Purdue Football: Barkley, Lions Run Wild On Boilers
WEST LAFAYETTE – Penn State running back Saquon Barkley had a career day against Purdue, rushing for 207 yards, including an 81-yard touchdown run as No. 24 Penn State ran away in the second half of a 62-24 at Ross-Ade Stadium.
The game was knotted at 17-all heading into halftime, but the Nittany Lions found another gear as Purdue’s wheels fell completely off.
Brandon Smith intercepted Purdue quarterback David Blough and returned the ball to the Purdue 24 on the first possession of the second half. It took the Nittany Lions just 1:18 to get the ball into the endzone, capped on a one-yard pass from Trace McSorley to Chris Godwin.
Purdue then had Bilal Marshall fumble on a punt, recovered by State’s Jordan Smith at the Purdue 24. The visitors needed just two plays and 24 seconds to get the ball in again, Barkley going 20 yards on the first carry, and Andre Robinson running the second play in from four yards. At 31-17 Penn State, the game had all but slipped away from the Boilermakers.
Penn State (6-2, 4-1 Big Ten) added a 29-yard Tyler Davis field goal and a 21-yard pass from McSorley to Miles Sanders that sandwiched a Purdue 62-yard bomb from Blough to DeAngelo Yancey for a score.
Barkley’s 81-yard touchdown scamper was the only play of their opening fourth quarter drive. The sophomore’s career-high rushing day came on 18 carries, the 81-yarder the longest Penn State scoring run since 2001 when Larry Johnson ran one from the same distance.
McSorley finished his productive day 12-23 for 228 yards and three touchdowns, his other touchdown a 38-yarder to Godwin in the second quarter. Godwin finished with five catches for 58 yards, Barkley another 70 yards on three catches.
Purdue looked like a spoiler of Penn State’s high from last week’s upset of then-No. 2 Ohio State, taking a 14-7 lead in the second quarter after Cameron Posey took a one-yard toss from Blough for a score. Purdue’s Cole Herdman got inside the one on the play before on a great screen pass.
The Boilermakers (3-5, 1-4) tied the score at seven when they went 77 yards on 10 plays aided by a three Penn State penalties and capped by a Markell Jones one-yard scamper.
Blough finished his day 34-50 for 281 yards. Yancey led the Boilers with 66 yards on two catches and Jones led the ground attack with seven carries for 46 yards.
“We came out and had great energy and things were going well, but we came out after the half and the second half is on me,” said Purdue interim head coach Gerad Parker. “We turned it over four times in the second half, and we didn’t execute. The first thing we have to do is take care of the football, and we didn’t do that in the second half.”
Penn State keeps pace in the Big Ten East race with its win, but are a game back of Michigan, which beat Michigan State, 32-23, to move to 5-0, the Lions at 4-1 with its lone conference loss to the Wolverines. Penn State hosts Iowa next week. Purdue will visit Minnesota next Saturday.