BLOOMINGTON -- Purdue's head coach is not expecting to hear good news regarding the injury to his starting defensive tackle.

Lorenzo Neal suffered what appeared to be a lower body injury in the first quarter and did not return to the game. The injury occurred at the end of Purdue's first defensive series and Neal wasn't seen on the Memorial Stadium field until shortly after halftime, and by then he was in sweats.

Shortly before the Boilermakers had forced an Indiana punt, Neal was assisted to the sidelines by two Purdue trainers and helped inside the medical tent. The 315-pound defensive tackle seemed to favor his right foot as he walked off the field.

"Lorenzo probably suffered an injury that is not good," Brohm said following the 28-21 win over Indiana Saturday. "I don't know the extent of it yet but we'll probably get the results either tomorrow or the next day."

Neal, a defensive co-captain, came into Saturday second among Purdue defensive linemen in tackles with 30 while playing a significant amount of snaps. Neal has started all 13 games.

Without Neal at his inside nose tackle position, Purdue rotated Keiwan Jones, Anthony Watts and Ray Ellis. Watts had six tackles including three solo tackles Saturday and Jones was credited with a quarterback hurry..

In a reversal of what had plagued Purdue for the first three games of the 2018 season, Purdue finally saw its opponent commit costly drive-extending penalties.

Purdue was able to get on the scoreboard first after Indiana committed a roughing-the-passer infraction following a third down incompletion. Two plays later, David Blough found Isaac Zico on a flag route in the corner of the end zone to make it 7-0 Boilermakers.

On a 3rd-and-20 situation, Indiana freshman defensive back Devon Matthews did a throat-slashing gesture following a defensive stop that would've caused Joe Schopper to punt from his end zone. The unsportsmanlike conduct penalty allowed Purdue to flip the field following Schopper's 42-yard punt that was caught and returned for a 2-yard-loss inside the Hoosiers 10-yard-line.

Indiana also was flagged for an illegal cut block on Purdue defensive tackle Anthony Watts in the third quarter, which stalled a Hoosiers drive that had seen three first downs before the critical penalty. Purdue was able to make it a 21-7 lead in the third quarter on the 33-yard touchdown pass to Rondale Moore just six plays after Indiana was forced to punt.

"It wasn't the number of them, it was the timing of them," Indiana coach Tom Allen said. "We had them throughout the season at critical times. Not be able to overcome those has been the problem. When they set you back offensively, you get behind the chains, that high-low block was a really costly one field position-wise, taking you back 15 yards. Not able to overcome those when they do occur (really hurt us)."

Purdue punter Joe Schopper managed to pin Indiana inside the 20-yard-line twice while booting a 57-yard punt to help the Boilermakers consistently win the field position battle Saturday.

Each of Indiana's three scoring drives were 87, 79 and 90-yard drives and took an average of nearly seven minutes off the clock. Due to its early poor field position, Indiana's high-powered tempo offense was limited in its play-calling to just five plays of 10 yards or more before the start of the fourth quarter.

Schopper, who came into this game third in the Big Ten Conference with a 43.14 yardage average was key in forcing Indiana's average starting position to be its own 23-yard-line. In its first four possessions, Indiana didn't start a drive further up than its own 25-yard-line. In his final game against Indiana, Schopper finished the game with a 42.6-yard average on five punts.

Membership Info: Sign up for GoldandBlack.com now | Why join? | Questions?

Follow GoldandBlack.com: Twitter | Facebook

More: Gold and Black Illustrated/Gold and Black Express | Subscribe to our podcast

Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2018. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.