No. 23 Illinois salvages crazy victory against visiting Purdue

CHAMPAIGN — Luke Altmyer threw a 25-yard touchdown pass in overtime to Pat Bryant, and Dylan Rosiek sacked Purdue's Ryan Browne on a 2-point conversion attempt to give No. 23 Illinois a 50-49 victory Saturday.

Illinois (5-1, 2-1 Big Ten) had lost four straight and seven of its last eight against Purdue (1-5, 0-3). The Illini hadn’t beaten the Boilermakers at Memorial Stadium since 2010.

Illinois’ David Alano made a 38-yard field goal as time expired to tie it at 43 after Purdue rallied.

Ahrmad Branch, on his only carry of the day, scored on a 3-yard run in OT for the Boilermakers.

Altmyer completed 20 of 34 passes for 379 yards and three touchdowns. Josh McCray ran for 78 yards and two TDs and caught a scoring pass. Bryant caught four passes for 104 yards.

Browne, a redshirt freshman making his first career start with Hudson Card sidelined by a concussion, rushed for 118 yards on 17 carries and completed 18 of 26 passes for 297 yards and three TDs after throwing for just 9 yards in the first half.

Max Klare caught six passes for 133 yards for Purdue. Mockobee ran for 102 yards on 11 carries.

Down 27-3 at halftime, Purdue launched a comeback.

The Boilermakers scored two TDs in eight seconds on 53-yard pass from Browne to Jahmal Edrine and a sack of Altmyer by Nyland Green that caused a fumble that Will Heldt returned 16 yards for TD.

After Browne threw a 62-yard strike to Klare on a double-reverse flea flicker, a 24-yard field goal by Spencer Porath made it 27-20. Altmyer ended Purdue’s surge with a 13-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter.

The Boilermakers responded with an 8-yard TD pass from Browne to Jaron Tibbs and a 2-point conversion pass from Browne to Klare, but McCray scored on a 3-yard run to make it 40-28 with 5:26 to go in regulation time.

Purdue cut the lead to 40-35 with 1:35 left on a 2-yard TD run by Mockobee.

After Ben Freehill recovered an onside kick, the Boilermakers scored again on a 13-yard pass from Brown to Mockobee and a 2-point conversion pass from Browne to Edrine with 46 seconds left to move in front for the first time at 43-40.

THE TAKEAWAY

Illinois: Now that the Illini have vanquished the Boilermakers, the biggest thorn in their side over the past several years, they can focus on back-to-back huge Big Ten games to end the month. They’ll host No. 24 Michigan next week in the culmination of a season-long celebration of Memorial Stadium’s 100th anniversary and travel to No. 3 Oregon the following week.

Purdue: The Boilermakers dropped their fifth straight after a season-opening win over Indiana State. Purdue came into the Illinois game with one of the lowest-scoring offenses and most porous defenses in the country and even though both units showed signs of life in the second half against the Illini, they have to go up against three of the country’s top four teams (Oregon, Oho State and Penn State) in the next four games.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Beating one of the country’s worst teams by just seven points in overtime shouldn’t propel Illinois higher in the AP Top 25. But they Illini shouldn’t drop, either, because they did what they needed to do against a foe that was desperate for a win.