IU fails to stop Purdue in 4th quarter

WEST LAFAYETTE — The fourth quarter has served as a defining period for IU football this season.

When IU has won the fourth quarter, the team earned half of its total victories. However, when losing the period, the Hoosiers have not won a single game.

That trend continued Saturday afternoon as a fourth quarter implosion from IU (4-8, 2-6) pushed Purdue (6-6, 3-5) to a 56-35 victory in the annual battle for the Old Oaken Bucket.

“We had four turnovers, and they scored 42 points in the second half,” IU Coach Kevin Wilson said. “The bottom line is when you do that on the road, you’re not going to win.”

Heading into the fourth quarter against Purdue, IU was in the midst of a shootout as the team was driving to try and tie the game at 35.

That goal was achieved when sophomore quarterback Cameron Coffman found sophomore wide receiver Cody Latimer for a 6-yard touchdown.

The Hoosiers had scored 14-straight points, and suddenly momentum was on their side after Purdue’s Raheem Mostert fumbled the ensuing kickoff, only to recover it at the team’s 1-yard line.

That is when the backbreaker struck – a 73-yard touchdown pass from Robert Marve to Akeem Shavers capped a four-play, 99-yard drive that allowed the Boilermakers to retake the lead with 10:40 remaining in the game.

“You think you’ve got momentum, but it was a back-and-forth game,” Wilson said. “That was definitely one of those drives though that helped them out toward the end.”  

To make matters worse for the Hoosiers, on the first play of the following drive, Purdue’s Max Charlot intercepted a Coffman pass.

Only 2:36 later, Marve again found Shavers for a 26-yard touchdown pass to make the game 49-35.

IU again found itself with the ball after the ensuing kickoff.

However, seven plays into the drive and after four incompletions, Coffman once again was intercepted.

All Purdue needed was two plays during a span of four yards to cap off another touchdown, and suddenly IU found itself down 21 points.

“We knew what kind of game we were going into today,” junior wide receiver Kofi Hughes said. “We know that we had to match every time they scored. We didn’t do that.”

From there, IU had another chance at scoring as the Hoosiers turned the ball over on downs, and Purdue was able to drive the ball during a span of 3:30 to finish the game in victory formation.

With shades of games’ past bearing down on the Hoosiers, the team had to face the reality that there will be no avenging its fourth-quarter performance in another game — its season is finished.

“It wasn’t the ending result I was looking for,” senior defensive tackle Adam Replogle said. “It’s been a great four years, and I loved every second of it. It’s going to be tough letting go.”