Hoosiers Defense Could Not Stop Purdue's Aerial Attack
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Written by Matt Smith
Indiana came into the bucket game with low expectations from the outside as they haven’t beaten a Big Ten team so far this season. The Hoosiers have gone 0-9 against Big Ten opponents including rival Purdue on Saturday, losing 44-7.
Indiana began the game letting up a long drive for Purdue which ended up in a touchdown. Purdue controlled the line of scrimmage and drove down the field easily to open up the game.
Following the opening drive touchdown, the Hoosiers were able to stop the Boilermakers a few times going into the halftime locker room only down by 10. They only let up 19 rushing yards in the first half.
Aidan O’Connell of Purdue had a stellar game throwing the ball with four touchdown passes and 278 passing yards. He also only had five incompletions during the entire game.
While the special teams unit did not help the defense by giving the Boilermakers stellar starting field position, the Hoosiers defense was unable to hold them to field goals throughout the entire game.
During the second half, the Purdue offense was able to put up 27 points and the Hoosiers defense had no answers for their halftime adjustments.
Zander Horvath was the Boilermakers leading rusher with 49 yards and a touchdown on 15 attempts.
The Hoosiers were able to keep David Bell in check for the most part as he went for 79 yards on six receptions including a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
However, while the Hoosiers were keying in on Bell, it left other receivers wide open for O’Connell and he was able to exploit those openings for the majority of the game.
The Hoosiers season is now over, which means it was many players' final game, including team captain Micah McFadden who was the heart and sole of the team for the past two years.
McFadden wasn’t fully healthy tonight according to Allen, but he still gave it his all.
The Hoosiers will now look to rebuild their defense as we enter a very interesting offseason for the Hoosiers, and it will be interesting to see where they go with the direction of the team.