With just under five minutes left to play, Purdue looked for any chance to avoid the least desirable offense outcome: a donut on the scoreboard against Northwestern.
From just short of midfield, Boilermaker (2-5, 0-4 Big Ten) backup quarterback Malachi Singleton looked to pass but was met with redshirt junior defensive lineman Anto Saka, who forced the ball to pop into the air, and redshirt junior defensive lineman Brendan Flakes recovered it.
Flakes’ fumble recovery was the Wildcats’ (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten) third takeaway of the fourth quarter, as the defense came up with another crucial stop on the visitors’ final attack to secure a 19-0 shutout victory, NU’s first since 2017.
“The takeaways were huge,” coach David Braun said postgame. “That’s something I think we’re starting to really find our identity on defense of what it looks like to close out a game.”
Purdue had no answer for the NU defense throughout the entirety of Saturday’s skirmish. The Boilermakers posted a season-low 305 total yards of offense and only gained 57 yards in the first half.
Entering Saturday, the visitors averaged 26.5 points per game, highlighted by a 30-point performance against then-No.21 Notre Dame and a 27-point performance against then-No.22 Illinois. In all seven of their games this season, the ’Cats have held their opponent to fewer points than their average.
NU forced five punts, three turnovers on downs and three takeaways on the visitors’ 11 drives.
Following the victory, Braun sang the praises of his defensive coordinator Tim McGarigle, saying that he has learned a lot of defensive football from him and that nobody will out-prepare him.
“Where I think Tim has really taken it to another level is finding the balance between the perfect plan and the plan that is most executable from our defensive players,” Braun said. “… And I think you’re starting to really see that perfect balance between Coach McGarigle and the rest of that staff and our players.”
That perfect balance proved especially important as the Boilermakers made several attempts in the fourth quarter to squander NU’s shutout bid.
The first necessary stop came just minutes into the final quarter.
On third down from his own territory, Singleton connected with Purdue receiver Corey Smith for a 48-yard gain, setting up Purdue with good field position, but redshirt junior defensive back Braden Turner forced a fumble. Fellow redshirt junior defensive back Robert Fitzgerald recovered.
“We’ve got to clean some things up on the communication, but ultimately, you can solve a lot of issues with just incredible effort,” Braun said. “That was a special play by Braden Turner.”
The ’Cats did it again minutes later, when graduate student linebacker Mac Uihlein grabbed his third interception of the season. Uihlein added onto his day with seven total tackles and two tackles for loss.
Braun credited Uihlein’s growth in coverage this season to attacking the football when he does have vision on the quarterback and vision on the ball.
Purdue had another chance to put points on the board on its subsequent drive, but Saka and Flakes combined for the final turnover of the contest.
Flakes put on a show in NU’s win, collecting a career-high seven total tackles, .5 tackles for loss, two quarterback hurries and the fumble recovery. However, because of the nature of the play and the initial decision to rule it as an interception, Flakes said he won’t remember it as a fumble recovery.
“They say it’s a fumble, but ultimately, in the Flakes household, it will be an interception,” he said.
The defensive line as a whole was dominant on Saturday, as the ’Cats recorded 11 quarterback hurries, two sacks and five tackles for loss. After the game, Flakes called NU’s defensive line an “everybody eats D-Line” and said it felt like they were “in the backyard balling.”
Braun said Flakes’ consistency and level of production are exciting after he has shown flashes over the last couple of years.
“There’s a level of confidence growing within Flakes right now that we need to continue to build off of,” Braun said. “… He’s someone that has done a great job of growing up over the course of the last six months of really challenging himself on a daily basis, and that needs to continue because the production we’re seeing right now is pretty fun to see.”
When the defense needed one more stop on fourth down right outside the red zone, it got it after forcing an incompletion and a turnover on downs.
Redshirt junior linebacker Braydon Brus said there is a lot of pride in getting a shutout, especially against a Big Ten opponent.
“All that takes is just executing and doing your job,” Brus said. “I think a shutout shows that that’s what we did. We were all on the same page. We executed. We did our jobs.”
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