Primetime, opening night of college football for the Boilermakers and the Nittany Lions that did not disappoint! Ross-Ade was packed, the weather was perfect and the atmosphere was electric.
Slow start in the first quarter for both teams until late when Purdue put together a 10 play drive that started on their own 9 yard line and finished off with a 36-yard Mitchell Fineran field goal. From there the scoring took off.
Both teams scored touchdowns in their first drives of the second quarter. Penn State scored another touchdown with 4 and a half minutes left in the half. Purdue fumbled on the next possesion and with just seconds left in the half, Penn State had a huge passing TD that gave them a 21-10 halftime lead.
The Boilermakers came out swinging in the 3rd quarter, going on a 9 play 75 yard drive finished off with a 2 yard King Doerue touchdown. With a little under six minutes left in the 3rd, the Boilermakers struck again. This time it was a 10 play, 81 yard drive capped off with a 7 yard Charlie Jones touchdown catch from Aiden O'Connell to put Purdue up 24-21.
The Nittany Lions answered back in the 4th quarter with a 39 yard touchdown pass of their own from Sean Clifford to KeAndre Lambert-Smith to take the lead back. Purdue went three and out on the next series, but their defense came up strong. Chris Jefferson intercepted a Sean Clifford pass and ran it back 72 yards to swing the lead back in Purdue's favor. A big hit on the kickoff as Ryan Brandt, Angola, IN, stuffed Penn State's Chris Van Eekeren putting the Nittany Lions deep into their own territory.
Neither team was able to do much over the next few series, until Penn State put together a 8 play, 80 yard drive ending with a 10 yard TD catch by Keyvone Lee. The Boilers had about a minute left to try and answer, but were not able to. Final from West Lafayette was Penn State 35, Purdue 31.
