Boilermakers lose Blough, but respond after captain's injury

When David Blough was on the cart, severely injured after his right ankle had been turned at an odd angle moments earlier, he raised his right fist up and down, signaling “Boiler Up” to the crowd.

Meanwhile, he was shouting toward his teammates, “Let’s go. Let’s go.” The captain had seemingly little worry about his own problems — and they are likely significant, perhaps a season-ending ankle dislocation and/or something more serious — and was instead focused on the Boilermakers’ task: Beat Illinois.

“That’s David Blough,” said teammate and close friend Kirk Barron, Blough’s center, after Purdue’s 29-10 win. “He was probably that kid growing up, (dreaming), ‘Man, if I get hurt, I’ve got to do something cool so the entire stadium erupts.’ That’s him. He’s a different kind of cat. That just defines David Blough: Calm, cool and collected.”

Resilient, too.

This hasn’t been an easy season for the junior quarterback. Blough was hurt during training camp, straining his throwing shoulder, and suffered a different injury, but to the same shoulder, during the Michigan game. He fought through both. But Elijah Sindelar started the first couple games of the season, then two more midyear, while Blough bounced in and out with moments of success and moments of struggle.

But the last two weeks, the veteran had settled in. Having reclaimed the starting job before Nebraska, he went wire-to-wire in the narrow loss to the Cornhuskers, then was named Purdue’s starter for Illinois, the first time Jeff Brohm had made a public announcement of the Boilermakers’ quarterback.

Saturday, he was putting together another efficient outing, throwing for 194 yards on 16-of-24 passes with another 16 yards rushing. But driving Purdue into the red zone early in the fourth quarter, he kept the ball on a zone-read moving to the right. Before contact, he started to slide, perhaps a bit awkwardly, and was hit hard by Illini defenders Stanley Green and Bobby Roundtree. (Officials called targeting on the field, but the replay official overturned the call).

Immediately, there was trouble, with teammates signaling for trainers. But by the time that Brohm got onto the field, after trainers and the team doctor had the injured secured, Blough was composed.

“I know I wouldn’t have been that calm,” Brohm said. “It kind of just displays his belief in the Man upstairs and in certain values he holds high. When I asked him how he was doing and to hang in there, he was extremely calm and under control and he just wanted us to go win the game. He said, ‘Go win it now.’ The composure he showed is second-to-none, I was not expecting to see him that under control. Because he’s such a great young man, he handled that as good as anyone could.”

Two plays later, Purdue scored — Barron thought Blough would have stayed in, if only he was given a wheelchair: “I think we would have tried a QB sneak” — when Sindelar hit Cole Herdman for a touchdown and 22-10 lead.

It’s Sindelar who Purdue will likely have to ride now in the last two games, after he had been passed over for Blough recently. But the experience earlier this season should help the sophomore QB.

“Elijah came in and was cool as a cucumber,” Brohm said. “… His experience playing this year definitely helps. Elijah has handled not starting the last two games like a great teammate as well, even though he wants to play. He actually volunteered to move to receiver or tight end just to help the team win. That’s exemplifies what he’s all about, so we’ve got some great young men on this football team. Those two guys are right at the top.”

When Blough was loaded up in the ambulance, situated on the ramp in the southeast corner of the stadium, he signaled touchdown, an indication for Sindelar and the Boilermakers finishing off the drive — and the game — he started. After, Blough was transported to a local hospital, per his mom’s Facebook account.

“David is a strong dude, probably one of the strongest dudes I know,” senior captain Ja’Whaun Bentley said. “Coach Brohm saying he was calm doesn’t surprise me at all. David’s faith is out of this world. I’m praying for the guy. We’ll see him later on and see how he’s doing. It’s definitely a tough loss.”

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