Big Ten Team Suffers Massive Upset At Home
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN - SEPTEMBER 20: A general view of play between the Central Michigan Chippewas and the Purdue Boilermakers at Ross-Ade Stadium on September 20, 2008 in West Lafayette, Indiana. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
After the impressive first season they had under Jeff Brohm last year, few would've picked Purdue to open 0-2. A home loss to Northwestern isn't overly surprising. Today's loss to Eastern Michigan definitely is.
EMU is just a few years past being perhaps the worst team in all of FBS football. Chris Creighton has engineered an amazing turnaround in Ypsilanti.
Today, he picked up a signature win against a Big Ten team.
EMU battled throughout the game, and led in the fourth quarter, 17-12. Purdue's D.J. Knox broke a 45-yard touchdown run to put the Boilermakers up 18-17.
The Eagles got a big break, as the referees called Knox for a very questionable unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at the end of the play. Instead of lining up for a two-point conversion, the penalty knocked Purdue out of range, and they settled for an extra point.
Quarterback Tyler Wiegers, who had a good game overall, drove the team 72 yards down the field for the game-winning field goal.
Purdue was a 15.5 point favorite over Eastern Michigan entering the game.
Eastern Michigan is now 2-0, and has no more games against Power Five opponents. The Eagles have a very good chance to getting back to bowl eligibility.
It wasn't a great slate of early games on paper, but we got one significant upset already.
