Syracuse football improves to 3-0 with 35-20 victory at Purdue

In a packed Ross-Ade Stadium, Syracuse football (3-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) drew first blood against Purdue (1-2, 0-0 Big Ten Conference) and never surrendered the lead after that in a 35-20 triumph.

Approaching the midway point of the opening quarter, Syracuse recovered a Purdue fumble deep in its own territory. That giveaway marked the first of four for the Boilermakers.

“Can’t get enough of those,” head coach Dino Babers stated postgame when talking about the amount of turnovers SU forced. “That was a good offensive line and a good quarterback with some dynamite receivers and that quarterback had legs as well. For [the defense] to come out of it the way they did, I’m really proud of them.”

After Purdue’s first turnover, Syracuse drove down the field and quarterback Garrett Shrader tallied his first rushing score with a deceptive fake handoff. That was just the start of a successful running game for SU’s gunslinger. The ‘Cuse capitalized on another Purdue fumble to double the advantage as Shrader scrambled on 3rd-and-10 for a 35-yard touchdown run.

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Purdue found its first points nearly four minutes into the second frame when Hudson Card connected with Deion Burks on the only passing touchdown from either team in the contest. While the Boilermakers struggled to get the run game going, Card finished the night with 32 completions for 323 yards.

Syracuse answered back in the late stages of the first half with a LeQuint Allen rushing touchdown. Purdue’s fourth turnover of the night occurred with under a minute left in the second quarter when Marlowe Wax intercepted a deflected pass. SU held a 14-point lead heading into the break.

Purdue and Syracuse continued to trade jabs throughout the second half. The Boilermakers struck first in the third quarter on a 5-yard run into the endzone by Hudson Card. The Orange responded with Garrett Shrader’s third rushing touchdown of the game seven seconds into the final quarter.

The Boilermakers stuck around and kept the pressure on. A 14-play drive ended with a 1-yard touchdown run for Tyrone Tracy. A missed extra point kept the score 28-20 in SU’s favor.

After Syracuse punted away, Purdue had its opportunity to tie the game but turned the ball over on downs with just under five minutes remaining.

“We knew things weren’t going our way. We just had to keep on going and have everybody come together and just make it all about us, nothing about Purdue. Just us being us and playing hard,” LB Marlowe Wax said following the game.

Garrett Shrader applied the dagger with his career-record fourth rushing touchdown to secure the victory for the Orange.

While SU’s passing game was subpar with no Oronde Gadsden, the Orange notched 271 yards on the ground and the Boilermakers only mustered 80.

“I would have liked to connect on more of the down-the-field stuff in terms of the passes but the quarterback run game was there,” said QB Garrett Shrader after the game. “We knew I would have a ton of lanes to run and pull the ball. I probably did a little more than I should have but we got the job done.”

With the win, Syracuse improves to 3-0 and has defeated Purdue in back-to-back seasons. Next week, SU returns home to take on Army (2-1, 0-0 Independents) for the first time since 1996. Kickoff at the JMA Wireless Dome is slated for noon. McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Kickoff gets underway on WAER at 11:30 a.m.