Stadium’s tracks.

Senior quarterback Brett Basanez completed 22 of 29 passes for 283 yards and three touchdowns.

Then it almost came to a screeching halt – somewhat because of poor field position, but mostly due to a wealth of dropped passes.

NU players dropped six passes and missed several other catchable balls, sending the Cats into a scoring drought for nearly 30 minutes of play, spanning from the second quarter to late in the fourth. This allowed Purdue to take a 29-28 lead before NU retook the lead and ultimately won.

“(We) basically took ourselves out of drives,” Walker said. “We have to execute, and we just hit a lull there in the third quarter. And I can’t explain it, but it didn’t look like us for a while.”

These drops led to three consecutive three-and-outs in the third quarter, and the Cats’ opening possession in the second half ended with just one first down.

But on their 75-yard, game-winning drive, the Cats overcame these mental errors and amassed 65 of their yards through the air.

“We had to get back to the basics,” Basanez said. “Catch it first, and then make plays. And that’s what we did.”

Dirtbags

An angry Purdue quarterback Brandon Kirsch kicked the ground in frustration in the first half – and sent a piece of the Ross-Ade Stadium turf flying into the middle of the field.

It was that kind of day for Kirsch, who struggled through Purdue’s third-straight home loss. But it also was that kind of day for the grass in Purdue’s home stadium.

“It was like a battlefield out there,” Walker said of the turf, which the players left tattered and torn – and which Walker said caused him to make a gutsy call with the game on the line.

Trailing 29-28, and with the Cats at fourth-and-goal with less than a yard to go, it seemed as though junior kicker Joel Howells would come in to kick the go-ahead field goal. But with Howells having missed a field goal and Purdue kicker Ben Jones having missed an extra point, Walker elected to give the ball to freshman running back Tyrell Sutton, who punched the ball in for the game-winner.

“We just couldn’t get a good spot out there to kick,” Walker said. “There was a pretty good chance the ball was going to be stuck in a divot or a clod of soil.”

First-timers

The Cats’ first-half explosion featured a few unfamiliar faces.

True freshman wide receiver Eric Peterman, recruited to NU as a quarterback, caught his first-career touchdown pass in the first quarter Saturday. His 67-yard grab put the Cats up 7-0. Prior to Saturday Peterman had six catches for 45 yards and averaged 7.5 yards per catch.

Two of the Cats’ next three touchdowns also were from first-timers. Sophomore fullback Frayne Abernathy caught a five-yard touchdown pass. The catch was Abernathy’s third of the season.

Sophomore running back Brandon Roberson also made his first trip to the endzone when he caught an 11-yarder.

Inches to go

The win was Walker’s first as a coach at Ross-Ade Stadium and his second in a row against Purdue, after winning 13-10 at Ryan Field last season – The game also marked the second straight time Purdue coach Joe Tiller removed his quarterback mid-game. Last season Kyle Orton was replaced by Brandon Kirsch; this year Kirsch was replaced by Curtis Painter. – Marred by back spasms and poor snaps, sophomore center Austin Matthews was replaced by redshirt freshman Joel Belding. Basanez said he was impressed by Belding’s snaps.

Reach Patrick Dorsey at [email protected].