TerBush ToBush
On third-and-10 from just inside Michigan territory on the Boilermakers' first possession, Purdue went to one of its bread-and-butter plays in such situations and scored its second TD in as many weeks off it.
Gary Bush lined up split out wide in a four-receiver alignment - one of them was running back Ralph Bolden working from the slot - and cut inside for Purdue's standard jailbreak screen.
As he caught the ball, Bolden fired out to trip up corner Blake Countess, the DB was lined up over Bush, a true freshman pressed into the starting group because normal corner Troy Woolfork had to move to safety, that disruption in the secondary perhaps being part of the reason this you-could-have-seen-it-coming play worked so perfectly right off the bat.
As Bush got past Countess, right tackle Trevor Foy got out to block Courtney Avery and center Rick Schmeig got upfield in a hurry to clear Woolfork out of the way, giving Bush a seam to accelerate through. He out-ran J.T. Floyd into the clear and scored from 48 yards out for Purdue's longest passing TD of the season.
Holland's interception
It was Purdue's goal to make Denard Robinson throw, the phase of the game where the Wolverine star has been turnover-prone.
In third-and-four at the Purdue 43 in the second quarter, Purdue had Robinson in that position and made the most of it.
Linebacker Joe Holland nearly intercepted a Robinson pass on Michigan's first possession; on its second, he got one.
Initially showing - or at least mildly suggesting - blitz, Holland dropped into coverage upon the snap, sitting back and waiting before snaring Robinson's quick pass for tight end Kevin Koger, who was bracketed by the linebacker and corner Josh Johnson.
It was a great play on the ball by Holland, because it was no more than a five-yard pass or so, so he didn't have a whole lot of time to react to it.
The safety
After Michigan picked up a third-and-20 from deep it its own territory by dropping a long ball in behind Max Charlot and the entire Purdue defense - an ugly breakdown for Purdue - the Boilermakers took it right back when Josh Johnson picked off Devin Gardner deep in the visitors' territory.
Good news for Purdue, right? Wrong.
On the first play of Purdue's ensuing possession, snapping the ball from the 5 or so, left guard Peters Drey simply got run through by Wolverine star tackle Mike Martin.
TerBush simply had no time to react to Martin coming head on at him and was snowed under inside his own goal line.
As Martin got to the quarterback, he did with his right arm outstretched as Drey held him by the other arm. The lineman's oustretched hand caught TerBush's facemask, seemingly going so far as to grasp it. If a penalty had been called there, it would have negated the safety.
But it wasn't and Michigan had two points and the ball back, turning the possession that followed into a field goal that put the Wolverines up five.
Marve's red-zone interception
After Robert Marve led the offense back down the field looking for a go-ahead touchdown, Purdue was struck by a crippling turnover.
After reaching the Wolverine 16, Marve threw incomplete for Bush - Floyd broke it up - then wisely threw it away under pressure.
On third-and-10, Purdue went back to the jailbreak screen. Ryan VanBergen got to Marve really quickly after linemen allowed him through so they could get out and set up the screen. The pressure may have hurried the throw as Marve threw quickly on the run for Justin Siller. The pass was low and a little wide, forcing Siller to lunge for it. As he fell, the ball slipped through his arms and popped up in the air, allowing Avery to dive for it and pick it off, costing Purdue at least three points there, assuming it could have kicked an easy field goal.
Not sure what it is about Marve's passes, and maybe I'm imagining this, but it sure seems like Siller has had a tough time handling them this season.
Robinson's 44-yard pass
On Michigan's ensuing possession, it capitalized on the Purdue turnovers, thanks largely to the prayer Denard Robinson threw up for Jeremy Gallon deep in Purdue territory.
Another example of the general-vicinity passing game Michigan's employed this year with Robinson came on first down just inside Purdue territory.
Robinson took the shotgun snap, but was tracked closely by middle linebacker Dwayne Beckford as he rolled out. As Robinson stopped to throw, Beckford charged, but just as the linebacker got there, Robinson let it go deep down the field for Gallon, who was matched up one-on-one with safety Albert Evans inside the 10.
Maybe he was tied up with the receiver or maybe he just lost his footing, but though he was right on top of the play, he couldn't do much to stop Gallon from making an undisturbed play on the deep ball, catching it before Evans brought him down at the 2.
Cornerback Josh Johnson was trailing the play, but couldn't get there in time to factor into the play.
Michigan scored on the next play to go up 19-7.
Fourth-and-one at the goal line
Purdue kept itself in the game early in the second half with a terrific goal-line stand, capped by a fourth-down stop at the 1.
Robinson ran out of the shotgun with a single back alongside him.
While the O-line and D-line just mashed into one another, linebackers Will Lucas and Beckford just sat and waited. As Robinson tried to score off the left edge, an unblocked Lucas struck and stood him up. Beckford came in to help clean up the play.
The stop held the score at 22-7.
That stand was made irrelevant, though, as Michigan's running game got off from there on out, making a couple big plays that broke the game open.
The 59-yard TD
Purdue never really let Robinson run wild. Fitzgerald Toussaint, though, did, with 59 of his 155 yards on the day coming on one play.
On a first down, Michigan masterfully used Robinson as a decoy as it did with such success throughout the game. Devin Gardner came in at QB, moving Robinson to an outside receiver spot.
Prior to the snap, Robinson came in motion across the formation left to right, and Michigan faked a sweep. But Gardner instead threw a counter toss to Toussaint, who ran around the left edge and was confronted by three Boilermakers.
But left tackle Taylor Lewan blocked Will Lucas and guard Patrick Omameh blocked Holland, leaving Logan Link caught up in the pile and out of the play.
As Toussaint reversed field and cut inside, he was met by Beckford, but he used a quick little juke step to beat the middle linebacker and get into the open.
The running back then used a little stutter step, stop-and-go thing to get past Gerald Gooden in the open field, before accelerating to split Ricardo Allen and Max Charlot into the open.
It was a hell of a run and well blocked by Michigan, but Purdue had its chances there.
The 37-yard TD
Michigan didn't need any misdirection and didn't have to spread Purdue out to make its second big run of the second half, Michael Shaw's 37-yard TD.
Michigan lined up with Robinson under center in the I formation. It did fake an end around, but otherwise it was a simple inside running play.
D-end Gerald Gooden followed the end around fake, opening a bit of a hole on the edge. Shaw took it, as right tackle Mark Huyge cleared out Josh Johnson, opening a hole Link seemed to be in position to fill, but whether he took a bad angle, was taken out of the play by running into Bruce Gaston or what, we don't know, but Shaw got through it and outran Evans to the end zone.
Way too easy.
Fourth-and-goal failure
With Purdue down 36-7 with about 11 minutes to go, this game was already over, but it was just another kick in the gut for the Boilermakers to come away with nothing after a first-and-goal.
After TerBush set Purdue with a 30-plus-yard run, Ralph Bolden got stuffed on the first down. After Drey jumped off-side, a toss to Bolden got cut down for a big loss on second. On third, TerBush hit Antavian Edison at the 2.
But fourth-and-goal was a debacle.
TerBush took a shotgun snap with Bolden to one side and Reggie Pegram the other day. But they botched the play, as the two running backs just ran into each other upon the snap of the ball, each crossing in front of the quarterback, one of them clearly confused.
That left TerBush for dead. He plowed forward, but got stopped at the 1.
