WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.-All things considered, Northwestern had Purdue right where they wanted them.
The Wildcats, losers of nine straight games, 20.5-point underdogs and starting a walkon, fourth-string quarterback, had the ball on a fourth-and-4 at the Purdue 43-yard line, trailing by one score with 1:33 to go. That fourth-string QB, Cole Freeman, had just converted one fourth down just three plays before.
Alas, Freeman couldn’t convert this one. He dropped back to pass and was sacked for a five-yard loss by Jack Sullivan as Northwestern lost its 10th straight game, 17-9, to Purdue.
The Wildcats’ defense, which had come up with critical stops throughout the cold and wind-swept Ross-Ade Stadium, got the ball back one for its offense one last time, with 22 seconds left, but time ran out on Northwestern.
Soon, the season will run out of them as well. For a team that hasn’t won a game since Aug. 26, maybe that’s a good thing.
Freeman finished 9-of-20 passing for 78 yards and one interception, and added 18 yards on the ground. Head coach Pat Fitzgerald called his performance gritty. The first-time starter also fumbled the ball twice, losing one. Evan Hull finished with 105 yards and the lone touchdown for the Wildcats, who mustered just 240 yards of total offense.
While Freeman’s numbers won’t impress anyone, Purdue’s Aidan O’Connell, the No. 1 passer in the Big Ten, was off his game, too. He finished 16-of-25 for 159 yards and two touchdowns, as the Boilers were held under 300 yards.
Temperatures in the 20s and a strong wind certainly impacted both offenses.
Purdue didn’t look very much like itself early, running the ball early and often against a defense ranked 118th in the nation in rushing yards allowed. The normally pass-happy Boilermakers had O’Connell hand the ball off on 16 of their 21 plays in the first quarter.
The Boilers efficiently drove to the NU 33-yard line on its first possession, but Jeremiah Lewis made an outstanding one-on-one tackle of TJ Sheridan on a swing pass short of the marker on fourth down to give the Cats the ball.
The Boilers cashed in on their second drive, however, when O’Connell went 4-for-4 through the air, the last one a 15-yard touchdown pass to Charlie Jones with 1:48 to go in the first quarter.
Northwestern pieced together a 13-play drive for its first score, getting a 19-yard run by Hull and a 17-yard pass from Freeman to Marshall Lang, as well as a first down courtesy of a Purdue offsides penalty. The Cats got down to the Purdue 5, but couldn’t punch it in and had to settle for a 23-yard Adam Stage field goal.
Then O’Connell started cranking it up, throwing 17 yards to Kobe Lewis, 27 to Payne Durham and 13 to Merhsawn Rice. Once the Boilers got near the red zone, they went back to the ground and called six straight runs before O’Connell hit Durham for a three-yard touchdown to make it 14-3 at the half.
Freeman made his first big mistake on the first drive of the third quarter, when he threw an interception directly at Purdue’s Jalen Graham, who returned it 49 yards for a touchdown – or so it seemed. Graham started high-stepping on his way to the end zone and was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for taunting that took the score off the board and gave Purdue the ball at the spot of the foul, the 35-yard line.
That turned out to be a seven-point flag because Purdue gained just five yards on three plays and Mitchell Fineran’s 47-yard field goal attempt was short.
On the next drive, Freeman coughed it up on a fumble to again set Purdue up in Northwestern territory. But the Wildcat defense got another fourth-down stop to turn the Boilers away from a potential score.
After Freeman's second straight turnover, Northwestern went with Cam Porter as the Wildcat QB on its next drive, but went three-and-out and punted. Freeman came back out and fumbled again on the next possession, but luckily it was recovered by Ethan Wiederkehr.
Northwestern got a big play late in the third quarter when Anthony Tyus III partially blocked a Jack Ansell punt that traveled just nine yards and gave the Wildcats the ball at midfield. The Cats picked up three first downs and Hull’s two-yard touchdown run cut Purdue’s lead to 14-9 after a two-point conversion failed.
Purdue again drove the field and got inside the Northwestern 10, but three plays netted just two yards and Fineran had to kick another chip shot from 26 yards. The Cats had done their job to keep it to one score.
Northwestern faced two fourth downs on its ensuing drive. On the first, a fourth-and-3, Freeman kept the ball on a read option and picked up four yards to move the sticks. On the second, a fourth-and-4, there was no one open and he got sacked.
The Wildcats, who have now lost 16 of their last 17 games dating to last season, close out the season next Saturday against Illinois.
