Indiana handed the Old Oaken Bucket back to Purdue on Saturday in West Lafayette, and with that their season mercifully came to an end.
At a sold-out Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, the Hoosiers’ offense did what it has done many times in recent weeks — produced early points.
And then the offense did what it has done for most of the season — next to nothing on a day that started rainy and cold but cleared as the afternoon turned to evening. For IU the day did the exact opposite — started bright and quickly turned gloomy.
Walk-on quarterback Grant Gremel got his first career start and led Indiana 11-plays for 75 yards and a touchdown on the Hoosiers’ first drive. Freshman quarterback Donaven McCulley, who played just a couple snaps, ran in the score from two yards out.
That drive tied the game at seven, but from there IU produced just 130 yards the rest of the game and lost 44-7 to the Boilermakers.
Gremel, the fourth-string quarterback at fall camp, finished the game 18-of-30 for 147 yards with an interception. Indiana ran the ball 32 times for a net 58 yards including four sacks of Gremel. Fellow walk-on Davion Ervin-Poindexter led IU with 48 yards on the ground.
Indiana’s defense wasn’t much better. Purdue scored points on seven of their first nine drives and amassed 447 yards. Quarterback Aidan O’Connell was nearly perfect, completing 26-of-31 passes for 278 yards and four touchdowns.
After beginning the season ranked No. 17, the Hoosiers conclude the 2021 campaign with a 2-10 record and a winless 0-9 mark in the Big Ten. This is IU’s first double-digit loss season and first winless year in the league since 2011, Kevin Wilson’s first year as head coach. Indiana lost eight straight to end the season.
The Boilermakers (8-4, 6-3 Big Ten) have won four of five to post their highest single-season victory total since 2006. It was the most lopsided game in the series since 2008 when Purdue won 62-10 in the late Joe Tiller’s final regular-season game as coach.
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