Boilermakers keep the Old Oaken Bucket

West Lafayette, Ind. – History repeated itself in the IU-Purdue Rivalry game.

The Boilermakers (6-6, 3-5) defeated the Hoosiers (4-8, 3-5) 56-35 for the second straight year in the Old Oaken Bucket Game.

The Old Oaken Bucket will remain in West Lafayette, Ind.
This game was a tale of halves.

IU held a 21-7 at halftime, but was then Purdue outscored them 42-14 in the second half.

Starting out the game, the Hoosiers won the toss and deferred, so that they could get the kickoff after the first half.

After the Boilermakers weren’t able to score on their first drive of the game, IU responded by scoring a touchdown.

The Hoosiers scored on 51-yard run by junior running back Stephen Houston on the third play of the drive.

On the next possession, Purdue answered back with an 11-play, 77-yard drive that ended with a 14-yard sophomore running back Brandon Cottom run.

The Hoosiers recorded two three-and-out drives and the Boilermakers scored one more touchdown to take the 14-7 lead by the end the first quarter.

The second quarter saw no scores from Purdue.

IU recorded two touchdowns out of their five drives of the quarter.

Both were Houston runs inside the red zone.

The first was an eight-yard run at 5:50 mark and the second was a one-yard run by Houston on the Hoosiers second-to-last drive of the half.

Indiana held a 21-14 lead into halftime.

The lead wouldn’t last long as the Boilermakers scored on the first three drives of the half.

The first score was a 19-yard pass from senior quarterback Robert Marve to junior wide receiver O.J. Ross at the 11:18 mark of the third quarter.  

The next came less than four minutes later off a one-yard run by junior quarterback Rob Henry run.

The third score ended in a 25-yard Henry pass to junior wide receiver Gary Bush with 3:54 left in the quarter.

On the very next drive, IU countered with a one-yard QB sneak by sophomore Cameron Coffman to bring the Hoosiers within one score.

Purdue held a 35-28 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Hoosiers scored again on their next possession, but that would be their last touchdown of the game.

Sophomore wide receiver Cody Latimer saw mistakes that led to missed chances for putting more points on the board.

“On the offensive side we started out firing and did a great job, but what killed us was a couple of penalties, some turnovers and missed opportunities on third downs,” Latimer said.

The Boilermakers would end up recording three touchdowns on the last four drives of the game.

Junior defensive back Greg Heban talked about missed tackles being one of the main contributions to Purdue scoring in the second half.

“We had way too many missed tackles,” Heban said. “Tackling is going to be a big emphasis for us in the off-season and it’s something that we have to correct.”

This season the most Purdue has scored in a Big Ten game was 28 points, but they were able to total 42 points in the second half alone.

Purdue scored eight touchdowns on their 17 drives of the game.

On the other hand, IU recorded five touchdowns on their 14 drives with four offensive turnovers.

“When you turn the ball over four times on the road, you are not going to win,” IU coach Kevin Wilson said. “We have to take care of the ball better than we have been.”
The Boilermakers end up becoming bowl-eligible off of the victory and the Hoosiers will take the 100-mile drive back to Bloomington without the Old Oaken Bucket.

The Hoosiers ended the season with three consecutively losses, but Wilson sees the future is bright.

“It’s a young group that’s got a lot of time to continue to mature physically and mentally,” Wilson said. “We have made some good strides, but we are not as close to where we need to be.”