Football Results: Sept. 7
PURDUE 42, VANDERBILT 24
It wasn’t as theatrical as the Ohio State upset last fall, but Purdue celebrated Tyler Trent with another win.
Purdue commemorated the new Tyler Trent Memorial Gate at the student entrance, and with his spirit all over the stadium, ran past Vanderbilt 42-24 Saturday at Ross-Ade Stadium.
Purdue senior quarterback Elijah Sindelar and speedy sophomore Rondale Moore are developing into a powerful duo.
Sindelar passed for 509 yards and five touchdowns and ran for another score for the Boilermakers. Moore caught 13 passes for 220 yards, both career highs.
“I’m just going out there and doing my job,” Moore said. “Whether that’s getting someone else open or me being the first read on the play.”
The Boilermakers (1-1) scored quickly after taking the second-half kickoff to take a 21-10 edge. Jared Sparks hauled in a wide-open 50-yard TD pass from Sindelar as one Vanderbilt defender fell down on the coverage. It was junior Sparks’ first TD and the longest catch of his career.
Sindelar’s 20-yard TD pass to, pushed the lead to 28-10. The play was set up after a 15-yard penalty for helmet targeting by Vanderbilt cornerback Randall Haynie, who was disqualified.
Vanderbilt (0-2) closed the deficit to 28-16 on Riley Neal’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Cam Johnson early in the fourth quarter.
After blowing a 17-point third quarter lead in a 34-31 loss at Nevada in the season opener, the Boilermakers were able to maintain a lead. Purdue committed one turnover compared to five in its opener. One concern is the Boilermakers managed just 31 yards on 18 carries. Purdue had just seven yards on nine carries until the final play of third quarter.
“I thought that was a really, good, hard-fought game for us to play,” said Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm. “We battled to the end, that was a good team we just played. We had lapses that we have to get fixed. A lot of yards in the passing game, Rondale, Brycen, Elijah throwing it. You have to feel better about yourself when you throw the ball that well against an SEC school.
“We’ve got to get better, we know that, we just have to keep working hard each week to get ourselves in the position to win.”
BALL STATE 57, FORDHAM 29
Drew Pitt passed for 439 yards and a school-record-tying six touchdowns and Ball State won its 10th straight home opener with a 57-29 victory over Fordham on Saturday.
Pitt’s passing yardage is the fourth highest in team history and the 57 points is the Cardinals’ fourth highest total all-time. The Cardinals scored a team-record 66 points in a 1977 win over Cal Poly Pomona. Pitt’s six TD passes matched the mark set by Keith Wenning in 2013 in a win over Miami (Ohio).
Fordham (0-2) jumped out to a 7-0 first-quarter lead on Zach Davis’ 2-yard run. Pitt answered for Ball State (1-1), connecting with Justin Hall on a 50-yard scoring strike to knot the score at 7. The Rams reclaimed the lead when Tim DeMorat hooked up with Jack Lynch for a 5-yard score, but Walter Fletcher’s 10-yard TD run with 57 seconds left in the first quarter tied the game at 14-all.
Pitt, who completed 32 of 40 passes in the game, tossed two TD passes in the second quarter — a 3-yarder to Cody Rudy and a 40-yard scoring strike to Antwan Davis — for a 28-14 halftime lead.
Ball State used a safety, Pitt’s 3-yard TD toss to Riley Miller and a 16-yard TD run by Caleb Huntley to forge a 43-14 lead. Pitt and Miller teamed up for a 28-yard scoring strike in the third quarter and Pitt capped his performance with a 4-yard scoring strike to Antwan Davis early in the fourth quarter. Miller finished with six catches for 116 yards and Davis snagged five passes for 86 yards.
DeMorat, the reigning Patriot Football League offensive player of the week, completed 20 of 35 passes for 221 yards with one TD and two interceptions. Zach Davis carried 19 times for 85 yards for the Rams, while Trey Sneed had two short TD runs.
Warsaw graduate and Fordham junior Andrew Mevis returned to Indiana and was 3-3 on extra point attempts for Fordham, but missed his only field goal attempt from 47 yards out. Mevis had six punts for 270 yards, his longest traveling 57 yards.
INDIANA 52, EASTERN ILLINOIS 0
Tom Allen saw the level of command he was looking for during Indiana’s 52-0 shutout of Eastern Illinois on Saturday.
“Took care of business like we were supposed to,” the Hoosier head coach said. “That was our challenge, to play to our standard. And whatever happens, make sure we’re getting better from the week before.”
Even in a season-opening win over Ball State a week ago, Allen noticed too many breakdowns and missed opportunities.
Week 2 was different.
All it took was one quarter for the Hoosiers (2-0) to put it away. They dominated on defense and took an early lead with touchdowns on their first three possessions.
“I thought (we) were able to run the football better, tackle better, execution was solid on both sides of the ball, especially on defense,” Allen said. “(The defense) didn’t really give them a lot of room to work, put a lot of pressure on them and kind of suffocated them there. That’s a positive thing.”
Backup quarterback Peyton Ramsey was 13 of 14 for 226 yards and two touchdowns, and starter Michael Penix Jr. was 14 of 20 with 197 yards and two touchdowns before taking a seat late in the second quarter.
“This was a great game, just watching the offense execute,” Penix said. “We don’t take anyone lightly. We’re always coming out pushing extremely hard.”
Penix first connected with Miles Marshall on a 10-yard touchdown pass on Indiana’s opening drive. Stevie Scott III scored on a 5-yard run and Cole Gest from three yards out to put the Hoosiers ahead 21-0 with 1:34 to go in the first quarter.
The Panthers (0-2) didn’t have any answers.
Indiana defensive end Alfred Bryant made tackles for a loss on both of Eastern Illinois’ first two plays of the game. Then tackle Demarcus Elliot sacked quarterback John Brantley. The Panthers went 3-and-out all three drives in the first quarter.
Brantley finished 8 of 17 for 49 yards. Eastern Illinois had only 116 total yards of offense. Indiana finished with 555 total yards.
WARSAW JV 39, PLYMOUTH 8
Warsaw stays undefeated at 3-0 with the win. Stats for the game were not provided.
NORTHRIDGE JV 34, WAWASEE 0
Northridge rolled to the win in Syracuse Saturday morning. Stats for the game were not provided.
CONCORD JV 17, NORTHWOOD 16
Hunter Dutton kicked a 20-yard field goal with six seconds remaining to keep Concord undefeated at 3-0.