Sept 29, 2001
Purdue-Minnesota Final Statistics Packet in PDF Format
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By DAVE CAMPBELL
AP Sports Writer
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Brandon Hance is picking up right where Drew Brees left off.
Hance caught a touchdown pass and threw for three more, including the go-ahead score to John Standeford in overtime, as No. 24 Purdue rallied from an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat Minnesota 35-28 on Saturday.
"This game tops them all," Boilermakers receiver Sean Morales said. "Just craziness."
A freshman playing in his first Big Ten game, Hance looked a lot like Brees, the record-setting Purdue quarterback who left after last season. Hance drove Purdue 63 yards in 18 seconds to set up the game-tying field goal in regulation and finished 22-for-36 for 308 yards and two interceptions.
"I just got the ball in there and they caught it," Hance said. "I think it shows what we're capable of doing."
Hance hit Standeford from 19 yards out on third-and-4 on the Boilermakers' first OT possession.
Minnesota's Travis Cole had his third-down pass intercepted in the end zone by Stuart Schweigert. On first down, Cole found Antoine Henderson for an apparent touchdown, but officials ruled Henderson's foot touched the sideline.
"It was a touchdown, simple as that," Cole said. "His foot was in by 6 or 7 inches."
Purdue (3-0, 1-0 Big Ten) trailed 28-17 with 8:09 left after Cole's 3-yard TD pass to Ron Johnson.
But Hance was 7-for-8 on the next drive, capped by a 6-yard TD pass to Seth Morales. He found Taylor Stubblefield in the flat for the 2-point conversion to pull Purdue to 28-25 with 4:05 left.
The Golden Gophers (1-2, 0-1) chewed up the clock and a punt put Purdue at its own 6 with 19 seconds left. Hance threw a 27-yard pass to Standeford and a 39-yarder to Stubblefield. With the officials frantically trying to spot the ball and move the chains, the Boilermakers set up for Travis Dorsch's 48-yard kick just before time ran out.
The Gophers didn't think it should've counted.
"It's tough to swallow," Minnesota coach Glen Mason said. "I don't know how they get it off in 1 second. The only way is to snap it on the whistle. That did not happen. Fact."
Tiller disagreed.
"I specifically watched it," he said. "When he chopped the clock, the ball was on the way."
That's what the officials thought, too.
Purdue's ability to get the ball snapped in time, to Tiller's delight, stemmed from a drill the Boilermakers have done repeatedly in practice.
"I kid not," Tiller said. "We've practiced that every single week, forever. You've never seen it, because we've never been in a position to use it."
Dorsch was skeptical before Saturday.
"The past four years I wondered why we did that on Fridays," Dorsch said. "Now, I know why."
Cole threw two TD passes to Johnson and put an end to Minnesota's quarterback rotation. Tellis Redmon had 132 of his 152 rushing yards in the first half and threw a tiebreaking TD pass in the third quarter for the Gophers, playing their first game since Sept. 8.
"We had a little rhythm in the first half," said Redmon, who also ran for a score. "The offense executed real well.
Cole, who had split time with Asad Abdul-Khaliq for the first two games and all of last season, took every snap Saturday. He was 12-for-26 for 153 yards, two TDs and three interceptions.
Johnson caught eight passes for 92 yards and now has a reception in 38 straight games - the longest current streak in the country.
Mike Lehan picked off Hance's pass in the third quarter and returned it 56 yards to the Purdue 22. On fourth-and-goal from the 1, Redmon ran right and found tight end Ben Utecht in the end zone to put Minnesota up 21-14.
Purdue pulled ahead 14-7 with 2:58 left in the first half when guard Sean Rufolo went in motion, making the Gophers think he was blocking for Montrell Lowe - running right on an apparent toss sweep.
But Lowe stopped, pivoted and threw across the field to a wide-open Hance for a 31-yard touchdown.
The teams jogged on the field in silence before the gamed to honor of the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as several Minnesota athletes gripped a large American flag. Utecht and Gophers kicker Dan Nystrom sang the national anthem.