Purdue Holds Off Illinois Behind Three Field Goals and a Late Two-point Try
Three field goals and a two-point conversion. That is how Purdue beat Illinois 24-17, and the Boilermakers never trailed.
Jacobo Echeverria Lozano kicked a 30-yarder in the first quarter and a 34-yarder in the second, and Ryan Browne found Tra'Mar Harris from 21 yards to make it 13-0 with 4:16 left in the half. Illinois got a touchdown back with 21 seconds left before the break, a 7-yard Katin Houser pass to Collin Dixon, so it was 13-7 at the half. Echeverria Lozano added a third field goal, from 33 yards, in the third quarter and it was 16-7.
The fourth quarter was Illinois trying to find the door. Ethan Moczulski's 54-yard field goal cut it to 16-10, but Antonio Harris ran in from a yard out at 4:29 and Browne ran in the two-point try, so Purdue was up 24-10. Houser got Illinois a last touchdown on a 2-yard pass to Ty Robinson with 1:26 left, and the Illini ran out of time.
The yards were close. Purdue had 351 to Illinois's 345, with no turnovers and one sack, and Illinois threw an interception. Purdue ran only 96 yards on 31 carries (3.1 a pop), so this was a game won by the arm and the kicker. Browne threw for 255 and one touchdown, and it was enough.
Purdue is 2-3. Illinois is 2-3 too, so you may enjoy the symmetry. For fantasy, the best score of the day belonged to a loser: Dixon's 10 catches for 116 yards and a touchdown made 29.1 points, and Houser added 25.2 in defeat.