Bucket Game Wrap and Reaction: Indiana 44 Purdue 41

Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

Opponent: Purdue Boilermakers

Location: Saturday November 30th, 2019 West Lafayette, Indiana

Why They Played: The Hoosiers and the Boilermakers play annually for the Old Oaken Bucket as a protected cross-over rivalry.

What The Game Meant: IU is attempting to get to 8-4 on the season and have a chance at winning nine games if they can get a bowl game victory. Beyond that, I don’t think I need to spell out the stakes much, do I? This is IU versus Purdue. They play for the Old Oaken Bucket and the rivalry between the fans is very, very real. These two programs both feel like they are going in the right direction under their current leadership (although Purdue has stepped back this season) but beating the in-state rival is extremely important.

Top Offensive Performers:

Peyton Ramsey, QB, Indiana- Ramsey capped off the regular season with his gutsiest performance yet that included a run for a first down that ended in a Elway-like helicopter tackle. He completed 23-of-39 passes for 337 yards and three touchdowns. Ramsey added two touchdowns on the ground, including the game winner in double overtime.

Sampson James, RB, Indiana- The true freshman was tremendous before leaving with an injury in the second half. James filled in for Stevie Scott and ran for 118 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries.

Whop Philyor, WR, Indiana- The Hoosiers needed Philyor to be back. After missing the Michigan game he made eight catches for 138 yards and two touchdowns.

Zander Horvath, RB, Purdue- The big running back was a man possessed against IU running for 164 yards and two touchdowns. He averaged 7.1 yards per carry and was a major reason why Purdue was able to dig out of a 14-0 hole.

Brycen Hopkins, TE, Purdue- Hopkins showed why he will be playing on Sundays. He scored on a 72-yard catch-and-run and had another touchdown in overtime and a two-point conversion in the fourth quarter. He finished with eight catches for 142 yards and two scores.

David Bell, WR, Purdue- Holy cow, David Bell can make all the catches. In all Bell made nine catches for 136 yards and a score, but no catch was more impressive than one where he got up off his back to dive and catch a ball that was under-thrown.

Top Defensive Performers

Tiawan Mullen, CB, Indiana- Mullen has had an outstanding true freshman season and it is hard to imagine an IU win on Saturday without his efforts. Mullen led IU with eight tackles and tackles for loss (2.5), forced and recovered a fumble and broke up four passes.

Jerome Johnson, DL, Indiana- Johnson helped try and slow the Purdue offense down with seven tackles and two tackles for loss.

Derrick Barnes, LB, Purdue- Barnes was all over the field for the Boilermakers making 10 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss including 2.5 sacks.

George Karlaftis, DL, Purdue- Purdue’s other stud freshman made five tackles including 1.5 sacks. He had a tremendous freshman season.

Special Team Performance

Special teams cost Indiana a comfortable regulation win and nearly cost them the entire win up in West Lafayette as Logan Justus missed three critical field goals. Yes, there was a wicked crosswind coming out of the east, but Justus looked lost and was eventually replaced by freshman Charles Campbell in the fourth quarter on a field goal. Campbell converted. Justus had been perfect heading into this game and the three misses were rather shocking.

Outside of the field goal woes though, IU did well. Punter Haydon Whitehead got back into a groove averaging 45.3 yards per punt including pinning one at the two-yard line. Reese Taylor returned his lone attempt for 10 yards and David Ellis returned a kick for 39 yards.

​Key Stat(s)

44

The only stat that matters. Indiana had 44 points, while Purdue had 41.

Turning Point

The turning point came when Logan Justus missed his third field goal of the day. A make would have given the Hoosiers a 31-17 lead and if they had gone for it on fourth-and-two and were successful, a touchdown would have made it 35-17 and that may have been enough to squash Purdue. However, he missed and it and Purdue cut the Indiana lead to 28-23 with a touchdown on the ensuing drive.

I Knew it Was Over When…

 Peyton Ramsey plunged into the end zone with the help of Ahrod Lloyd in double overtime to end the game with the score IU 44 Purdue 41.

Players of the Game

Peyton Ramsey, Indiana- Ramsey accounted for five touchdowns and numerous big plays that helped the Hoosiers stave off the Boilermakers.

Brycen Hopkins, Purdue- IU had no answer for the big tight end who scored 14 of Purdue’s 41 points.

What I took away from the game

This was a wild game. There were big come backs, clutch throws and runs, ridiculous catches and a few big defensive plays. It is what rivalry week is supposed to be. Both teams had key players injured heading into the game, but it did not matter as those who were on the field treated fans to a heart-pumping thriller in the mud. No matter how ugly it was at times, the thing that counts is the Old Oaken Bucket is heading back south to Bloomington and the Hoosiers finished the regular season with eight wins and a 5-4 record in conference. And if you want to poopoo that accomplishment with comments on strength of schedule and margin of victory, maybe Indiana football is just not for you.

Tom Allen and the Hoosiers needed this win as it turned a very good season into a great one. A loss would’ve left a sour taste in everybody’s mouth and taken much of the shine off of a good year.

The good news for the Hoosiers is that they overcame a lot of mistakes. There were three missed field goals, costly penalties of the 15-yard variety and blown assignments on defense and when you couple that with a few miracle catches by Purdue, every IU fan had to be thinking, ‘today may not be our day’. Purdue had 18 explosion plays (runs over 10 yards and passes over 15) to IU’s 14 However, like they have done for most of the season, these Hoosiers showed grit and pulled out the big win, that’s progress

Now the Hoosiers can focus on the future for a little bit as they await their bowl destination (Announced on December 8th). Signing Day is coming up in a few weeks and Allen and his staff know what holes they have to try and plug. Maybe even more important will be the 15 extra practices the Hoosiers will have leading up to the bowl game. This will allow a very young team to accelerate their development as players who are banged up will be given a little bit more time to heal and the younger depth pieces will receive more precious practice reps.

You can say what you want about the 2019 Hoosiers, but as Bill Parcels said, ‘You are what your record is’ and that is an 8-4 (5-4) Indiana football team.