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Purdue beats Illinois with late TD after questionable decision from Bret Bielema
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It took until the fourth quarter, but a touchdown was finally scored in the Illinois-Purdue game — and it proved to be decisive.
This matchup was a battle of field goals for over 3.5 quarters before Purdue finally found the end zone to take the lead. Eventually, Aidan O’Connell found TJ Sheffield for a momentum-changing touchdown with 5:44 remaining in the fourth quarter.
That score made it 13-9 in Purdue’s favor, and that turned out to be the final score.
Here’s the play:
🚂🥳 @BoilerFootball punches in the go-ahead TD with just under 6min left to go!! 👀 pic.twitter.com/qFvligmoND
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 25, 2021
This touchdown came shortly after Illinois forced an interception and then converted that turnover into three points.
Prior to Purdue’s touchdown, Illinois had a chance to put more points on the board but coach Bret Bielema opted to punt the ball from Purdue’s 34-yard line. That decision did not pay off, as Purdue marched 94 yards in 10 plays and 3:42.
Against Maryland Bielema opted to punt on a 4th and 1 and Maryland drove for a TD in response.
Against Purdue Bielema opted to punt on 4th and 2 and Purdue drove for a tD in response.
— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) September 25, 2021
The Illini haven’t won a game since upsetting Nebraska at home back in Week 0. The Boilermakers are now 3-1 on the season, with their only loss coming on the road against Notre Dame.
Spenser is the news manager at Saturday Road and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.