Purdue pounds Hawks: Turnovers doom Iowa in 27-16 loss

(Published 10/25/1992)

IOWA CITY -

The fairytale had a sad ending for Matt Eyde and the Iowa Hawkeyes Saturday.

This was supposed to be the day Eyde relieved Jim Hartlieb and sparked Iowa to its 10th straight victory over Purdue and kept the Hawkeyes on track for the Citrus Bowl.

Instead, Eric Hunter made a surprise start at quarterback for Purdue and sparked the Boilermakers to a gnawing, 27-16, victory before 70,397 Homecoming fans at Kinnick Stadium.

Eyde did OK in his first start at quarterback, but Hunter and the Boilermakers were better with a big-play defense and a punishing ground attack.

Making it worse, the Hawkeyes gave this one away, with two fumbles by Ryan Terry and an interception by Eyde leading to all three of Purdue's touchdowns.

Fundamental breakdowns, such as weak blocking and tackling and poor kickoffs, mystified Iowa Coach Hayden Fry.

"It just didn't look like our football team to me out there," said Fry, searching for answers.

The Boilermakers had to travel only 36, 29 and 32 yards for their touchdowns thanks to Iowa's costly turnovers.

"I'm very sorry," said Terry, the second-string tailback. "I apologize to the state of Iowa, my teammates, everybody for my fumbles. I feel like I gave Purdue 14 points."

Terry's first fumble helped Purdue tie the game, 7-7, in the second quarter.

His second bobble helped Purdue take a 17-13 lead in the third period on a 3-yard run by Galen Morrow, and the Hawks never led again.

Eyde, a transfer from Michigan State, tried to save the day in the fourth quarter, but an interception by Purdue's Romond Batten with 6:22 left in the game foiled Iowa's comeback hopes.

Purdue led, 20-16, when Batten snared his interception. Six plays later, the Boilers had a 27-16 bulge on a 1-yard run by Earl Coleman.

And that was that.

"I had a few plays I wish I had back," said Eyde. "You have to give a lot of credit to the Purdue defense."

Eyde completed 22 of 39 passes for 164 yards, but was only 9-of-21 for 68 yards and two interceptions in the second half.

"The loss was tough. I really wanted to win," said Eyde. "I wanted to win for everybody."

Fry said Eyde did "a very fine job" in his first start.

"That's a good start for him," said Fry. "I wish we could have won. He feels terrible right now, but certainly it wasn't his fault."

The loss dropped Iowa into a seven-way logjam for second place in the Big Ten at 2-2 in the league and 3-5 overall, and its bowl hopes are hanging by a thread now.

Purdue is 2-2, 3-4.

There was enough blame to go around for everybody Saturday, and lots of credit for Purdue.

The Boilermakers, losers to Toledo and Northwestern this season, suffered a tough loss at Wisconsin last week and arrived here as 13-point underdogs.

"They could have folded their tents last week and laid down and gotten wiped out, and they didn't do it," said Purdue Coach Jim Colletto.

Colletto decided last Sunday that Hunter would start against Iowa, but he kept it a secret until yesterday afternoon.

Hunter had a shoulder operation in August and missed six weeks while recovering. In the interim, Matt Pike took most of the snaps for the Boilermakers.

Until yesterday.

But this was not Eric Hunter the passer, who set Kinnick Stadium records in 1990 for completions and attempts when he connected on 32 of 60 tosses in a 38-9 defeat.

This was Eric Hunter the runner and field general, and he ran Iowa into the ground.

He attempted only seven passes, completing two for 53 yards, but he ran 16 times for 78 yards. That meshed nicely with tailback Arlee Conners, who scooted 14 times for 107 yards against the porous Iowa defense.

All told, the Boilers rolled up 254 yards on the ground.

"They did what we practiced, but they had a great athlete in Eric Hunter," said Iowa defensive tackle Mike Wells. "He shook up our whole game plan."

Hunter left the field with a big smile on his face, with the guy he replaced - matt Pike - pounding him on the helmet in congratulations.

"We came into the game with 43 passes and we felt we could have success throwing against them," said Hunter. "We established the running game pretty good at the beginning, so we decided to go with it."

Colletto went to Hunter because his top tailbacks, Jeff Hill and Conners, were ailing. Hill did not play, and Conners performed with sore ribs.

"We thought we had to get some speed on our team," said Colletto. "We couldn't go back and drop back in the pocket against this team and win.

"So we decided we were going to go with option football and let Hunter do his thing. Fortunately, he didn't make very many bad plays and he made a lot of good ones."

There was something else, too.

"I got off his fanny and that helped a lot," said Colletto, who has feuded with his big quarterback the last two years.

Fry was afraid Hunter would play, and he was right.

"Maybe if I hadn't said anything about how great he was, maybe the coach wouldn't have played him. I don't know," joked Fry. "I'll lay you 2-to-1 he plays next week."

The Boilers host Michigan on ESPN next Saturday.

Eyde was sharp early, hitting seven of his first eight passes.

Iowa took a 7-0 lead on Terry's 2-yard halfback pass to Danan Hughes with 1:39 left in the first quarter, but that was Iowa's only touchdown of the game.

Todd Romano kicked three field goals, including a 47-yarder, but the Hawks never got into the end zone again against a Purdue defense led by Eric Beatty, an impressive linebacker, and Jeff Zgonina, a lineman who has tree trunks for arms.

Beatty made a game-high 11 tackles, intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble. "If he isn't an all-Big Ten linebacker, I don't know who is," said Colletto.

Joe O'Leary booted a pair of field goals for Purdue, making him 11 for 11 this season.

Conners had Purdue's first touchdown on a 23-yard scamper, breaking tackles and spinning into the end zone.

Fry said Hartlieb, sidelined with a sprained shoulder, is ahead of schedule in his rehabilitation work, but it's doubtful he'll be ready to face Ohio State.