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Friday, December 13, 2002
Boilers' D shuts down Wildcat attack
By Tim Stratton
Special to BCSfootball.com
On Saturday, Tim Stratton and Purdue defeated then-No. 18 Northwestern 41-28. With the win, the Boilermakers jumped to the 17th ranking in the country. The junior tight end made one catch for 25 yards in the victory. The Boilermakers have another important Big Ten road game this weekend when they travel to Madison, Wis. to face the Wisconsin Badgers (ESPN, 12 p.m. ET).
After our first road victory against a ranked team, the bus ride home was a lot of fun. We knew going into the game that Northwestern had a very good offense and its defense was playing solid all year.
|  | | Purdue's Jason Loerzel drives Damien Anderson out of bounds during the Boilermakers' victory last Saturday. |
The game started out as if it was going to be a shootout, with both teams scoring touchdowns on their first possessions, but our defense adjusted and our offense kept putting points on the board to secure the victory.
Offensively, we had a balanced attack with Drew throwing for 239 yards and Montrell Lowe had a great game with 174 yards for the day. The O-Line did another excellent job of not letting Drew get sacked. He did get sacked once, and that's my fault for not blocking Dwayne Missouri long enough for Drew to get the ball off.
The receiving corps did another great job with Vinny Sutherland and John Standeford leading the way. Overall, the coaches were pleased with the offensive output on Saturday.
Defensively, it took our guys two series to adjust to Northwestern's no-huddle offense. Our defensive tackles played great, and we needed them to do. Matt Mitrione, Brent Botts, Craig Terrill and Rocco Foggio handled the middle of the line very well. Akin Ayodele, Brian Dinkins, Shaun Phillips and Ike Moore contained the outside at the defensive end position as we needed them to. The linebackers and secondary held the Northwestern offensive passing threats in check long enough for the offense to put the game away.
Special teams came through once again as well. The punt team got off all the punts and covered very well. Our kickoffs and kickoff returns remained solid and Vinny did the best he could with a directional punter on punt returns. Travis Dorsch came through once again and for those people upset with him for missing that extra point, you first must understand why he had to pull it. There was confusion at the right wing position and we didn't have one out there. So instead of letting their outside defender have a clear shot, Travis pulled the ball left a little, otherwise the ball would have surely been blocked.
This week, we travel up to Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wis. We're about to play the two-time defending Big Ten champs, and we know it's going to be a tough game. It's a turf game, so we'll be practicing all week in our indoor practice facility to prepare for the game. Have a great week and take care.
Another positive note -- my helmet was returned and I want to thank the student who returned it.
Stratton's Purdue Statistics
| Year |
Rec. |
Yards |
Average |
TD |
Long |
| 2000 |
36 |
400 |
11.1 |
1 |
29 |
| 1999 |
49 |
593 |
12.1 |
4 |
34 |
| 1998 |
38 |
381 |
10.0 |
7 |
29 |
| Total |
122 |
1,374 |
11.3 |
12 |
34 |
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Purdue's Drew Brees throws 10 yards to Vinny Sutherland for the TD against Northwestern.