Shrader and defense lead Orange to 35-20 win over Purdue

First road win over a non-conference P5 opponent in 17 years since the Missouri Miracle

Alex Martin/Journal and Courier / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Syracuse Orange overcame the loss of Oronde Gadsden and David Wohlabaugh to take a 35-20 road win over the Purdue Boilermakers and move to 3-0 on the season.

It was Garrett Shrader and the Syracuse defense that gave the Orange a 21-7 halftime lead. Shrader’s legs kept drives alive and the Orange defense forced four Purdue turnovers in the half. Jason Beck did a nice job of slowing the Purdue rush with quick passes, option runs and when the Boilermakers got to Shrader he escaped.

Shrader finished the half with over 100 yards rushing and if not for some drops, Syracuse could have had a larger lead at the break. On the other hand, if not for The MOB forcing those turnovers, it could have easily been Purdue’s lead.

The Boilermakers closed the gap to 21-14 after cashing in a Shrader interception. The scoring drive featured two 3rd and long situations where the defense just couldn’t get the stop.

Shrader’s third rushing touchdown of the game made it 28-14 one play into the fourth quarter. Purdue looked to have fumbled a fifth time but it was overturned as their player was touching out of bounds. A rushing touchdown and missed PAT made it 28-20 and the Orange had to punt it back with 6:27 to play.

It looked like Syracuse had yet another fumble recovery but somehow the official ruled it was Purdue’s ball. Thankfully Isaiah Johnson knocked down a 4th and 1 pass to end the threat. Shrader kept on an option play and strolled untouched for his fourth rushing touchdown of the game- a new Syracuse record for a quarterback.

Shrader ended the day with 195 yards rushing and if he hadn’t given himself up on the final drive he would have been over 200. While he was 14-28 passing for 184 yards, some of that was due to receivers having some drops, but they were very effective blocking for Shrader’s runs. LeQuint Allen added 80 yards and a touchdown on the ground

Marlowe Was was all over the field finishing with 8 tackles, a sack two forced fumbles and an interception. Justin Barron and Jeremiah Wilson had 10 tackles as Syracuse gave up some yards, but made several key stops against the Purdue offense.

The Orange are back home next week to host Army with a kickoff scheduled at Noon.