Purdue football falls 38-26 to Washington as five takeaways go to waste
Web StoryWatch this story in 15 seconds →Key takeaways
- Washington beat Purdue 38-26 at Ross-Ade Stadium on Friday night.
- Backup quarterback Elijah Brown threw for 302 yards and three touchdowns.
- Purdue forced five turnovers but turned them into only 13 points.
Washington beat Purdue 38-26 on Friday night. The game took place at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana. It was a Big Ten college football game.
Washington came in on a three-game losing streak. Purdue came in on a two-game winning streak.
The result flipped both stories. Washington got its first Big Ten win of the season. Purdue lost a game it could have won.
The Boilermakers forced five turnovers. They scored only 13 points from those chances.
What happened
Washington struck first. Quarterback Elijah Brown threw a short touchdown pass to Decker DeGraaf. That gave the Huskies a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.
Purdue answered with a field goal. The score was 7-3 after one quarter.
The second quarter brought 31 points. Washington kicked a field goal to lead 10-3. Purdue running back Antonio Harris tied the game with a 1-yard touchdown run.
His 59-yard run on that drive was Purdue's longest run of the season.
Washington went back in front. Brian Bonner caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Brown. Purdue tied the game again at 17-17.
Quarterback Ryan Browne found Fame Ijeboi for a 10-yard touchdown pass. The play came right after Purdue recovered a loose ball on a punt.
Then came the turning point of the half. A roughing the passer penalty gave Washington new life. The penalty came on third down near the Purdue goal line.
Two plays later, Bonner ran in from 1 yard out. Washington led 24-17 at halftime. It kept that lead for good.
Purdue cut the gap in the third quarter. Kicker Jacobo Echeverria Lozano made a 48-yard field goal. The score was 24-20.
Washington pulled away early in the fourth quarter. Brown threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Dezmen Roebuck. That made it 31-20.
Purdue fought back once more. Browne ran in for an 8-yard touchdown. The two-point try failed.
The score was 31-26. Hope lasted only 78 seconds of game time. Washington needed just two plays to answer.
Roebuck caught a 22-yard pass. Then Trey Cooley broke free for a 53-yard touchdown run. That made it 38-26 with 10:30 left in the game.
Purdue had one last chance. Browne threw his second interception in the final two minutes. That sealed the win for Washington.
The game ended 38-26.
Why it matters
The strangest part of this game was the turnover count. Purdue took the ball away five times. Washington took it away twice.
Teams with that kind of edge almost always win. IndyStar noted a wild stat. Teams with a plus-four turnover edge had won 1,130 games.
They had lost just 96 since 1995. Purdue still lost.
The reason was simple. Purdue wasted its chances. Five takeaways turned into only 13 points.
One drive stalled after a false start near the goal line. Another ended with a field goal instead of a touchdown. A late drive ended with no points at all.
Washington made its chances count. The Huskies gained 488 total yards. Purdue gained 371 yards.
Washington scored touchdowns on its big drives. Purdue settled for field goals on too many of its own.
The quarterback story mattered too. Washington started backup Elijah Brown. Starter Demond Williams was hurt.
Brown was a Stanford transfer making his first start for Washington. He threw three touchdown passes. He also threw three interceptions.
But he stayed calm after each mistake. His coach, Jedd Fisch, praised his response after the first pick.
Brown threw for 302 yards in the game. He completed 21 of 27 passes. That mix of big plays and mistakes was enough on this night.
Purdue's run game also stalled. Ijeboi ran for 195 yards and three touchdowns against Minnesota last week. Washington held him to 19 yards on 13 carries this week.
The man behind that plan was Ryan Walters. Walters used to be Purdue's head coach. Now he runs Washington's defense.
His unit controlled the line of scrimmage all night. Purdue fans watched him celebrate big stops on the sideline.
Injuries hurt Purdue as well. Cornerback Hudauri Hines made an interception on the first play of the game. He hurt his leg on that same play.
He missed the rest of the game. Captain and middle linebacker Charles Correa left in the second half with an injury. Washington attacked the gaps that those losses left behind.
The loss also ended a streak bid. Purdue wanted its first three-game winning streak since 2022. The Boilermakers had beaten Illinois and Minnesota in their last two games.
Friday's loss stopped that run. Coach Barry Odom said his team must find a way to hold momentum.
Odom said, "We've got to go back and find a way to capture the momentum."
Browne was blunt too.
He said, "Tonight, we just didn't make the plays we need to make."
This was the kind of loss that stings because it was winnable. Purdue did the hard part by taking the ball away five times. It failed at the next step.
Good teams turn takeaways into touchdowns. Purdue turned them into field goals and empty drives.
Fans searching for the Purdue football score on Friday night saw a familiar pattern. Purdue stayed close for three quarters. Then one fast Washington drive broke the game open.
The 53-yard run by Cooley was the play of the night. It turned a five-point game into a 12-point game in one snap.
What happens next
Both teams now get a week off. The break comes at a good time for both sides. Washington needs to heal.
Cooley left late in the game with an apparent arm injury. He also dealt with the flu all week. Chris Lawson left briefly with a minor ankle injury.
He returned to the game. The Huskies also played without five running backs. They were out with injuries.
Purdue needs the break too. Hines and Correa need time to heal. The defense needs depth at cornerback and linebacker.
Odom and his staff need to fix the red zone attack. Purdue reached scoring range several times on Friday. It left too many points behind.
The math is now tight for Purdue. The Boilermakers are 3-4 overall. They are 2-2 in Big Ten play.
They must win three of their last five games. That would give them six wins. Six wins earns a bowl game.
A bowl game is a bonus post-season game for winning teams.
The road ahead is hard. Purdue plays at Penn State on October 31. It also travels to Iowa.
It hosts Wisconsin. Wisconsin is a team Purdue has not beaten in years. The season ends on the road against Indiana.
Indiana is the defending national champion. There is little room left for another night like Friday.
Washington has a simpler path. The Huskies are 4-3 overall. They are 1-3 in Big Ten play.
This win was their first in conference play. It ended a three-game losing streak. They play at Nebraska on October 31 after the bye week.
A win there would push them closer to their own bowl goal.
More sports from today: the Redblacks stunned the Argonauts for their first win, Fraser-McGurk smashed a 14-ball fifty, and the All Blacks beat the Wallabies 43-21 in Sydney.
For now, one fact defines this game. Washington won 38-26 on the road. Purdue won the turnover battle and still lost.
That is the lesson Odom's team takes into its bye week. Takeaways only matter if they turn into points. On Friday night, Purdue's did not.
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