Boilermakers Are Cooking

His offense gained 501 yards and scored five touchdowns, but Purdue Coach Joe Tiller was more impressed with his team’s defense after the No. 22-ranked Boilermakers dominated Illinois for a 48-3 Big Ten victory Saturday at Champaign, Ill.

“Wow. What a job on turnovers,” Tiller said. “I think the defense just did a very good job. They were heads up and were very opportunistic.”

The Boilermakers intercepted four passes, recovered three fumbles, sacked first-time starting quarterback Kirk Johnson seven times and held the Illini offense to 13 first downs and a field goal.

The win guaranteed the Boilermakers, 6-1 overall and 4-0 in the Big Ten, their first winning season since 1984, when Jim Everett was the quarterback. That year they finished 7-5 and went to the Peach Bowl. That was also the last time the team was nationally ranked.

Quarterback Billy Dicken, who ran for one touchdown and passed for two, completed 15 of 24 passes for 215 yards as Purdue won its sixth in a row.

The Fighting Illini (0-7, 0-3) are still searching for their first win under new coach Ron Turner. The 13-game losing streak is the second-longest in school history.

Johnson is the third Illini quarterback to start this season. He finished 14 for 27 for 128 yards with four interceptions.

NO. 18 IOWA 62, INDIANA 0

Not that it really mattered in this Big Ten game at Iowa City, but the Hoosiers should have never punted to the Hawkeyes’ Tim Dwight.

Dwight’s 92-yard punt return in the second half gave Iowa a 35-0 lead, and the rout was on.

“We knew that Dwight could take a game and blow it wide open, and he did,” Indiana first-year Coach Cam Cameron said.

Randy Reiners, making his first start, threw for two touchdowns and ran for one as Iowa handed the Hoosiers their worst loss in the series that started in 1912.

The Hawkeyes, 5-2 overall and 2-2 in the Big Ten, broke a two-game losing streak while handing Indiana (1-7, 0-5) its fifth straight loss.

Reiners, a sophomore from Ft. Dodge, Iowa, filled in for fifth-year senior Matt Sherman, who had started the previous 32 games but is out of action for at least two weeks after hurting his right hand last week at Michigan.

Reiners, who was eight for 16 for 148 yards, also gave the Hawkeyes another running threat.

Dwight, who caught three passes for 53 yards against the Hoosiers, also threw a 64-yard touchdown pass to Damon Gibson on a fake reverse with 4:42 left in the second quarter that helped give Iowa a 21-0 halftime lead.

Banks, who averaged 170 yards a game to lead the nation, finished the day with 107 yards in 21 carries.

WISCONSIN 22, MINNESOTA 21

The Badgers (7-2, 4-1) rallied in the fourth quarter for a Big Ten victory over the Gophers (2-6, 0-4) at Minneapolis, with Ron Dayne’s one-yard touchdown with 7:40 remaining coming two plays after a questionable 28-yard reception by Wisconsin’s Donald Hayes.

Hayes went well out of bounds while jostling with cornerback Jimmy Wyrick, then caught the ball at the Minnesota seven-yard line, apparently without first re-establishing himself inbounds.

The call seemed similar to a bad pass-interference penalty that hurt Minnesota (0-4, 2-6) in a 16-15 loss at Penn State last week. The Big Ten admitted after that game that the official had made the wrong call.

But referee Dick Honig, in charge of the crew, said this time the call was correct. “If a player is forced out, which is what we ruled, he then has to come back in a reasonable amount of time and catch the ball landing inbounds,” Honig said. “Status is where he lands, not where he takes off from.”

It was the fourth time this season that Wisconsin has come from behind in the fourth quarter to win.