Purdue Boilermakers vs Rice Owls Match Player Stats On Sep 10, 2011

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Sep 10, 2011

Taylor McHargue accounted for 266 total yards and two touchdowns, and Rice blocked a last-second field goal attempt to beat Purdue 24-22 on Saturday in Houston.

Carson Wiggs’ 31-yard field goal that would have given Purdue the win was blocked, vaulting the Owls to just their second win in their last seven home openers. The Boilermakers got the ball on their own 48-yard line with 1:47 left in the game and drove all the way to the Rice 14-yard line, but Wiggs was unable to lift them to a come-from-behind win.

McHargue, a dual-threat quarterback who struggled in last week’s loss at Texas, threw for 230 yards and ran for 36 more. He completed passes to 10 different receivers and threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Luke Willson as time expired in the second quarter to knot the game at 17-17.

With a 24-17 lead late in the third quarter, Rice stopped Purdue running back Akeem Shavers on a fourth-and-1 from the Owls’ 2-yard line. That appeared to give Rice the momentum, but on the next play Charles Ross was tackled in the end zone for a safety to narrow the Owls’ lead to 24-19.

The all-time series between these two schools is now tied 2-2, but this was the first meeting since 1998.

Purdue narrowly missed its first 2-0 start since 2007, which was the last time the team went to a bowl game. The Boilermakers have dropped three consecutive road openers.