After their dramatic win in Week-7 at home against then No. 2 Ohio State the Ducks had to travel over 2,200 miles on a short week—about a 10+ hour flight with layovers—to take on Purdue at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana this past Friday. In spite of the travel and fewer days to prepare they dominated the Boilermakers to the tune of 35-0. According to multiple sources it was their first road shutout win since 1992, although they certainly didn’t have to travel quite as far since it’s only about 50 miles to Corvallis—yeah, it was what they use to refer to as the Civil War game against Oregon State.
It started off ugly for the Boilermakers and stayed that way. Their first half consisted of three punts, a missed field goal and a fumble. Meanwhile Oregon took a 21-0 lead into the half on back-to-back-to-back TD’s. Purdue had a chance in the last two minutes of the 2nd Qtr on a Dillon Gabriel interception but fumbled the ball back to the Ducks three plays later. The third TD of the half was probably especially disappointing since Purdue’s Junior Punter Keelan Crimmins punted Oregon all the way down to their own one yard line. But one 10 yard Jordan James run and five completed passes without a miss from Oregon’s Senior QB Dillon Gabriel for 89 yards—the last for 12 yards and a TD to Senior WR Tez Johnson—had the Ducks out in front by three TD’s just three minutes into the 2nd Qtr.
Purdue got the ball first to start the 3rd Qtr but had to punt it away after a 5+ minute, 9 play drive that only gained 37 yards. Oregon would try a 50 yard field goal on 4th and 2 from the Purdue 33 but would miss. Purdue’s next possession was similar to their first of the half, just one minute and a couple of plays less for only 26 yards this time. Oregon didn’t fiddle around this time scoring on back-to-back TD’s again with a Purdue three-and-out in between to go up 35-0 half-way through the 4th Qtr. Purdue would have to turn the ball back over to the Ducks after Freshman QB Ryan Browne’s pass fell incomplete on a 4th and 7 at the Oregon 23. After committing a personal foul penalty on their next possession the Ducks would end up kicking it back to the Boilermakers with a little over three minutes left in the game. But sitting 1st and 10 at the Oregon 30 Browne would have his last ditch effort to get some points on the board intercepted with only time left for Oregon to take a knee.
Despite the fact that he threw one interception in the first half that Purdue fumbled back to the Ducks, Oregon’s Senior QB Dillon Gabriel connected on well over 80 percent of his pass attempts for 290 yards spread out multiple times to five different receivers and 2 TD’s, one each to Senior WR Tez Johnson and Junior RB Noah Whittington. On the ground, Junior RB’s Jordan James and Jay Harris, Whittington, and Sophomore RB Jayden Limar collectively rushed for 29 of Oregon’s 34 attempts for 144 yards and 3 TD’s—two for James and one to Harris.
You might remember from the Ohio State game the week before that James rushed 23 times for 115 yards and 1 TD in that one prompting his head coach to say; “Jordan runs like he’s pissed off all the time . . . but he’d be the first one to tell you [he benefited] from the schematic advantages that Coach Stein [and] the offensive staff created [and] the blocking that coach Terry’s crew did with the O line . . . and Jordan was a beast, and I’m really proud of him.” I’m sure he’s proud of his coach as well because it was Lanning’s attention to detail at the end of the prior week’s game that helped ensure the victory.
For Purdue, Freshman QB Ryan Browne had a rough night of it while connecting on less than 50% of his passes for just 93 yards and 1 interception as the Ducks sacked him three times and recorded 10 tackles for loss as well as 2 pass disruptions. Browne, Senior RB Reggie Love III, and Junior RB Devin Mockobee combined for all but five of the Boilermaker’s 40 rushing attempts for 187 of their 208 total yards on the ground. Oregon goes back to Autzen Stadium where they’ll host No. 22 Illinois on Saturday before they pack their bags again and head to the Big House to face a much much stiffer challenger on the road against a No. 24 Michigan team that will be desperate for the win as will their 100,000+ fans who have sold out that stadium every home game for the last 49 years! You’ll want to watch that one.