Syracuse beats Purdue after Boilermakers gift Orange 50 penalty yards on game-winning drive

Syracuse benefitted from 50 yards of Purdue penalties to score a TD with seven seconds left to beat the Boilermakers 32-29.

The Boilermakers took a 29-25 lead with 51 seconds to go when Aldan O’Connell found Payne Durham for a 12-yard TD. But Durham was called for unsportsmanlike conduct after the TD for celebrating and Purdue’s coaching staff subsequently got another unsportsmanlike foul for arguing the call. The penalties were assessed on the kickoff and, after the coach penalty was reduced to 10 yards because it was half the distance to the goal, Purdue kicked the ball back to Syracuse from its own 10.

Syracuse returned the ball to midfield and couldn’t get much going. But Purdue DB Bryce Hampton was called for defensive holding after a third incompletion to start the drive.

That moved the ball to the Purdue 40 and Shrader threw two more incomplete passes. He then lofted a pass in the direction of Isaiah Jones on the sideline on third down and Hampton was called for a clear pass interference.

His second penalty moved the ball to the Purdue 25 and the Boilermakers went with a blitz and man coverage on first down. That decision did not pay off. Shrader threw a dime to Oronde Gadsden for the game-winning score. Hampton was in coverage on that play too.

Yes, the only actual yardage on Syracuse’s game-winning drive came via the TD pass. Every other yard was accrued via penalty yardage. And Purdue got unsportsmanlike conduct penalties after Gadsden’s catch for good measure as well. The two penalties called against a livid Boilermaker defense meant that Andre Szmyt kicked back to Purdue from the Boilermaker 35 yard-line.

The win drops Purdue to 1-2 after a heartbreaking loss to start the season against Penn State while Syracuse is now 3-0 for the first time since it went 10-3 in 2018.