Jeremy Larkin ran for a career-high 143 yards and scored two touchdowns in his first game as Northwestern’s feature back.

Purdue running back Tario Fuller works in the open field.

Northwestern won its ninth straight overall and ninth straight in Big Ten play — matching the school’s longest streak since the 1995 Rose Bowl season. The Wildcats still have the longest active streak among Power Five teams, too.

Purdue’s three-game winning streak ended with its third opening-day loss in four years.

This one spoiled a record-breaking night for freshman receiver Rondale Moore, who had 313 all-purpose yards to break Otis Armstrong’s school record of 312 in 1972. Moore had 302 yards including a 32-yard TD catch and a 76-yard run for Purdue in the first half of his college debut.

The Wildcats started fast and closed it out with a first down on a personal foul call against Lorenzo Neal with 2:31 left and the Boilermakers out of timeouts.

“We had some penalties in the second half that hurt us, and you can’t have the little things like that in games like these,” said Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm. “We have to clean those up quickly. We can’t be inefficient like that on offense, and we can’t have silly turnovers like we did.”

Purdue linebacker Cornel Jones focuses on Northwestern quarterback TJ Green.

Larkin spent last season backing up Justin Jackson, the school’s career rushing leader, but proved he could be a workhorse. Larkin carried 26 times and produced his second career 100-yard game.

The game also marked the return of Thorson, just about nine months after he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

It was a wild first half.

Northwestern took a 14-0 lead with a 1-yard TD run from Larkin and a 2-yard run from John Moten IV on its first two possessions. And after breaking a 14-14 tie with Charlie Kuhbander’s 34-yard field goal, it converted two of Elijah Sindelar’s three interceptions into scores.

Quarterback TJ Green capped the first one with 1-yard TD plunge and Larkin scored on a 4-yard run with 37 seconds left in the half to give Northwestern a 31-17 lead.

But after D.J. Knox broke off a 45-yard run on Purdue’s first play of the third quarter, things slowed. Knox capped the drive with a 2-yard TD run, and Spencer Evans made a 27-yard field goal to make it 31-27 just 4 seconds into the fourth quarter to close out the scoring.