Purdue looks for first four-game win streak since 2018

October has been all treats and no tricks so far for Purdue.

The Boilermakers have opened this critical month with consecutive wins on the road as an underdog. First, Purdue toppled No. 21 Minnesota (20-10). Then, the Boilermakers took down Maryland (31-29). Now, Purdue finds itself tied atop the topsy-turvy Big Ten West with Illinois and Nebraska, dreaming big.

Purdue (4-2 overall; 2-1 Big Ten) will look to add to its October magic Saturday when Nebraska (3-3; 2-1) comes to West Lafayette for a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff. A victory would be the fourth in succession for Purdue, a feat the program last turned in 2018. A big reason for Purdue's surge: The defense.

"We felt going in we had some experience on the defensive sides of the ball, so I thought they've done a good job," said Jeff Brohm. "In order to win football games, you got to be good in all three segments. If you think you're just going to score every time you touch the ball, it's not realistic, that's not going to happen against good opponents. That's a pipe dream that we're going to work for perfection and try to be as efficient as we can."

Nebraska has won its last two games under interim head coach Mickey Joseph, who took over for Scott Frost after three games in the 2022 season and has forged a 2-1 mark. Joseph led Nebraska past Indiana and Rutgers the last two weeks.

The Cornhuskers will pose some challenges with an offense led by running back Anthony Grant, No. 4 in the Big Ten in rushing (107.8 ypg), and quarterback Casey Thompson, a 65 percent passer with 1,497 yards and nine TDs.

"I think they've got a good combination of a running back and big tight ends, some athletic receivers, and a quarterback that can move around and make plays, and always presents some issues," said Brohm.

The good news for Purdue: Quarterback Aidan O'Connell is playing well. He missed the Florida Atlantic game with what's believed to be a rib injury. He played the last two games, engineering wins. But, he hasn't looked 100 percent.

"I think he's feeling much better," said Brohm. "It's hard. Last half of the season last year, he played an elite level and was just really on fire and doing some great things."

Purdue is becoming an unflappable team, not flinching in the face of adversity en route to knocking off Florida Atlantic, Minnesota and Maryland.

• Playing without an injured O'Connell, Purdue ground out a win vs. plucky FAU behind backup signal-caller Austin Burton. The defense iced the win by forcing and recovering a fumble.

• With O'Connell less than 100 percent and the offense committing three turnovers, the Boilermakers broke a 10-10 fourth quarter tie by tallying 10 unanswered points. The defense, which allowed only three points off the three turnovers, sealed victory with an interception.

• Purdue committed three turnovers again, but the defense allowed no points off the miscues. The offense rallied with 14 fourth-quarter points to win at Maryland, which had a game-tying two-point play turned away in the final minute.

Saturday could be another thriller that's decided in the fourth quarter.

"Without question we need to have a good week of practice," said Brohm. "They've got a talented football team, coming off two wins that has always had a lot of talent, got great size, they look the part, they got really good players.

"I think they have simplified some things in their plan and they're playing good football. So we're going to have to practice well, be really hungry this week to improve, and come ready to play."

Brohm said at his Monday press conference that offensive tackle Daniel Johnson is out for the season with a knee injury. He didn't play last week at Maryland.

Johnson started the Florida Atlantic and Minnesota games at right tackle for Cam Craig, who has been lost for the season with a back injury.

The loss of Johnson and Craig means Purdue is down to six linemen it feels comfortable playing. All six combined to play the 80 offensive snaps at Maryland.

The No. 1 line (from left to right) at Maryland was Mahamane Moussa, Spencer Holstege, Gus Hartwig, Marcus Mbow and Eric Miller. Sione Finau played off the bench.

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