WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Hudson Card tied his career high with three touchdown passes and scored on a 10-yard run with 2:39 left Saturday, giving the Purdue Boilermakers a 35-31 victory over Indiana and their third straight win in the Old Oaken Bucket series.
The Boilermakers (4-8, 3-6) had lost five of their previous six games but capped the 100th season at Ross-Ade Stadium by celebrating for the 300th time on its home turf.
Indiana (3-9, 1-8) lost its final three games by a combined total of 10 points and blowing late leads in all three. The Hoosiers lost seven of their last eight in coach Tom Allen's seventh full season.
And this time it was an errant kickoff out of bounds that helped Card throw his ace. He found Deion Burks for 44 yards on the first play and eluded a couple of tackles as he sprinted the final 10 yards to give Purdue its biggest lead of the game.
Indiana marched to the Boilermakers 35-yard line on its final drive but was stopped on third-and-1 and Brendan Sorsby was called for intentional grounding on fourth down to seal Purdue's victory.
Card was 21 of 34 with 275 yads and rushed 12 times for 85 yards. Burks had seven receptions for 84 yards.
Sorsby was 17 of 31 with 226 yards, three touchdown passes and three interceptions while rushing 15 times for 54 yards. E.J. Williams had five catches for 97 yards.
It looked like Purdue had swung the game with Card's 16-yard TD pass to Drew Biber with 12 seconds left in the first half and a 32-yard field goal on the first possession of the second half to give Purdue a 15-14 lead — its first of the game.
But Jaylin Lucas' 100-yard sprint on the ensuing kickoff, the fourth from that distance in school history, gave Indiana a 21-15 edge. After a Purdue field goal, Sorsby hooked up with Josh Henderson to make it 28-18, setting up a wild fourth quarter.
Purdue closed to 28-25 on the first play when Card perfectly faked a run up the middle, then stepped back and found a wide open Devin Mockobee streaming down the sideline for a 38-yard score. They tied it on a 35-yard field goal with 8:41 to play.
Indiana answered with Chris Freeman's tie-breaking 39-yard field goal with 5:09 remaining, but Card had one more play and pulled it off.
Boilermakers tight end Garrett Miller was carted off the field late in the first half with his left leg immobilized.
THE TAKEAWAY
Indiana: The Hoosiers best games were their final five this season though it sure didn't show up in the record. Now comes the big question for Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson: Will he keep Allen for another season.
Purdue: The first season under coach Ryan Walters fell well short of expectations. Purdue struggled, early, struggled at home, struggled with turnovers and struggled to keep points off the board. Now that Walters knows what he has, it will be interesting to see what roster changes he makes for 2024.
BY THE NUMBERS
Indiana: Linebacker Aaron Casey had two tackles in the first quarter and became the first Hoosiers player with 100 tackles in a single season since Tegray Scales in 2016. ... Lucas has three kickoff returns for TDs in his first two seasons and is now tied for the school's career record with Marcus Thigpen. ... Sorsby tied his career high for TD passes and set a career high for interceptions.
Purdue: S Dillon Thieneman picked off two passes in the first half, giving him a school freshman record of six this season. Stuart Schweigert had five in 2000. ... George Burhenn's second career catch went for his first career TD. ... Biber scored his first career TD on his first college catch.
COACHING WATCH
Allen remains well liked and well respected in the community. And even though he started Saturday tied for fourth on the school's career victory list with 33, there has been all sorts of speculation about his future after going 33-48 overall and just (3-24) in conference play over the last three seasons.
What Dolson must decide is whether Allen's buyout of nearly $21 million is worth the cost — or whether the Hoosiers would be better off bringing Allen back for another season as a potential lame duck coach until his buyout drops to about $8 million.
UP NEXT
Indiana: Hosts Florida International on Aug. 31.
Purdue: Hasn't yet announced an opening day opponent for next season.
