Jack Lausch hit a wide-open Joseph Himon II for a 22-yard touchdown in overtime to give Northwestern a 26-20 win over Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind.

The Wildcats (4-5, 2-4 Big Ten) snapped their two-game losing streak behind a career day by the beleaguered Lausch. He finished 23-of-35 passing for a career-high 250 yards, and the game-clinching touchdown.

The Boilers, meanwhile, sunk to 1-7 and are still winless in conference, and FBS, play.

It wasn't pretty, but Northwestern will take a win any way they can get it after getting outscored 63-17 in their last two outings.

Purdue got the ball first in overtime and head coach Ryan Walters surprised observers by deciding against a field-goal try and electing to go for a first down on a fourth-and-5 at the Northwestern 20-yard line. Hudson Card’s pass to CJ Smith was broken up by Damon Walters.

Northwestern’s Theran Johnson drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for taunting after the play, but the yardage was assessed on the Wildcats’ possession. No problem. Lausch threw a short pass to Cam Porter and he rumbled 18 yards to set up the game-winning toss to Himon.

"We'd run that two or three times before in the game and one of the guys would take [Himon]," said Lausch. "Then no one ended up taking him, and he had a lot of space."

Northwestern’s offense finished with 424 yards, their most against an FBS opponent all season. The Wildcats’ only better production came against FCS Eastern Illinois in Week 3.

It was a far cry from the anemic unit that put up just three points in their last two games combined. They also went 9-of-16 on third downs, a massive improvement over their season average of 25.5%, which was better than just one of 133 FBS teams coming into Saturday.

Himon had a 51-yard touchdown run and the game-winning catch and finished with 112 total yards, while Porter had a game-high eight catches for 85 yards with leading receiver Bryce Kirtz out with an injury.

Card threw for 267 yards and a touchdown in his return from an injury to lead the Boilermakers.

Northwestern set Lausch up for success early with some short, easy throws on their first possession. He completed his first five passes, including a third-and-16 when he eluded the rush and threw an accurate strike to Frank Covey IV for a 27-yard gain. The Wildcats’ drive petered out at the Purdue 22-yard line, but Luke Akers drilled a 40-yard field to take an early 3-0 lead.

Purdue answered immediately, as Card, who had time to throw all day, completed four straight passes, including a big 32-yarder to Smith to get into Northwestern territory. But Johnson knocked away a pass to Jaron Tibbs in the end zone and the Boilers tied it at 3 with a Spencer Porath 26-yard field goal.

Northwestern retook the lead on its next drive as Himon busted through a hole on the left side, behind Cooper Lovelace and Caleb Tiernan, and sprinted 51 yards for a touchdown.

"I hit it, put it in second gear, and I was gone," explained Himon.

One of the interesting wrinkles for Northwestern was rotating Ryan Hilinski into the game at quarterback. Head coach David Braun explained at the half that Hilinski gave them better deep-passing ability. He threw a 16-yard completion to Covey on the Wildcats’ third drive, but then overthrew AJ Henning on a long pass over the middle that was picked off by Antonio Stevens – a development that made the decision to play the graduate backup even more curious.

Purdue then made a questionable decision of their own. After losing three yards on a third-and-2, the Boilers went for it on fourth-and-4 at their own 48. Ryan Browne completed a short pass to Shamar Rigby, but Johnson stuck him right there for a 2-yard gain and the Wildcats took over at the 50.

The Wildcats made the Boilers pay when Porter scored on a 1-yard run for a touchdown to take a 17-3 lead with 2:23 left in the first half. Lausch was dealing, accounting for 46 of the Wildcats’ 50 yards on the drive by the run or pass.

Just when it looked like Northwestern had taken command of the game, Purdue came back – and it was the Wildcat defense that uncharacteristically let them down. The Boilers mounted a 12-play, 87-yard drive that included a fourth-down conversion. After a 6-yard touchdown pass from Card to Tibbs, they cut NU’s lead to 17-10 going into the break.

Still, the Wildcats had more yards (214) by halftime against the Boilers than they had gained in four quarters in three of their Big Ten games.

But after not punting for the entire first half, the Wildcats punted on their first two possessions of the second half.

After the second one, Purdue drove inside the Northwestern 10-yard line helped by a facemasking penalty on Mac Uihlein and a 28-yard sideline pass to Jahmal Erdine. The Boilers had a first down at the Northwestern 4, but the Wildcats got a sack and Purdue could go no further and had to settle for another chip-shot Porath field goal to make it 17-13 with 2:33 left in the third quarter.

The Wildcats responded with a drive that featured Lausch converting a third-and-11 with an 18-yard pass to Henning and a third-and-2 with a 7-yard throw to Marshall Lang, as well as a fourth-and-1 run by Porter for a first down. Things got ugly in the red zone with a delay of game and a timeout on successive plays, but Akers bailed them out with a 41-yard field goal to push the Wildcat lead back up to a touchdown with 10:14 left in the fourth quarter.

Purdue again got inside the Northwestern 10. This time, they used a trick play to get a first down at the 1, and then Devin Mockobee, who finished with just 29 yards on 10 carries, kept his feet moving and powered through the NU defense for the game-tying touchdown with 5:16 to go.

That turned out to be the last score of regulation, as both team punted and Northwestern ran out of time at around midfield when a Hilinski Hail Mary heave was caught by Hayden Eligon II – but at the 15-yard line.

Northwestern’s win was the sixth in its last seven games at Ross-Ade Stadium. The Wildcats have four wins and will need at least one, and preferably two more wins to become bowl eligible. Their last three games are against Ohio State and Illinois at Wrigley Field, wrapped around a road trip to Michigan.