Northwestern Posts 27-21 Comeback Victory at Purdue

Saturday, October 3

West Lafayette, Ind.

11:00 AM

Northwestern

3-2 , 1-1

Purdue

1-4 , 0-1

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Northwestern	3	13	3	8	27
Purdue	14	7	0	0	21

Mike Kafka helped Northwestern score 24 unanswered points in a 27-21 victory at Purdue Saturday.

Northwestern Posts 27-21 Comeback Victory at Purdue

10/3/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football

Box Score

Oct. 3, 2009

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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Northwestern recovered five Purdue fumbles and forced six turnovers in all to erase a 21-3 first-half deficit and down the Boilermakers 27-21 at Ross-Ade Stadium Saturday. Quarterback Mike Kafka scored on a 2-yard run with 2:09 remaining in the fourth quarter to give the Wildcats their first lead of the game and NU's defense came up with the stop it needed on Purdue's final drive.

The victory marked NU's third straight Big Ten road win and lifted the 'Cats' record over their last six games against Purdue to 4-2.

After Purdue scored touchdowns on its first three possessions of the game, Northwestern forced Boilermaker turnovers on the next three to put 13 points on the board in the final 1:31 of the second quarter and cut an 18-point deficit to five, 21-16, at the half. First, Sherrick McManis stepped in front of a Joey Elliott pass, leading to a five-yard scoring run right up the gut by freshman Arby Fields. With under a minute to go, David Arnold and Brad Phillips forced fumbles on back-to-back kickoffs, both of which resulted in Stefan Demos field goals.

The Wildcats continued their strong special teams play early in the third when Demetrius Dugar recovered a fumbled punt to give Northwestern the ball back inside Purdue territory. Demos booted his single-game career-best fourth field goal of the game -- a 39-yarder -- to make it 21-19.

The second half quickly became a defensive battle as both teams were held scoreless for nearly 21 minutes of game action. But trailing by two with just over six minutes on the clock, Kafka led the 'Cats on an 11-play drive that culminated in his go-ahead dive into the end zone. Northwestern then completed a two-point conversion toss to Drake Dunsmore to build a 27-21 cushion.

Purdue had one more opportunity to win the game on a drive that began at its own 16-yard line. Elliot led the Boilermakers as far as NU's 5-yard line before the Wildcat defense forced consecutive incompletions on third and fourth down to turn the ball over on downs and secure the road win.

Northwestern fumbled the ball on the opening offensive play of the game before Purdue took an early lead with a 5-play, 34-yard touchdown drive. The Wildcats responded with a season-long 20-play drive capped by an 18-yard field goal by Stefan Demos to make it 7-3 but the Boilermakers connected on a 67-yard pass play for a score to take a 14-3 advantage into the second quarter.

Purdue extended its first-half lead to 18 with a TD to start the second quarter before Northwestern's flurry of forced turnovers and 24 unanswered points to end the game.

On defense, NU managed to record three sacks of Purdue's Joey Elliot as Adam Hahn, Brad Phillips and David Arnold all got to the quarterback.

Northwestern steps out of conference for the final time this season next Saturday when it hosts Miami (Ohio) at 11 a.m. as part of President Morton Schapiro's inauguration events at Ryan Field.