Purdue's offense stalls against Ryan Walters' Washington defense as Boilermakers fall to 3-4

Purdue's two-game run of momentum ended Friday night, and the man who ended it used to run the program. Washington's defense, coordinated by former Boilermakers head coach Ryan Walters, shut down Purdue's running game and forced the mistakes that decided the game. The Huskies left West Lafayette with a win that drops Purdue to 3-4 and moves Washington to 4-3.

As Sam King laid out in his game grades for the Indianapolis Star, Purdue had almost nothing on the ground beyond one play. That play was Antonio Harris' 60-yard run, and King credited it to Harris extending the play on his own rather than to anything the blocking created. Without a run game to lean on, quarterback Ryan Browne kept testing Washington's defensive backs in single coverage. It eventually cost him: he threw an interception while the game was still within reach, and that ended any real chance of a comeback. Purdue also turned the ball over on downs three times, starting with its first possession.

The defensive side was arguably worse. Washington started its backup quarterback, Elijah Brown, who finished with three touchdowns. The Huskies came in averaging 26.2 points, 369.8 yards and 90.3 rushing yards per game, and those numbers were padded by a 48-16 win over FCS Eastern Washington. By halftime they already had 24 points, 302 yards and 125 rushing yards. Sixth-year running back Trey Cooley had 52 yards on 25 carries all season before Friday. Against Purdue he ran for 113 yards on eight carries, including a 53-yard touchdown. Purdue's defense intercepted three passes and still drew a D from the Star.

Special teams were the bright spot. Freshman kicker Jacobo Echeverria Lozano made two field goals, one from a career-long 48 yards. For the second week in a row, a Dylan Drennan punt led to a takeaway: the ball bounced off a Washington blocker and Don Saunders recovered it. Purdue also had one fewer day to prepare than Washington, which was playing its second straight Friday game, but King made clear that was no excuse.

What it means for the next game

The loss takes some of the shine off a two-week stretch that looked like a turning point. Purdue had beaten Illinois 24-17 on the road and Minnesota 41-13 at home after a three-game losing streak against Wake Forest, UCLA and No. 3 Notre Dame. In those losses the defense gave up 38, 52 and 49 points. Friday's game looked much more like that stretch than the last two weeks, and the run defense was the main problem.

Purdue now has an idle week. The bye gives the staff time to rebuild a run game that disappeared against Washington and to look again at a defense that let a struggling Huskies rushing attack find its form. Getting back to .500 starts after that week off.

For Washington, the win snapped a three-game losing streak. Those losses came by three points to Minnesota, four at No. 18 USC and 17 to No. 20 Iowa. The Huskies won on a night when their backup quarterback started and a seldom-used running back carried the offense. Walters' defense showed what it can do against an offense it knew well.