Number Crunching: Purdue football Week 9
101 - Points allowed by Purdue's defense in the first five games of conference play. It's the best performance in terms of points allowed by a Boilermaker defense in the first five games since 2004 when it gave up 92 points while posting a 2-3 record under Coach Joe Tiller.
20.0 - Average points allowed by Purdue's defense, an improvement of 18.3 from 2016. That is tops in the FBS, 0.6 points per contest better than second place Marshall.
5.5 - Gelen Robinson's TFL total against Nebraska, the best performance by a Purdue defender in this category since Rob Ninkovich had seven (including four sacks) in a 41-14 victory at Indiana in Ninkovich's last appearance in a Purdue uniform. It is the fifth-best performance in Purdue history.
106 - Big Ten games Purdue has played in since it had a better game defending against the run. Against Nebraska, the Boilermakers allowed just 40 yards rushing in 27 attempts, only bettered in 2004 when it held Penn State to 18 yards in 17 attempts in a hard-fought 20-13 win in Happy Valley.
11 - Point differential in Purdue's last three losses. It is the closest a Purdue team has been in three straight losses since 2004 when, during a four-game skid, it lost three consecutive games by a total of seven points and all four games during the losing streak by a total of 10 points.
9/11/2004 - Date Purdue last played in a game where neither team had a turnover, prior to last Saturday's game against Nebraska. In that game 13 years ago, Purdue defeated Ball State 59-7, a contest where it tied a school record (of sorts) with 45 points in the first half.
12,842 - Average increase in attendance in Ross-Ade Stadium from 2016 to 2017. That is the biggest uptick of any school, with Akron coming in a distant second with an average of 9,138. Purdue officials are saying a crowd 50,000 against Illinois is possible, which will cause that number to increase. Last year's average attendance in Ross-Ade Stadium was 34,451.
16 - Teams (pro and college) that former Purdue football play-by-play announcer (1994-2009) Joe McConnell served as the "voice" for in his career. He will be inducted into the Indiana Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame on Friday (Nov. 3) in Indianapolis.
16 - Jersey number for Brandon Erwin, the last Boilermaker to recover a school record-tying four fumbles in a single season. Danny Ezechukwu has three fumble recoveries to date this season. Ironically, Erwin left the program after his sophomore season after setting that record as a true freshman.
5 - Teams in 2015 and '16 that played in bowl games despite having a losing 5-7 record. Last year North Texas and Mississippi State played in the postseason with such a record. (Hawaii did too, but its regular-season record was 6-7). In '15, Nebraska, San Jose State and Minnesota all played in bowl games with 5-7 records, and all prevailed in postseason matchups.
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