Reserve Running Back Is Suspended by Purdue

Running back Steve Ennis, who led 14th-ranked Purdue with eight touchdowns rushing, even though he lost his starting spot early in the season, was suspended Friday for conduct detrimental to the team and will not play in the Rose Bowl.

Ennis, of Flower Mound, Texas, had 24 carries for 64 yards and three touchdowns in starting the Boilermakers’ routs of Central Michigan and Kent State. He also caught two passes for 32 yards against Kent State. However, he fell to third on the depth chart behind Montrell Lowe--who had a team-high 919 yards rushing in 206 carries--and Sedrick Brown. Ennis gained 82 yards in 38 carries, mostly on short-yardage situations, and was fourth in rushing yards behind Lowe, quarterback Drew Brees and Brown.

School officials did not specify why they suspended the 6-foot-2, 218-pound sophomore.

*

The Boilermakers (8-3) are scheduled to leave West Lafayette, Ind., for California today, and the change in weather will no doubt be welcome. The temperature on campus Friday barely hit double digits and was supposed to sink to minus-4 at night, with wind-driven snow complicating travel.

The team will hold its first practice Sunday at the Coliseum, the only practice open to reporters. Its plans include a team Christmas dinner Monday, a trip to Disneyland on Tuesday and a visit to the City of Hope Medical Center in Duarte on Wednesday.

*

Coach Joe Tiller has taken the Boilermakers to four consecutive bowl games, the longest such streak in school history, and has guided them to four consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 1966-69 under Jack Mollenkopf.

But when Tiller arrived after six seasons as the coach at Wyoming, he faced doubters who said he wouldn’t be able to transplant his pass-happy offense to the supposedly more rugged Big Ten.

“There were skeptics--including me,” Tiller said this week. “But we had been around this offense for a number of years and we were comfortable with it.

“The biggest misnomer about our offense is that it can’t function in inclement weather. If you know anything about Wyoming, you know there are storms in September and it gets pretty harsh in November. Our response was no response, because we knew better.”

Tiller knew from experience: he had been an assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and defensive line coach at Purdue from 1983-86 before leaving to become the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Wyoming.

“I think the conference is still a very physical conference, as it was 15 years ago,” he said. “There have been subtle changes but it’s still the Big Ten, and in the Big Ten, you have to be able to go the distance.”

Tiller said he hadn’t seen much tape of Washington quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo.

“My only comment is, ‘Wow!’ ” he said. “When we assess Marques and his ability to move the football, it’s a mistake at the beginning to say you want to stop their offense. Hopefully, you want to contain it as best you can and stay with it late in the game and win the football game.

“I spent nine years in the Canadian Football League, and in the Canadian League there are 12 players a side, and perhaps we both can agree to play 12 a side in this game.”

*

The Boilermakers are 1-6-1 against the Huskies. Their most recent game was a 20-14 Washington victory on Sept. 15, 1990. Purdue hasn’t beaten Washington since a 13-6 victory on Sept. 23, 1961. . . . The Boilermakers are 7-15-3 against Pacific 10 Conference schools.