Purdue used a second half surge after trailing at halftime 7-3 to keep the Old Oaken Bucket in West Lafayette with a 30-16 win over Indiana in Bloomington on a cold Saturday night.

With Michigan's win over Ohio State earlier in the day, Purdue knew what was at stake - a trip to take on the Wolverines in the Big Ten Championship in Indianapolis. The Boilers found their running game and Aidan O'Connell connected with Charlie Jones for a 60 yard touchdown on the way to 27 second half points.

Now Purdue will play in their first Big Ten Title game in program history.

If you want to know what Purdue's win means to this program, look no further than the usually stoic Jeff Brohm in his post-game presser. The coach broke down talking about his senior Quarterback after the game.

Aidan O'Connell and the Purdue offense moved the ball well on their first drive, but the drive stalled in the red zone. Mitchell Fineran would make his first and only field goal and give Purdue an early 3-0 lead.

It took Indiana two plays to respond.

Indiana's freshman running back Jaylin Lucas received a pitch from Dexter Williams II up the left side of the field and the speed back was too fast for the Purdue defense. He went 71 yards for the score and gave IU the 7-3 lead. A lead they would carry into half time.

IU's offense looked like it was going to give Purdue's defense all it could handle. They were winning at the line and Dexter Williams II's ability to run was causing all kinds of issues. Purdue's defense couldn't get off the field, but Williams II would go down with a scary injury to his leg.

Williams II went down on a play where he was running to his left. He stopped for a second and then dropped to the ground without being touched.

Medical staff would quickly make their way onto the field and play was stopped for nearly 10 minutes as they put his leg in an air cast.

On the field, IU's offense wasn't the same without Williams II's threat to run.

Connor Bazelak came in for Williams II and IU was forced to change game scripts. He was just 24 of 42 for 201 yards. He had 1 touchdown pass on the last play and 1 interception. Bazelak's inaccuracy kept IU from being able to reliably move the sticks or threaten Purdue downfield.

The walk-on redshirt freshman continues to add chapters to his Cinderella story. Mockobee had 15 carries for 99 yards and a touchdown on the ground. He had a scary moment himself when he took a helmet to the knee and needed helped off the field. But he was back in the next possession.

Mockobee led Purdue in catches with 5 receptions and turned those touches into 55 yards.

But his biggest play might have been allowing O'Connell to get the ball to Purdue's other big play maker, Charlie Jones. O'Connell was able to find Charlie Jones on a 60 yard TD to put the Boilers up 24-10 in the fourth quarter despite an open rusher coming from O'Connell's right side.

Mockobee met the defender head on and pushed him past O'Connell who was able to find Jones streaking wide open up the left hash.

While Purdue's offense got rolling in the second quarter, it was their defense that held Purdue in the game early and provided the final cushion.

Jalen Graham and Corey Trice both had 8 tackles to lead Purdue's defense.

Trice offered up one more rivalry highlight late in the game when he was able to take away the ball from IU's receiver and return it for a pick-6 to push Purdue's lead to three possessions.

Kydran Jenkins came up with one of the biggest plays of the day, when he blocked a Charles Campbell field goal attempt with 2:03 left in the third quarter. Indiana was driving down the field after Devin Mockobee's 27 yard touchdown run. Jenkins' block kept Purdue ahead two scores and deflated the Hoosiers.

Despite being out gained, Purdue's defense broke up 6 passes in the game and the Cory Trice interception to put the cherry on top of the rivalry win. Purdue had 3 sacks and 6 tackles for loss.

Aidan O'Connell's story book career finishes in the regular season with one more memorable performance against Indiana.

He was not sharp early, but was able to make big plays in the second half. He finished the game 18 for 29 for 290 yards, 2 touchdowns, and no turnovers.

Jeff Brohm's post-game conference mentioned this being a difficult week for O'Connell. How much that impacted the former walk-on doesn't show up on the stat sheet. O'Connell will now do what no other Purdue quarterback has done - start a game in the Big Ten Championship game.