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| 11-18-2002 | Previous edition: 11-15-2002 |
        
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Printer-friendly version Good running game helps secure victory
Assistant Sports Editor EAST LANSING, Mich. — It only took Kyle Orton one play to take the game by the throat. With a little more than three minutes left in the game Saturday, Orton stepped on the field, took a few practice tosses and calmly threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to John Standeford on fourth and 8 to give Purdue a 45-42 win over Michigan State. "I've said it many a time that Orton throws a deep ball about as well as any one I've been around," said Purdue head coach Joe Tiller. After the game, Orton said, "I thought we had a decent chance to pick up a first down, but I didn't think we were going to score a touchdown on that play. It was a pretty unbelievable thing." Unbelievable is an accurate description of everything Purdue went through Saturday. Starting quarterback Brandon Kirsch, who left the game after he had the wind knocked out of him, threw four interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns. Purdue fumbled the ball four times, although the ball actually bounced back into a Boilermaker's hands three times. The game, as many other Purdue games have this season, came down to an opponent driving down the field in the final minutes and Purdue's defense needing a stop. On fourth and 4 at midfield with just more than a minute remaining, junior linebacker Niko Koutovides tackled Spartan quarterback Damon Dowdell inches short of the first down. "He scrambled on fourth and 4 and I came up and I just got his foot," Koutouvides said. "I had a good feeling even though they gave him a pretty good spot … I knew he was short. And that was it." Koutovides, who is among the league leaders in tackles, only recorded four tackles Saturday, but he had his second interception in as many weeks and the second of his career. The defense did an admirable job of holding Michigan State when it needed to, but Spartan receiver Charles Rogers was able to claw through coverage for eight catches and 161 yards and two touchdowns. He was lined up against at least double coverage much of the game and junior cornerback Jacques Reeves had to commit a pass interference penalty to save a touchdown in the second quarter. Purdue led 24-17 at the half, despite some miscues by the Purdue offense on the goal line. "I liked the way we played in the first half but I can't believe we fumbled the ball on our quarterback-center exchange on the goal line like we did," Tiller said. In the second quarter, Purdue had first and goal at the Michigan State one-yard line. Running back Jerod Void was stopped at the line on first down and on second down, Kirsch fumbled the exchange and fell on the ball at the two yard line. On fourth and goal from the one a play later, Kirsch did the same thing and the Spartans took over on downs. After the game, Kirsch was asked if his hand injury affected his center exchanges, but he said the fumbles were his fault for not executing correctly. "I wasn't aligned right with Gene (Mruczkowski, senior center)," Kirsch said. "He has a different stance when we're on goal line because he has three guys lined up right on him and he's in a different stance. I just wasn't concentrating hard enough on the snap and messed that up." But aside from the fumbles and the interceptions, Tiller said Kirsch had a good game. He threw for 208 yards and two touchdowns and led the team with 125 yards rushing on 21 carries. In all, Purdue rushers ran for 307 yards and three touchdowns Saturday. The rushing statistics surprised Tiller, but he acknowledged that running was part of the gameplan. "The coaches looked at the tape this week and they said, 'hey, this might be the Northwestern gameplan again,'" Tiller said. "And I said you're going to force me to pull my hair our; I don't really want to do that. I have to admit the run was there, particularly schematically. "We felt we could run the ball effectively, but we got about 100 more yards than I thought. I was hoping that if we could get 150 or 200 yards, it would be a great day for us running." Printer-friendly version |
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