Aidan O’Connell connected with Charlie Jones on three touchdown passes as part of a four-touchdown performance, and host Purdue cruised past Indiana State 56-0 in West Lafayette, Ind., on Saturday.
O’Connell needed only one half of play to stake Purdue (1-1) to a 35-0 lead, completing 17 of 19 passes for 211 yards. Jones finished his day with nine catches for 133 yards. Safety Cam Allen returned a third-quarter interception 65 yards for touchdown that put Purdue up 49-0.
Dante Hendrix paced Indiana State (1-1) on offense, grabbing five receptions for 90 yards. Sycamores quarterback Gavin Screws completed just 6 of 14 passes for 83 yards, with two interceptions.
Purdue got a short field on its opening possession after Sanoussi Kane forced a fumble that Allen recovered at the Indiana State 30. The Boilermakers took just four plays to cash in on a 4-yard King Doerue touchdown run.
Purdue then put together a six-play, 58-yard scoring drive that covered 2:09 to go up 14-0 on O’Connell’s 7-yard scoring pass to Jones.
The Boilermakers scored again three minutes later on a 43-yard drive, culminating in an O’Connell to Paul Piferi 26-yard pass.
The Sycamores answered with two drives deep into Purdue territory, but both possessions ended in turnovers — the first on downs after a Purdue goal-line stand and the second a Jamari Brown interception.
After that, O’Connell connected with Jones for a 36-yard score to complete a four-play, 61-yard drive with 3:50 to play in the half. He once again found Jones for a 5-yard pass to close out a five-play, 48-yard drive with 46 seconds to go.
Dylan Downing had a 1-yard rushing touchdown and Devin Mockobee added a 14-yard touchdown run to complete the scoring.
Purdue leads the all-time series 6-0.
–Field Level Media
