Purdue aims to ride the momentum of its season-opening victory into Saturday’s encounter against UConn in East Hartford, Conn.
While the Boilermakers (1-0) are coming in on a high, the Huskies (0-2) find themselves experiencing some pretty deep lows just a few weeks into the season.
UConn sustained a 45-0 shellacking by Fresno State in the season opener on Aug. 28, lost by 10 points to an FCS program (Holy Cross) on Saturday and Randy Edsall abruptly stepped down as the team’s head coach two days later.
Defensive coordinator Lou Spanos will serve as interim head coach of the Huskies for the remainder of the season.
“We addressed the team that this is a 10-game season, and we’re going to make this season special — especially for our seniors and also the entire team,” Spanos said Monday on ESPN Radio.
Boilermakers coach Jeff Brohm said he expects the best out of the Huskies.
“You know what, I know their guys will be energized and fired up and ready to play, and they’ve got a Big Ten opponent coming into their stadium, and when that happens, teams get ready to play,” Brohm said on Monday.
“We’ve had numerous opponents come into our stadium here that probably on paper should have won through the course of myself being here, and we’ve found a way to win because our players were hungry and they wanted to prove themselves. I guarantee you, UConn will be ready to prove themselves this week.”
Purdue took a few steps toward proving itself last Saturday with a 30-21 victory over Oregon State.
Jack Plummer completed 29 of 41 passes for 313 yards and two touchdowns, highlighted a spirited fourth quarter in which he went 8 of 9 for 123 yards and two scores.
David Bell had eight receptions for 134 yards and tight end Payne Durham (seven catches, 120 yards) reeled in both touchdown passes for Purdue.
Zander Horvath highlighted his 21-carry, 81-yard performance with an 11-yard touchdown run.
A potent Purdue offense is not music to the ears of UConn, which has been outscored by an 83-28 margin over the first two games. The Huskies have yielded 901 total yards and mustered just 369, with only 246 coming through the air.
Jack Zergiotis completed 17 of 41 passes for 174 yards and three touchdowns against the Crusaders. He also was picked off three times.
Kevin Mensah has struggled to find daylight on the young season. He has rushed 32 times for 97 yards.
