The proverbial phrase goes “It’s a game of inches”. Welp, that couldn’t be more true for Purdue’s home matchup against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Saturday. Purdue battled back from a once 10-point deficit to tie the game as the 4th quarter clock expired and seemingly won the game in double overtime before an overturned review gave Wake Forest another chance to snag the victory in Ross Ade, to which the Demon Deacons did not miss. Lets show how it all played out.
1st Quarter
Going into this game, we figured it would be a measuring stick to how far Purdue has progressed in the off-season. The last time Purdue has beaten a Power 4 (then 5) team was November 25, 2023 when the Boilermakers took down Indiana in the final game of the Tom Allen era. Purdue finally had a shot Saturday to get back up after laying dormant for more than 2 years and the opening drive for the Boilermakers was a perfect start. Wake Forest won the coin toss and deferred, so Purdue received the opening kickoff and proceeded to drive the length of the field in 8 plays that featured Ryan Browne distributing to 3 different receivers and ended with a Fame Ijeboi run inside that bounced outside where Fame beat the edge and made it into the endzone for a 14-yard TD. The Boilermakers were up 7-0 less than 5 minutes into the game and the announced 50,000 fans in Ross Ade were feeling good.
Unfortunately, for every punch, there is a counter punch. Wake Forest would methodically move the ball down the field with a balanced attack and cap it off with a 4-yard rushing touchdown by RB Ty Clark. Wake Forest would make it 7-7 after their own 12-play, 5 minute and 20 second drive.
Now tied at 7, Purdue would get the ball back and the Boilermakers did move the ball downfield including the catch of the day to WR Chauncey Magwood where he floated in the air waiting for a ball to drop into his hands while being interfered with by the defender.
Purdue would continue to drive all the way to the Wake Forest 34-yard line but a fumble and loss of 6 yards on first down helped stall the drive. Purdue would gain 9 yards on a second down pass from Browne to RB Travis Terrell but an errant throw on 3rd down brought out K Jacobo Echeverria Lozano for a 49-yard attempt where the freshman kicker missed wide left.
Wake Forest would take over at their 31-yard line and ran two plays before the 1st quarter drew to an end tied at 7 a piece.
2nd Quarter
Picking up where they left off, the Demon Deacons continued to move the ball downfield completing plays of 8,7,11,11, and 5 yards consecutively. The ball was at the Purdue 8-yard line when a Ty Clark rush to the left was stopped for a 3-yard loss and set up a third and 8. QB Gio Lopez sailed a pass attempt over the middle while pressured and WF’s K Conner Calvert nailed a 39-yard field goal to give the Demon Deacons a 10-7 lead.
Following the kickoff and touchback, Purdue began their next drive with a 6-yard rush from Travis Terrell but the play was called back due to a holding penalty. Purdue couldn’t overcome first and 20 so the Boilermakers went 3 and out for the first time by either team. A 47-yard punt by P Dylan Drennan flipped the field and gave Wake Forest the ball at the 24-yard line.
On their third offensive drive, Wake Forest began with a false start penalty but that hardly slowed the Demon Deacons down. WF took 5 minutes and 23 seconds this time to drive 81 yards across 10 plays and end with a 1-yard Gio Lopez touchdown. Every single play for Wake Forest following the penalty was for positive yards and the Purdue defense was looking lost while applying nearly no pressure to the quarterback. WF would go up 17-7 with 3:55 on the clock and Purdue fans knew a score on the ensuing drive was needed to avoid a total loss of momentum before the half.
Whether it was out of desperation or just the offense running smoothly, the next Purdue drive was a good one as Ryan Browne completed 7 passes to 5 different receivers to move the ball all the way down to the Wake Forest 4 when Purdue took a timeout with 14 seconds remaining in the half. On second and goal at the 4, Ryan Browne tossed a pass the the corner of the endzone that senior WR De’Nylon Morrissette caught but could not get a foot in bounds. Browne would throw another pass to Morrissette at the front left corner of the endzone on 3rd and goal but again, Morrissette could not stay in bounds on the catch. The unfortunate circumstance of the second toss was that Purdue had an open receiver crossing the middle of the endzone but Browne took his earlier read and threw outside. Purdue would opt to kick the short field goal to bring the score to 17-10 Demon Deacons and following a squib kick on the kickoff with 2 seconds remaining, the half was over.
3rd Quarter
Starting the 2nd half, Wake Forest picked up right where they left off on offense as they drove the field quickly all the way down to the Purdue 1-yard line. The Purdue defense would lock in on 2nd and goal at the one when a loss of 3 yards on a rush and an incomplete pass led to another Wake Forest field goal to go up 20-10. This marked the 6th straight drive the Purdue defense allowed points going back to the Indiana State game.
On their next drive Purdue again felt a need for points. And again, Purdue’s offense moved the ball down the field. The drive was aided by a facemask penalty but the offense consistently moved the ball again until getting to the Wake Forest 12-yard line where 2 incomplete passes on 2nd and 3rd and 3 stalled the Purdue drive. The Boilermakers again kicked a short field goal and squandered a redzone trip to settle for 3 points. The Boilermakers were keeping the Demon Deacons within reach at 20-13 but it certainly felt like Purdue was playing not to lose rather than playing to win.
Feeling the pressure of needing a defensive stop, Purdue started the next drive the same as all the previous drives of the day. Two QB keeps by Gio Lopez moved the ball 28 yards into Purdue territory but following a Wake Forest fumbled snap sandwiched between two missed passes (the second being an overthrow on what would have been a touchdown), the Boilermakers finally forced a punt.
With some defensive momentum finally on their side, Purdue began their drive in the final few minutes of the third quarter and very nearly squandered that momentum quickly. On second down, Ryan Browne completed a crossing route to sophomore WR from Syracuse, Jaylan Hornsby who got around the edge to pickup 13 yards and a first down, but an illegal crackback block negated the play and sent Purdue back 11 yards to set up a second and 18 from the Purdue 11-yard line. The following play, Ryan Browne was sacked at the 3 and Purdue was in the shadow of their own goal line on 3rd and 27. The following play, Purdue ran the predictable draw play to Travis Terrell to avoid any major catastrophes but when Terrell was tackled, Wake Forest grabbed his facemask which breathed new life into the drive on an automatic first down. On the final play of the quarter, Ryan Browne completed a 22-yard pass to Chauncey Magwood and Purdue had a first down near midfield going into the 4th.
4th Quarter
On the first play of the 4th, Purdue would go right back to Chauncey Magwood, this time as an end around rush for 18 yards to get Purdue to the Wake Forest 38-yard line. The following play, Ryan Browne was flushed from the pocket and could not get the ball past the line of scrimmage while being tackled on the throw. The result was an intentional grounding call pushing the Boilermakers back to the 46-yard line. A 7-yard Ijeboi rush brought up 3rd and 11 at the 39 but it was an incomplete Browne pass to Ijeboi in the right flat that forced the hands of Barry Odom to punt rather than trying a very long field goal or going for it on 4th and 11. The punt was beutiful though as Drennan’s kick was caught by the Purdue gunner, Don Saunders at the 1-yard line.
On the ensuing Demon Deacon drive, Ross Ade stadium was bouncing on a 3rd and 4 play inside the Wake Forest 10 but a Gio Lopez scramble gained the first down. The following play, a reverse play to WR Drayden Dickmann went up the right sideline for 44 yards to the Purdue 40 but a personal foul on the play by Purdue added 15 more yards. Starting at the Purdue 25, Wake Forest would rush for 3 yards before Gio Lopez took a 7-yard sack on 2nd down to set up 3rd and long. Lopez again scrambled forward but did not reach the line to gain so Wake Forest settled for a 44-yard field goal to go up 23-13 with 9:13 to play.
Now with under 10 minutes to play and being down multiple scores, the Purdue offense knew they needed to act quickly. The Boilermakers march right down the field with several chunk passes to 4 receivers. The drive would be capped by a hard-nosed run up the middle by Ijeboi as he barreled through 2 Wake Forest defenders to bring the Boilermakers within 3. Purdue did not face a single 3rd down on the drive and there was 3:53 to play while the Boilermakers retained all 3 of their timeouts.
After the ensuing kickoff went through the endzone, Wake Forest had arguably the worst drive imaginable. On both first and second down, Gio Lopez threw to WR Kam Shanks and the junior dropped the pass to set up 3rd and 10 where Gio Lopez was pressured and missed his target to bring up 4th and 10. The Demon Deacons took a total of 13 seconds off the clock on their drive and punted to Purdue with 3:40 left in the game.
With the ball in hand at the 36-yard line, all momentum favored the Boilermakers. On the first play of the drive, Ryan Browne connected with Waseem who got the Boilermakers to midfield. 2 plays later, Browne threw to Xavier Townsend for 7 yards to set up 3rd and 3 at the Wake Forest 43. On 3rd down, Fame Ijeboi was nearly stuffed but stayed on his feet and got the left edge to rush for 25 yards down to the Demon Deacon 18-yard line at the 2-minute timeout. Two more Ijeboi rushes gained Purdue 9 yards and brought the clock down to 1:08 before Wake Forest took a timeout. Then, on 3rd and 1, Ijeboi took a carry up the middle and was marked down right at the line to gain for a first down. Replay upheld the play and Purdue had first and goal from the 8-yard line. The next two plays were Ijeboi rushes for 3 and 0 yards respectively and Purdue decided to attempt a pass on 3rd and goal from the 5. Ryan Browne rolled to his right and saw nobody open so he scrambled forward before being tackled at the 3-yard line as Purdue called a timeout with 3 seconds remaining in regulation. Again, Purdue was forced to settle for a field goal but as Echeverria Lozano kicked the ball through on a 20-yard attempt, Purdue had come back to tie the game and send it into overtime.
OT
Going into overtime, Wake Forest changed their choice on the coin flip and this time, Purdue won the toss. Purdue elected to play defense in the college OT rules, so Wake Forest took the ball going toward the north end zone at the 25. A 1-yard rush for WF set up 2nd and 9 at the 24 where Gio Lopez feather a ball over the Purdue defender in the end zone for a touchdown throw. There was a pretty clear holding call on the Wake Forest offensive line that went uncalled right in front of the referee, but the touchdown remained.
Now it was Purdue’s turn to take the ball at the 25. An Ijeboi run on first down and Morrissette catch and run on second down set the Boilermakers up with a first and goal at the 5. Again on first down, Ijeboi rushed but this time for a loss of a yard. Ryan Browne then passed to Ijeboi on second down in the flat where Fame was shifty and got down to the 2. On third down, there was some miscommunication or wrong formation as an unblocked Wake Forest edge came right in and sacked Ryan Browne immediately to set up 4th and goal from the 9 and all looked lost. Purdue took it’s sole timeout of overtime 1 and on 4th down, Ryan Browne passed over the middle to a leaping De’Nylon Morrissette for the touchdown to set up the tying extra point. The pass was over a held down Asaad Waseem where the Wake Forest DB was called for defensive pass interference but the penalty was declined.
As per the NCAA rules, now Purdue had to take the ball over again, this time at the south side 25-yard line. The Boilermakers would take 6 plays to gain the 25 yards and get into the endzone on Fame Ijeboi’s third rushing touchdown of the afternoon. And, as the OT rules dictate, Purdue was forced to go for 2 in the second overtime period. On the 2-point attempt, a pass to Ijeboi in the flat was not enough to convert the attempt so Purdue took a 36-30 lead.
Wake Forest would gain a first down after two plays to set up first and 1o at the Purdue 12-yard line. On first down, Gio Lopez was sacked by junior DE Jeremy Lewis to bring up 2nd and 15. Two more incomplete passes from Lopez on 2nd and 3rd down set up 4th and 15 when Wake Forest’s offensive line was called for a false start amidst the raucous Ross Ade crowd. What would have been 4th and 20 was negated because Purdue had called their allotted timeout prior to the penalty. So, on 4th and 15, Purdue only rushed 4 defenders and Lopez threw to Carlos Hernandez short of the line to gain but Hernandez raced to the sideline where his toe touched out of bounds. Hernandez was called out of bounds short of the line to gain on the play but after review, he was given the first down to keep the game alive. On first and goal at the 2, Gio Lopez was tackled on a QB keep for a loss of a yard but on 2nd down, Lopez took the ball up the middle for the game tying touchdown as he twisted into the endzone. On the two-point conversion, Lopez again kept the ball but used two pulling lineman as lead blockers off the left side to go into the endzone untouched for the walk-off score. Wake Forest took it 38-36 in double overtime.
Stats
Highlights
Outlook
Yes, this is the most exciting game Purdue has played against a Power 4 opponent in years but this loss should sting. There were several opportunities squandered by the Boilermakers which would have won them this game and given the trend of years past, we have to sit back and hope these blocks are being built on. The decision to fall back on 4th and 15 was, in my opinion, the wrong one. Wake Forest only got to that point because Purdue had brought pressure on previous plays and while it ultimately didn’t work out this way, it felt as if it was 4th and goal from the 17. Pressure felt like the move and in his first big test back at Purdue, Kevin Kane did not deliver. Of course, the redzone plays are an issue for the offense. Points are being left on the board and considering the game was tied after regulation, it’s fair to say that better redzone output would have resulted in a victory. Altogether, yes, Purdue battled it’s way back after Wake Forest, frankly, did itself no favors of its own but the Boilermakers needed this win. It needed a taste of that victory that hasn’t come in over 2 years. Hopefully, this crushing loss doesn’t show up next week in Los Angeles, but these things have a tendency to linger in West Lafayette. Purdue takes on UCLA next Saturday in the late slot and we will have the preview of the Bruins throughout the week. Until then, Boiler Up.
