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GoldandBlack.com Saturday Simulcast: Purdue-Minnesota postgame reaction

Karpick_headshot500x500by: Alan Karpick3 hours agoAlanKarpick
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Breakdown and postgame analysis after Minnesota’s come-from-behind 27-20 win over Purdue in Minneapolis. The staff of GoldandBlack.com weighs in, along with co-host Nate Barrett and Gold and Black Radio Derek Schultz, who worked the sidelines tonight for the Purdue Radio Network.

Audio only

Two key observations from the loss

In one of the more frustrating losses the Boilermakers have absorbed in recent years, Minnesota rallied in the fourth quarter to upend the Boilermakers 27-20, as Ryan Browne‘s pick-six interception with 7:40 left wound up deciding the game.

Purdue totaled 456 yards to Minnesota’s 262.

PDF: Purdue-Minnesota statistics

Below, GoldandBlack.com’s immediate post-game analysis …

PURDUE WAS THE BETTER TEAM FOR MOST OF THIS GAME

Outside the last 10 minutes, Purdue was better than Minnesota. But from there it showed that it just doesn’t know how to win.

Purdue held a 20-13 fourth quarter lead after missing a field goal that would have pushed the lead to 10. Then, a Gopher touchdown drive for Minnesota extended by two facemask penalties on lineman Demeco Kennedy, followed immediately by a first-play pick-six thrown by Ryan Browne, Purdue’s third interception of the day.

This was a golden opportunity squandered, quite simply, by gaffes: Turnovers, penalties and certainly dropped passes.

Really a gutting defeat and yet another example of Purdue needing to not beat itself before it can beat anyone else. The slippery slope moments that decide games just keep going against the Boilermakers.

PURDUE WORE MINNESOTA DOWN

Purdue played a solid game Big Ten-style. It ran the football, moved the chains, won the line of scrimmage and let the defense do the heavy lifting, executing an aggressive approach beautifully, thanks in part to the bounceback game of all bounceback games.

As bad as the secondary was vs. Illinois, it was equally good vs. Minnesota, stifling in man-to-man coverage especially.

You win and lose as a team but the defense should have had at least 6-10 more points worth of margin for error and seven points fewer going against it.

It was a winning performance that resulted in a loss because Purdue just isn’t in a place to close games out, to make this play or that play to secure a win.

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