Indiana Destroys Purdue to Capture Bucket 66-0

Written by: TJ Inman

The Indiana Hoosiers entered the day needing to send a message to the College Football Playoff Selection Committee. They needed to put together a good performance after their first loss of the season. They needed to beat in-state rival Purdue and capture the Old Oaken Bucket for the first time since 2019. On Saturday night, in front of a cold but packed Memorial Stadium crowd, Indiana accomplished everything they wanted to as they manhandled Purdue 66-0 in a record-setting performance against the Purdue Boilermakers.

Indiana began with the ball but the drive ended as a familiar concern cropped up. Kurtis Rourke was sacked on third down as the offensive line continued to struggle to pick the blitz. The Hoosiers quickly got the ball back and Indiana’s offense marched 86 yards with a mix of the run and the pass. IU opened the scoring with a touchdown run by Justice Ellison to make it 7-0. On Purdue’s next series, Jailin Walker made an incredible interception to give IU the ball in scoring territory. Rourke was sacked on third down and Nicolas Radicic missed a 46-yard field goal. Purdue went three and out and IU began moving the ball at will to end the first quarter. Despite a false start penalty, the Hoosiers found the end zone as Rourke threw a strike to Ke’Shawn Williams to push the lead to 14-0. The fun was just beginning in Bloomington. The Boilermakers again went three but pinned the Hoosiers at the one-yard line. IU was undaunted, going 99 yards including an 84-yard touchdown reception from Rourke to Elijah Sarratt to make it 21-0. Another three and out gave IU the ball at the 30-yard line and Ty Son Lawton capped off a 70-yard drive. Indiana led 28-0 at the half and the Hoosiers led in yardage 334 to 54. It was a staggering level of dominance.

Looking for a spark, Purdue switched from Hudson Card to Ryan Browne at quarterback for the second half. On their first play, Browne fumbled the exchange with Devin Mockobee and IU’s CJ West pounced on the loose ball. A holding penalty nullified a touchdown run by Lawton and IU settled for a short field goal to make 31-0. Purdue’s offensive struggles continued as they went three and out and Kurtis Rourke threw another touchdown to Elijah Sarratt to run the score to 38-0. After yet another short possession by the Boilermakers, IU was faced with a fourth-down in Purdue territory and dialed up a fake punt. James Carpenter took the direct snap and rumbled for an easy conversion. Indiana took advantage of the second chance as Rourke completed another touchdown, this one to Zach Horton. Kurtis Rourke kept on racking up the stats as he completed touchdowns to Miles Cross to make it 52-0 and then Omar Cooper to bring the tally to 59-0. Indiana brought in Tayven Jackson in the fourth quarter and churned out the clock with backups. Rolijah Hardy forced a fumble that was recovered by Jamari Sharpe and Tayven Jackson finished the scoring with a read option scramble to make the score 66-0. It was IU’s first shutout of Purdue since 1945.

The numbers from this performance were overwhelming. Indiana limited to Purdue’s offense to only 67 yards and accumulated 582. That’s an advantage of a mind-blowing 515 yards. IU had 30 first downs to Purdue’s five. The Boilermakers were 0-11 on third down. Pick your stat, IU dominated it. Kurtis Rourke had 349 yards with six touchdowns, an Old Oaken Bucket game record for passing touchdowns. Elijah Sarratt got a record of his own with 165 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Indiana’s defense completely locked down Purdue’s offense and made this an entirely one-sided affair. It was the perfect way for Indiana to finish a historic season under Curt Cignetti.

Indiana’s performance on Saturday night and throughout this season was likely more than enough to merit inclusion in the 12-team College Football Playoff but the Hoosiers got a little bit of help this weekend that should eliminate all doubt. Miami lost their second game of the season at Syracuse and Clemson, who was ranked right below Indiana, fell to 9-3 with a close loss at home to South Carolina. The ACC had dreams of being a three-bid league but they could now end up with just one and at most, two. IU should be safely in the field and a surprise upset by Michigan means the Hoosiers finish tied for second-place in the Big Ten, above the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Hoosier Huddle will have continuing coverage of this Bucket beatdown and Indiana’s postseason matchup.