Purdue Boilermakers vs Nebraska Cornhuskers Box Score on Oct 22, 2016

The Sports Xchange
Oct 22, 2016

Trailing at halftime, Nebraska stiffened on defense and the offense did just enough in the second half as the No. 8 Cornhuskers remained perfect with a 27-14 win over Purdue on Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb.

Tommy Armstrong hit De'Mornay Pierson-El on a 40-yard slant route that went for a touchdown early in the third period to put the Cornhuskers up 17-14 and energize the Nebraska faithful.

Up until that time, Purdue quarterback David Blough was carving up the Cornhuskers' defense in interim coach Gerad Parker's first game since taking over for Darrell Hazell, who was fired on Sunday.

Nebraska (7-0, 4-0 in the Big Ten) avenged a 55-45 loss last year in a game that featured Nebraska's third-string quarterback as Armstrong was injured.

Armstrong completed 17 of 31 pass passes for 252 yards and a touchdown. But the senior signal caller was outplayed in the first half by his sophomore counterpart from Purdue.

Blough's final numbers (25-for-42, 309 yards and two touchdowns) don't indicate how close Purdue (3-4, 1-3) was to pulling off the upset.

Blough completed 16 of 20 first-half passes for 231 yards and two touchdowns as the Boilermakers took a 14-10 halftime lead and had Nebraska on its heels for the majority of the half.

Under Parker, who had six days to game-plan after taking over for Hazell, the Boilermakers were bold and showed they wouldn't back down from the outset.

Unfortunately, execution doomed Purdue.

And it didn't take long -- only 16 seconds -- for the Cornhuskers to draw first blood as Nebraska capitalized on the only major error Purdue made in the first half.

The Boilermakers reached into their bag of tricks on their first offensive play of the game with a halfback option that was intercepted by Kieron Williams at the Purdue 22-yard line.

On their first play, the Cornhuskers made the Boilermakers pay for the mistake when Armstrong ran to the end zone from 22 yards to put Nebraska in the lead at the 14:44 mark.

Blough, Parker and the Boilermakers' defense were undaunted. Blough implemented Parker's game plan to perfection in the first half and the defense, which was ranked near the bottom in many categories in the FBS, simply outplayed the Cornhuskers' offense.

Bough marched Purdue down the field after the first-play gaffe. He picked apart the Nebraska defense, completing 4 of 5 passes and on fourth down, threw a one-yard scoring dart to DeAngelo Yancey to tie the game at 7.

Drew Brown's 30-yard field goal put the Cornhuskers back on top at 10-7, and it looked like Nebraska was on the verge of taking control after Caleb Lightbourn's punt backed up the Boilermakers inside their own 10-yard line.

But Blough had other thoughts and hit Yancey cutting across the middle for an 88-yard touchdown play, putting Purdue up 14-10.

Armstrong completed only 8 of 18 first-half passes for only 94 yards.

NOTES: It took Nebraska all of 16 seconds to score a touchdown. That was the quickest since a game in 1999 against Colorado, when the Cornhuskers scored in 15 seconds. ... Purdue was without its best defensive lineman, senior tackle Jake Replogle. Replogle didn't make the trip to Lincoln because of what former coach Darrell Hazell called headaches. ... The announced attendance at Memorial Stadium, 90,546, was the 352nd consecutive sellout in Lincoln. ... Nebraska ran the ball only 12 times in the first half, and five of those runs were by quarterback Tommy Armstrong. ... Entering the game, Purdue ranked 124th against the run and was at the bottom of FBS teams in allowing third-down conversions at 52 percent. ... Nebraska was without tight end Cethan Carter (elbow) and wide receiver Jordan Westerkamp. ... In honor of Nebraska punter Sam Foltz, Purdue presented an all-black uniform to the Cornhuskers before the game. The No. 27 Boilermaker jersey was seen on the Nebraska sideline, next to Foltz's old Nebraska jersey. Foltz was killed in a car crash in Wisconsin before the season started.