The 3-2-1: Purdue's win over Northwestern
There were no style points whatsoever earned by Purdue on Saturday, but with its 17-9 win over Northwestern, the Boilermakers took another step toward at least a share of the Big Ten West title. Purdue can clinch a co-championship next weekend with a win at Indiana.
After Purdue struggled mightily to separate from the Wildcats, now loser of 10 straight, Jack Sullivan sealed the game with a fourth-down sack with 1:26 to play and Northwestern driving toward what could have been a game-tying TD and two-point conversion.
PDF: Purdue-Northwestern stats
THREE THINGS
• Sometimes, Purdue just can’t get out of its own way, with an uncanny knack for keeping games close when they easily could be something very different.
Jalen Graham negating his own pick-six by high-stepping from the 35-yard line and being called for unsportsmanlike conduct would have been the facepalm moment of the season had the Syracuse debacle not happened.
Meanwhile, Purdue missed enough throws that would have been big plays and got stuffed on enough third- or fourth-and-shorts against a struggling defense to make this game way more nerve-wracking that it should have been.
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Purdue’s played a lot of close games this season, and won more than not. But it didn’t have to be that way.
• 10 Observations: Purdue-Northwestern
• Devin Mockobee‘s loss to start the game was felt. He left the game after the first series, seemingly for concussion protocol. As important as Aidan O’Connell and Charlie Jones have been, Mockobee has arguably been the Boilermakers’ most valuable offensive player the past several weeks.
Against this defense and in these conditions, he could have been poised for a big day.
In his absence, Dylan Downing and Kobe Lewis combined for 100-plus yards, but Mockobee might have broken some bigger plays or helped on third- and fourth-and-short.
• It was windy and cold again, and the passing game had issues again. O’Connell’s numbers look OK (16-29, two touchdowns) but there were a number of throws missed that might have made this a much more comfortable win.
