Sept. 11, 2004
Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery
By JON KRAWCZYNSKI
Associated Press Writer
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - Kyle Orton and No. 25 Purdue are piling up the points and playing close to perfect.
Orton threw for a career-high five touchdowns and ran for another to lead the Boilermakers to a 59-7 win over Ball State on Saturday.
Orton completed his first 15 passes and threw for 329 yards in just over two quarters of work for Purdue (2-0), which posted its second straight dominating performance to open the season.
"We're doing everything right right now," said Taylor Stubblefield, who had five catches for 88 yards and three touchdowns. "Hopefully we don't get overconfident and understand that we will face tougher competitors."
In just two games, Purdue has racked up 1,170 yards of offense and outscored its opponents 110-7, including last week's 51-0 rout of Syracuse.
This one was equally one-sided. The Boilermakers scored touchdowns on six of their seven possessions in the first half, kicking a field goal on the other, to take a 45-0 lead at the break.
The Cardinals (0-2) couldn't keep up.
Ball State managed just 67 yards of offense in the first half to Purdue's 380, and had two punts blocked that set up Purdue touchdowns.
Ball State quarterback Joey Lynch - making the second start of his career - wasn't awful, he just wasn't Orton. Lynch completed 8 of 13 passes for 79 yards and a touchdown. He didn't commit a turnover, but the Cardinals couldn't get anything going on the ground against Purdue.
Even though he threw four TDs last week, Orton said he was disappointed with his 16-for-30 performance against the Orange and came out determined to be more accurate on Saturday.
He was nearly perfect, completing 23 of 26 passes - a school-record 88.5 percent - and leading the Boilermakers to seven touchdowns and a field goal in eight series.
"We're just clicking right now on offense and making some big plays," Orton said. "We just try to go out there and score as many points as we can."
It didn't take long for Purdue to overwhelm Ball State.
Freshman Dorien Bryant returned the opening kickoff 53 yards to set up a 3-yard TD run by Orton to open the scoring.
"It happened pretty quick," Ball State coach Brady Hoke said. "The one thing you want to do with an offense that potent is that you want to make them run. When they return the first kickoff and go down and score ... It was out of hand from the get-go."
The Boilermakers followed with a 14-play drive that took nearly seven minutes off the clock and culminated with Orton finding a wide-open Stubblefield for a 9-yard score.
Following a blocked punt by Jerod Void, Orton faked a handoff and hit Bryant for a 15-yard touchdown and a 28-0 lead.
Orton also hooked up with Stubblefield on TD passes of 17 and 43 yards and capped the half with a 15-yard TD pass to Kyle Ingraham after Bernard Pollard got Purdue's second blocked punt of the day.
"It's surprising when Orton is not on," Stubblefield said. "As good as he was, it was a typical day for Orton. He's like that everyday in practice."
For most of the game, Ball State seemed content to keep the ball on the ground, trying to keep the clock running and the Purdue offense off the field.
But the Purdue defense wouldn't allow it.
The Cardinals punted nine times and didn't get anything going offensively until the fourth quarter.
"We didn't try and do a whole lot," Hoke said. "We're not at that stage as a program where we want to take a lot of risks and give up a lot of big plays. In hindsight, yeah, we would have liked to do a little more but we're trying to build a program."
Larry Bostic had 76 yards on 19 carries for Ball State.
Purdue's defense, which was the big question mark entering the season after having seven starters drafted from last year's unit, has given up just 197 yards in each game.
The Cardinals got 85 of their yards - and their lone touchdown - in the fourth quarter against Purdue's backups.
Orton played one series in the second half, leading yet another touchdown drive for a 52-0 lead.
Lynch hit Bryan Williamson on a 16-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter for the Cardinals' lone score.