Sept 2, 2001
By JOE KAY
AP Sports Writer
CINCINNATI (AP) - Purdue won its opener by running the ball and picking it off - a sign of things to come without Drew Brees running the offense.
Brandon Hance scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak, Joey Harris had a 16-yard touchdown run and Purdue's defense intercepted three passes Sunday as the Boilermakers held on for a 19-14 victory over Cincinnati.
Nearly half of the stadium-record crowd of 35,097 were Purdue fans who made the three-hour drive to get a glimpse of what it will be like without Brees at quarterback.
It didn't take them long to find out that the Boilermakers are going to depend upon their running game and their defense for a while.
"As far as my play, I'm pretty disappointed," said Hance, a redshirt freshman. "I consider myself a playmaker, and I didn't make plays. It's not that I did a lot wrong, I just didn't do enough right."
Brees was the Big Ten's career passing leader and took Purdue to its first Rose Bowl in 34 years last season by deftly running the Boilermakers' spread offense. Hance has some learning to do.
He was 14-of-25 for 117 yards without an interception, the Boilermakers' lowest total for passing yards since 1997. The only time they moved the ball was when their runners found room and the Bearcats helped with penalties.
Coach Joe Tiller scaled back his offense by roughly one-third and watched his young quarterback struggle to call the right audibles.
"Sometimes it isn't getting into the right play as much as getting you out of a bad play," Tiller said. "They had a good scheme against a young quarterback. I hesitate to tell you how many audibles we missed, and I attribute that to inexperience."
Hance rolled right on the first play of the game and threw a 16-yard pass to Tim Stratton, who won the inaugural Mackey Award as the nation's best tight end last season. That wound up as his longest completion of the game.
"I thought he did all right," Stratton said. "There were times when he looked like the deer in the headlights, but that's to be expected."
Hance's sneak completed Purdue's opening 85-yard drive, sustained by two personal fouls and an offsides on Cincinnati's defense. Cincinnati (0-1) later got two roughing-the-passer penalties.
Harris made a nice fake to avoid a tackler during a 16-yard run that put Purdue ahead 19-7 midway through the third quarter, and the Boilermakers' defense was just good enough to hold on.
LaDaris Vann had two touchdown catches, including a 17-yard reception that cut it to 19-14 late in the third quarter. Stuart Schweigert's second interception, this one in the end zone, clinched it with 36 seconds left.
It might have been an even closer call. Cincinnati called its final timeout with 52 seconds left and a 4th-and-15 at the Purdue 32-yard line. The coaches sent 10 players on the field, and running back Ray Jackson sprinted onto the field just before the snap, drawing a flag.
Vann caught a pass at the 6-yard line as the play unfolded, but the completion was wiped out by the illegal shift.
"We looked like one of the most undisciplined teams in the country," Cincinnati coach Rick Minter said. "We were our own worst enemy. We couldn't overcome the lack of discipline and poise."
The Boilermakers' top concerns are Hance and an offensive line that lost four starters. Hance was sacked twice on third-down blitzes and again on a 2-point conversion attempt.
After both teams scored on their game-opening possessions, neither put together another drive in the half. Two mistakes by the Bearcats' inexperienced quarterback helped Purdue pull ahead 13-7.
Adam Hoover, a senior who started two games last season, didn't see defensive end Kevin Nesfield dropping into pass coverage and threw directly to him. The interception set up Travis Dorsch's 25-yard field goal.
Hoover overthrew a receiver and Schweigert intercepted late in the half, setting up Dorsch's 39-yard kick.
The two bad throws and a dozen penalties doomed Cincinnati, which went to the Motor City Bowl last season and was hoping to add to its legacy of giving Big Ten teams a tough time.
The Bearcats beat Wisconsin 17-12 in 1999 and stayed with Ohio State before losing in Columbus by two touchdowns. Last year, Cincinnati went to Wisconsin and lost on an overtime field goal.
Cincinnati backup running back Joe Harrison had an asthma attack in the first quarter and was taken to a hospital.