The 2008 Purdue Boilermakers football team represented

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mone ...

in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

during the

2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season began on August 28, 2008 and ended on D ...

Joe Tiller Joseph Henry Tiller (December 7, 1942 – September 30, 2017) was an American football player and coach. He was the head coach at the University of Wyoming from 1991 to 1996 and Purdue University from 1997 to 2008, with a career record of know ...

, in his 12th and final season at Purdue, was the team's head coach. The Boilermakers' home games were played at

Ross–Ade Stadium Ross–Ade Stadium is a stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana, on the campus of Purdue University. It is the home field of Purdue Boilermakers football. The stadium was dedicated on November 22, 1924, and named in honor of Purdue alumni George Ade ...

West Lafayette, Indiana West Lafayette () is a city in Wabash Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, about northwest of the state capital of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette is directly across the Wabash River from its sister cit ...

. They posted a 4–8 record, finishing in a ninth place tie in the Big Ten.

Schedule

Game summaries

Northern Colorado

Oregon

Kory Sheets rushed for an 80-yard touchdown for the Boilermakers and Matt Evensen kicked a 23-yard field goal for the Ducks. Chris Summers then kicked a 29-yard and a 38-yard field goals in the first quarter. Kory Sheets rush for 2 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter. In the third quarter, Summers' punt was returned by Jairus Byrd for an 87-yard touchdown. Then

LeGarrette Blount LeGarrette Montez Blount (; born December 5, 1986) is a former American football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons. He played college football at Oregon after transferring from East Mississippi Commun ...

rushed for 5 yards for a touchdown to tie the score. Summers kicked a 27-yard field goal in the fourth quarter, but missed a field goal try to tie the game in regulation. Both teams kicked a field goal in overtime, but the Boilermakers failed to score in the second overtime period. The Ducks scored a touchdown to win the game.

Central Michigan

Notre Dame

Irish quarterback

Jimmy Clausen James Richard Clausen (born September 21, 1987) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) from 2010 to 2015. He played college football at Notre Dame and was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in t ...

threw for a career-high 275 yards and three touchdowns and Notre Dame running backs ran for 201 yards in the 38–21 defeat over the Boilermakers. Purdue took a 7–0 lead on a

Kory Sheets Kory Gerren Sheets (born March 31, 1985) is a former American football running back. He played college football at Purdue and he was signed by the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent in 2009. Sheets was also a member of the Miami Dolphi ...

run, but Notre Dame countered with a 47-yard interception return for a touchdown by cornerback Robert J. Blanton. Purdue answered back when Aaron Valentin scored on a 3-yard pass from Curtis Painter to make the score 14–7. Clausen threw a touchdown pass to Golden Tate to tie it 14–14 heading into half-time. The Irish scored on their first two possessions of the second half to open a 28–14 lead. The Boilermakers cut the lead to 28–21 four plays later when Painter threw a pass that Desmond Tardy caught at the Notre Dame 30 and raced up the left sideline for a touchdown. The Irish answered immediately, however, when Clausen threw a 30-yard TD pass to David Grimes on a fourth-and-7. The Boilermakers fell to 1–15 at

Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame Stadium is an outdoor football stadium in Notre Dame, Indiana, the home field of the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team. It was built in 1930 under the guidance of Knute Rockne, regarded as one of the greatest c ...

since 1976. The loss also left Joe Tiller with a 5–7 record against the Irish. (Purdue had lost 11 straight to Notre Dame before Tiller arrived.)

Penn State

The

Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The interc ...

defeated the Boilermakers 20–6, outgaining Purdue 422 to 241 in total offense. Penn State quarterback

Daryll Clark Daryll Lawrence Clark (born February 5, 1986) is a former American football quarterback. He was signed by the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League as a free agent in 2010. He played collegiately for the Penn State Nittany Lions. Fro ...

completed 18 of 26 passes for 226 yards and a ran for a touchdown on a quarterback sneak on 4th-and-goal in the second quarter for the first points of the game. Running back

Evan Royster Evan Mathias Royster (born November 26, 1987) is a former American football running back. He was drafted in the sixth round of the 2011 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins. He played college football at Penn State University, where he was a thr ...

ran for 141 yards and a touchdown and also caught four balls for 53 yards. Curtis Painter finished 13-for-22 for 112 yards but was replaced in the fourth quarter by backup Joey Elliott after throwing an interception to Nittany Lion safety Drew Astorino. Placekicker Chris Summers missed all three of his kick attempts—two field goal attempts and an extra point attempt.

' fourth-quarter touchdown run was Purdue's first offensive touchdown against Penn State since 2005.

Ohio State

Purdue managed to keep Ohio State's offense out of the end zone with OSU's only touchdown coming from a blocked punt. While the Purdue defense shut down Ohio State's Terelle Pryor and Beanie Wells, Ohio State's defense shut down Purdue's high powered offense. Purdue did manage to cut the lead to 13–3 in the third, but an Ohio State field goal restored the lead to 13. Ohio State stopped a late Purdue chance to make things interesting to hold on for the win.

Northwestern

Minnesota

Michigan

In his first collegiate start, third-string

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Justin Siller completed 21-of-34 passes for 266 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 77 yards and another score.

rushed for 118 yards and tied a career-high with four touchdowns.

Michigan State

Iowa

Indiana

To finish a mostly dismal season for Purdue, the Boilermakers blew out arch-rival Indiana to reclaim the Old Oaken Bucket in Joe Tiller's final game. The win produced the largest ever margin of victory in the Bucket series.

Statistics

Team

Scores by quarter

Offense

Rushing

Passing

Receiving

Defense

Special teams

Statistics as of November 22, 2008 taken fro
Purdue CSTV

2009 NFL Draft

References

{{Purdue Boilermakers football navbox Purdue Purdue Boilermakers football seasons

Purdue Boilermakers football The Purdue Boilermakers football team represents Purdue University in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of college football. Purdue plays its home games at Ross–Ade Stadium on the campus of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. ...