Purdue @ Nebraska preview

Purdue at Nebraska

Last Meeting ( Oct 12, 2013 ) Nebraska 44, Purdue 7

Ameer Abdullah is seemingly breaking school records every time he walks onto the field and could be in line to set a few more on Saturday when No. 16 Nebraska hosts Purdue. The nation’s leading rusher posted a school-record 341 all-purpose yards in last weekend’s 42-24 win over Rutgers, one week after becoming the first Cornhusker to run for 1,000 yards in three different seasons. This week, he can become the first player in school history to score multiple touchdowns in six straight games.

Abdullah, who has already produced four 200-yard rushing performances in 2014 – all at home – can also become the first Nebraska player to ever cross that threshold five times in a season with another such effort against the Boilermakers. Purdue has made tremendous strides under second-year coach Darrell Hazell, giving No. 5 Michigan State all it could handle for 3 ½ quarters on Oct. 11 and then dropping a 39-38 decision at co-Big Ten West leader Minnesota one week later. Ever since Austin Appleby replaced fellow sophomore quarterback Danny Etling three games ago, Purdue has averaged 258.7 yards rushing and scored at least 31 points each time.

TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN2. LINE: Nebraska -23.5.

ABOUT PURDUE (3-5, 1-3 Big Ten): Raheem Mostert, who is averaging 17.3 yards per carry over his last three games, became the first Boilermaker since 2009 to amass over 100 yards in two categories (not including passing yards) versus the Golden Gophers when he turned five carries into 115 yards and returned six kickoffs for 136 more. With 2,034 kickoff return yards in his career, the senior running back is only 92 yards shy of breaking Dorien Bryant’s career mark. Senior running back Akeem Hunt sits fifth in Purdue history with 4,176 career all-purpose yards – a total that ranks second among active players in the conference behind Abdullah’s 6,604 and ninth in the country

ABOUT NEBRASKA (7-1, 3-1): Kenny Bell surpassed Nate Swift’s school mark with his 167th career reception; the senior receiver needs only seven more receiving yards to break Nebraska legend Johnny Rodgers’ mark (2,479). Abdullah leads the country with 19 total touchdowns and needs to score three more times to move into a three-way tie for second for the most single-season touchdowns in school history – seven behind Mike Rozier (29, 1983). Defensive end Randy Gregory – a former Purdue commitment – leads the team with 5.5 sacks and is a half-sack shy of the top 10 in school history with 16 in his career.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Abdullah, who has the only two 300-yard all-purpose yardage games in FBS in 2014, has scored 12 touchdowns this season at Memorial Stadium while Nebraska’s five home opponents have combined for 13.

2. The Boilermakers haven’t scored 31 points in four straight Big Ten games since 1980.

3. Nebraska is one of only nine teams in FBS to rank in the top 25 nationally in scoring offense (41.1, 11th) and scoring defense (20.4, 22nd).

PREDICTION: Nebraska 45, Purdue 27