Aidan O'Connell threw for 375 yards and had three total touchdowns and David Bell had 240 yards receiving as Purdue ruined another team’s championship aspirations beating No. 2 Iowa 24-7 and snapping the Hawkeyes’ 12-game winning streak.
The Boilermakers have made a habit of beating teams ranked second in the polls. Purdue beat Ohio State 48-20 in 2018 as a three-touchdown underdog when the Buckeyes were ranked No. 2, a loss that ultimately keeping them out of the College Football Playoff.
The Boilermakers opened the scoring on a 6-yard touchdown run by O'Connell. Iowa got the equalizer on a three-yard TD by Ivory Kelly-Martin, with Purdue taking the lead for good 19 seconds before halftime on a TJ Sheffield 3-yard touchdown catch.
Iowa entered the game leading the nation in turnovers and turnover margin giving their offense, ranked last in the Big 10 in total yards, constant momentum and short fields.
The Hawkeyes gained six yards in the third quarter and its defense which had given up only 274 yards before this game, surrendered 464 to Purdue. Iowa managed just 271 yards of offense and committed four turnovers, all on interceptions thrown by Spencer Petras, who was also sacked four times.
Bell, who had 11 catches on Saturday, continued to his run of success against Iowa and his 21-yard over-the-shoulder TD catch early in the fourth quarter provided the final scoring margin.
In 2019, Bell had 13 catches for 197 yards and one touchdown and in last year's victory over the Hawkeyes, he had 121 yards receiving and three touchdowns.
Combined with not being able to generate easy points via turnovers and its offensive struggles, Iowa's path to the Big Ten West title is not as secure as originally thought. The Hawkeyes are off next week and then hit the road for games at Wisconsin and Northwestern and close out the season with contests against Minnesota, Illinois and Nebraska.
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