WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Dante Dowdell emerged from the visitor locker room wearing fresh clothes and the hint of a smile. On a Saturday when Nebraska’s search for points — any points — endured for more than 40 minutes of game time, the answer finally came in conventional hard-hitting fashion.
Plan A in theory became Plan A on the Ross-Ade Stadium grass with the outcome still in doubt. The Huskers ran the football. “We just figured it out,” Dowdell said.
“We didn’t panic.” NU didn’t exactly steamroll Purdue — one of the worst Big Ten run defenses — on the ground in a scoreless first half. The team’s 170-pound freshman receiver, Jacory Barney, took a reverse and a short-side flip for 38 yards, but its traditional running backs had all of 11 rushing yards combined.
The Boilermakers upped the pressure to open the third quarter with a long drive producing a field goal. Nebraska countered with its first touchdown march that featured handoffs on seven of nine plays. Emmett Johnson for 3, then 8.
Dowdell for 6, 3 and 1. Johnson again on a 9-yard cutback, wiggling through defenders and bursting ahead on what initially appeared to be a no-gainer. Johnson — who had no touches in the Illinois loss a week earlier — helped spur NU again on its next chance by sprinting through a seam for 16 yards.
Gabe Ervin received his lone carry on first and goal at the Purdue 5-yard line and rumbled right for 4. Dowdell on fourth and goal from the 1 took a Dylan Raiola hando.