2004 Purdue Boilermakers football team

The 2004 Purdue Boilermakers football team represented Purdue University during the 2004 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Joe Tiller and played its home games at Ross–Ade Stadium. Purdue played twelve games in the 2004 season, finishing with a 7–5 record and a loss in the Sun Bowl to Arizona State. The season was Kyle Orton's senior year at Purdue.

2004 Purdue Boilermakers football
Sun Bowl, L 23–27 vs. Arizona State
Conference	Big Ten Conference
2004 record	7–5 (4–4 Big Ten)
Head coach	Joe Tiller (8th season)
Offensive coordinator	Jim Chaney (8th season)
Offensive scheme	Spread offense
Defensive coordinator	Brock Spack (8th season)
Base defense	4–3
Captains	Jon Goldsberry (5th year) Taylor Stubblefield (5th year) Antwaun Rogers (5th year) Kyle Orton (5th year)
Home stadium	Ross–Ade Stadium (Capacity: 62,500)

2004 Big Ten Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 8 Iowa +		7	–	1					10	–	2
No. 14 Michigan $+		7	–	1					9	–	3
No. 17 Wisconsin		6	–	2					9	–	3
Northwestern		5	–	3					6	–	6
No. 20 Ohio State		4	–	4					8	–	4
Purdue		4	–	4					7	–	5
Michigan State		4	–	4					5	–	7
Minnesota		3	–	5					7	–	5
Penn State		2	–	6					4	–	7
Illinois		1	–	7					3	–	8
Indiana		1	–	7					3	–	8
$ – BCS representative as conference champion + – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 5	1:30 pm	Syracuse*	No. 24	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN	ABC	W 51–0	56,827[1]
September 11	1:00 pm	Ball State*	No. 25	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN		W 59–7	64,323[1]
September 25	12:00 pm	at Illinois	No. 15	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (Purdue Cannon)	ESPN+	W 38–30	50,532[1]
October 2	2:30 pm	at Notre Dame*	No. 15	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (Shillelagh Trophy)	NBC	W 41–16	80,795[1]
October 9	4:30 pm	at Penn State	No. 9	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	ESPN	W 20–13	108,183[1]
October 16	5:30 pm	No. 10 Wisconsin	No. 5	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN (College GameDay)	ESPN2	L 17–20	65,196[1]
October 23	3:30 pm	No. 13 Michigan	No. 12	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN	ABC	L 14–16	65,170[1]
October 30	12:00 pm	at Northwestern	No. 17	Ryan Field Evanston, IL	ESPN	L 10–13	30,312[1]
November 6	3:30 pm	at No. 20 Iowa		Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA	ESPN	L 21–23	70,397[1]
November 13	3:30 pm	Ohio State		Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN	ESPN	W 24–17	64,639[1]
November 20	12:00 pm	Indiana		Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN (Old Oaken Bucket)	ESPN+	W 63–24	65,137[1]
December 31	2:00 pm	vs. No. 21 Arizona State*		Sun Bowl Stadium El Paso, TX (Sun Bowl)	CBS	L 23–27	51,288[1]
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Game summaries

Syracuse

Syracuse at #25 Purdue

1 2 3 4 Total Syracuse 0 0 0 0 0 • Purdue 14 6 17 14 51 Date: Sunday, September 5 Location: Ross–Ade Stadium, West Lafayette, IN Game start: 1:30 p.m. EST Source: ESPN

Scoring summary 1 4:01 PUR Jerod Void 1-yard run (Ben Jones kick) PUR 7-0 1 1:10 PUR Brian Hare 75-yard pass from Kyle Orton (Ben Jones kick) PUR 14-0 2 6:15 PUR Taylor Stubblefield 23-yard pass from Kyle Orton (kick blocked) PUR 20-0 3 6:09 PUR Taylor Stubblefield 67-yard pass from Kyle Orton (Ben Jones kick) PUR 27-0 3 2:04 PUR Brandon Jones 32-yard pass from Kyle Orton (Ben Jones kick) PUR 34-0 3 0:32 PUR Ben Jones 34-yard field goal PUR 37-0 4 9:39 PUR Jerome Brooks 44-yard run (Ben Jones kick) PUR 44-0 4 2:11 PUR Dustin Keller 47-yard pass from Brandon Kirsch (Ben Jones kick) PUR 51-0

Optimism abounded toward the Purdue football program coached by Joe Tiller after a terrific '03 season. Although the Boilermakers had 8 defensive starters to replace in 2004 (6 of whom were NFL draft picks), they returned most of their productive offense - including solid Seniors in QB Kyle Orton and catch-machine WR Taylor Stubblefield.

In the first-ever Sunday game at Ross Ade Stadium, Purdue played host to the perennially bowl-bound Syracuse Orange from the Big East. However, on a brutally hot day, the Boilermaker offense and defense was on fire, handing the Orange an unexpectedly decisive defeat, 51–0.

Orton and the Purdue offense shook off a slow start (and a missed Ben Jones FG) to compile 571 yards of turnover-free offense, highlighted by 4 long Orton TD passes in a 16–30; 287 yard performance. Even reserve QB Brandon Kirsch - playing for the first time since 2002 - got in on the rout by engineering 2 4th-quarter TD drives including a 47-yard TD pass to freshman TE Dustin Keller.

On the flipside, the new-look Purdue defense was terrific in holding first-time starting QB Joe Fields and the Syracuse offense to 197 total yards, 3 turnovers, and most impressively - 0 points. Fields also got no help from his running game, as acclaimed RBs Walter Reyes and Damien Rhodes combined for only 36 yards on 17 carries.

Ball State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cardinals	0	0	0	7	7
Boilermakers	21	24	7	7	59

Purdue continued its outstanding start to 2004, improving to 2–0 by blasting the MAC's Ball State Cardinals 59–7. The Boilermakers did the majority of the damage in an incredible first half that sent them to the locker room with a 45–0 advantage.

Kyle Orton performed phenomenally – 23-26; 329 yards and 5 TDs – in guiding the Purdue offense to 599 yards, 34 first downs and no turnovers. WR Taylor Stublefield had 3 TD catches. And the Purdue defense had another superb game, holding the Cardinals' offense to 197 total yards and nearly pitching another shutout until Ball State got on the board midway through the 4th quarter.

Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Boilermakers	10	14	7	7	38
Fighting Illini	10	10	3	7	30

The Boilermakers began Big Ten play by improving to 3–0 with a hard-earned road win over the Fighting Illini, 38–30.

Purdue took a lead it wouldn't relinquish early in the 2nd quarter on a short TD run by Orton, 17–10. Late in the first half with the score 17–13, Orton noticed an oncoming 3rd down Illini blitz and audibled to flip a soft pass over the charging defense to RB Brandon Jones, who had snuck past the blitz. Jones then ran untouched for a 49-yard TD and an 11-point advantage.

Illinois would get no closer than 4 points down the rest of the game, as the Illini defense couldn't give their offense a chance to tie until less than a minute remained in the game. On the second play of Illinois' last-chance drive, DE Anthony Spencer forced a fumble on a sack of Illini QB Jon Beutjer that Purdue recovered to essentially end the game.

The Purdue offense – especially QB Kyle Orton – continued to excel by rolling up 515 total yards without committing a turnover. Orton threw for 366 yards and 4 TDs (plus the rushing TD). Two of his TD passes came on 3rd down audibles – one of them to his top receiving target WR Taylor Stubblefield, who caught 11 passes for 115 yards and three touchdowns which increased his early season total to 8 TD catches.

While Purdue played near-perfect on offense, the young defense encountered its first struggles of the season with an Illinois offense that was able to effectively move via the run and pass for 390 yards. In defeat, Illini RBs E. B. Halsey, Pierre Thomas and Jason Davis combined for 208 yards rushing.

It was at this point that Orton began to be mentioned as a top Heisman Trophy candidate.

Notre Dame

#15 Purdue at Notre Dame

1 2 3 4 Total • Purdue 10 10 21 0 41 Notre Dame 3 0 13 0 16 Date: Saturday, October 2 Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Indiana Game start: 2:30 p.m. EST Television network: NBC Source: ESPN

Scoring summary 1 10:49 PUR Ben Jones 31-yard field goal PUR 3-0 1 6:30 ND D.J. Fitzpatrick 26-yard field goal Tied 3-3 1 6:16 PUR Jerome Brooks 100-yard kickoff return (Ben Jones kick) PUR 10-3 2 11:24 PUR Ben Jones 39-yard field goal PUR 13-3 2 1:03 PUR Rob Ninkovich 2-yard pass from Kyle Orton (Ben Jones kick) PUR 20-3 3 11:51 PUR Taylor Stubblefield 97-yard pass from Kyle Orton (Ben Jones kick) PUR 27-3 3 8:54 ND Rhema McKnight 40-yard pass from Brady Quinn (D.J. Fitzpatrick kick) PUR 27-10 3 6:40 PUR Kyle Ingraham 9-yard pass from Kyle Orton (Ben Jones kick) PUR 34-10 3 4:17 ND Rashaun Powers-Neal 1-yard run (pass failed) PUR 34-16 3 0:45 PUR Taylor Stubblefield 12-yard pass from Kyle Orton (Ben Jones kick) PUR 41-16

With another outstanding performance from QB Kyle Orton, the Boilermakers improved to 4–0 with a surprisingly decisive 41–16 victory over 3–1 Notre Dame. This was the program's first win in South Bend since 1974 (in 13 tries).

After both teams' first drives ended in field goals, the game began to turn when Purdue kick returner Jerome Brooks returned an Irish kickoff 100 yards for a TD and a 10–3 lead. Later in the 2nd quarter with Purdue holding a 13–3 lead and the Irish threatening to score, Purdue took control when DE Anthony Spencer forced a fumble from freshman RB Darius Walker that Purdue recovered. Orton then led the Purdue offense 97 yards on a drive that culminated in a short TD toss to DE-turned-TE Rob Ninkovich, for a 20–3 halftime lead.

Early in the 3rd quarter, after a Notre Dame punt pinned Purdue at their 3-yard line, WR Taylor Stubblefield beat tight man coverage to catch a 97-yard TD pass for a backbreaking score and 27–3 lead. The teams exchanged touchdowns for the rest of the 3rd quarter before a scoreless 4th quarter.

If not points, the Irish certainly rolled up yards (536) on the Purdue defense, as Quinn threw for a then-career-high 432 yards. But some timely stops (including 7 sacks) by the Purdue defense, the untimely Walker fumble, and the defense's inability to stop Orton and the Purdue offense proved too much to overcome.

Meanwhile, Orton completed 21 of 31 passes for 385 yards and 4 touchdowns; two of his TD throws were to Stubblefield in a 7 catch, 181 yard performance.

It was at this point in the season that Kyle Orton was considered a Heisman Trophy front-runner, as he had 17 TD passes and no interceptions. In fact, the Purdue offense still had yet to commit their first turnover of the season!

Penn State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Boilermakers	3	7	7	3	20
Nittany Lions	0	10	3	0	13

Purdue improved to 5–0 for the first time since 1945 by overcoming a fired-up Penn State team in a 20–13 win, their first ever in Happy Valley in what was the very first "Penn State Whiteout".

Purdue gained an early 10–0 advantage with a 50-yard FG by Ben Jones followed by a short Brandon Jones TD run. The key play of the TD drive was a 55-yard completion to TE Charles Davis.

But Senior QB Zack Mills, who had a fine day, led PSU back to tie the game at the half. First, they answered Purdue's TD drive with a TD of their own – a 37-yard TD pass to a diving WR Terrell Golden. Then, the Nittany Lions capped their next drive with a FG by K Robbie Gould.

Purdue took a 17–10 lead on their first drive of the 2nd half with a 40-yard TD pass from Kyle Orton to Taylor Stubblefield. The Nittany Lions later drove deep into Purdue territory but had to settle for a short FG and still trailed 17–13 after 3 quarters.

On the first play of the 4th quarter, Orton (and Purdue) committed their first turnover of the season with a Calvin Lowry interception. But PSU came up empty when Zack Mills was tackled short of the first down on a fake FG attempt. After a second Orton interception resulted in a missed PSU field goal, Purdue embarked on a gritty, time-consuming drive that ended with a long Ben Jones FG to regain a 7-point lead with less than 3 minutes left. The drive was kept alive with a terrific individual effort by freshman WR Dorien Bryant on a 3rd and long play.

Rodney Kinlaw gave the Lions a great opportunity to tie on the ensuing kickoff with a 64-yard return, but Mills and the PSU offense came up empty with 4 incomplete passes. Finally, on the last play, QB Anthony Morelli's desperation pass also fell incomplete.

In what became the prevailing 2004 theme for PSU, their defense did a commendable job vs. the high-powered Purdue offense by limiting it to 348 yards and sacking Orton 3 times. The young Purdue defense held up well against the run by limiting PSU to 18 yards on 17 carries, and put a good pass-rush on Mills by sacking him 3 times.

In addition to catching his 11th TD pass of the season, Taylor Stubblefield set the Big Ten record for catches, surpassing former teammate John Standeford.

Wisconsin

	1	2	3	4	Total
Badgers	0	7	0	13	20
Boilermakers	0	0	7	10	17

In a wild game between two ranked opponents in West Lafayette, the Badgers handed #5 Purdue its first loss of the season. In the 4th Quarter Boilermaker QB Kyle Orton fumbled the ball and Badger DB Scott Starks returned the fumble for the go-ahead score. Within Purdue football fandom, this play is sometimes referred to as "The Fumble". With the crushing loss, Purdue fell to 5–1 on the season.

Michigan

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wolverines	7	3	3	3	16
Boilermakers	7	0	7	0	14

The 2-point loss to Michigan at home was the 2nd in a row for the Boilermakers.

Northwestern

	1	2	3	4	Total
Boilermakers	10	0	0	0	10
Wildcats	7	0	0	6	13

Purdue fell to 5–3 on the season with a 3rd consecutive loss.

Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
Boilermakers	0	7	7	7	21
Hawkeyes	17	0	0	6	23

With the loss, their fourth in a row, the Boilermakers fell to 5–4 on the season.

Ohio State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Buckeyes	3	0	7	7	17
Boilermakers	3	14	0	7	24

Purdue snapped their losing streak to the Buckeyes and their overall 4-game losing streak with a 24–17 win in West Lafayette, improving to 6–4 on the year. The Purdue win made it impossible for the Buckeyes to finish with a winning conference record in 2004.

Indiana

1 2 3 4 Total Indiana 3 7 7 7 24 • Purdue 21 21 7 14 63 Date: November 20 Location: Ross–Ade Stadium, West Lafayette, IN Game start: 12:00 p.m. EST

Scoring summary Q1 PUR Ingraham 52 yard pass from Orton (Jones kick) PUR 7–0 Q1 IND Robertson 31 yard field goal PUR 7–3 Q1 PUR Stubblefield 23 yard pass from Orton (Jones kick) PUR 14–3 Q1 PUR Jones 4 yard run (Jones kick) PUR 21–3 Q2 IND Lumpkin 74 yard fumble return (Robertson kick) PUR 21–10 Q2 PUR Bryant 21 yard pass from Orton (Jones kick) PUR 28–10 Q2 PUR Stubblefield 17 yard pass from Orton (Jones kick) PUR 35–10 Q2 PUR Ingraham 26 yard pass from Orton (Jones kick) PUR 42–10 Q3 PUR Stubblefield 12 yard pass from Orton (Jones kick) PUR 49–10 Q3 IND Taylor 22 yard run (Robertson kick) PUR 49–17 Q4 PUR Bryant 62 yard run (Jones kick) PUR 56–17 Q4 PUR Davis 61 yard pass from Kirsch (Jones kick) PUR 63–17 Q4 IND Roby 19 yard pass from LoVecchio (Robertson kick) PUR 63–24

With the win (in the highest scoring game in series history), the Boilermakers finished 4–4 in Big Ten conference play. Purdue extended their home winning streak over the Hoosiers to 4 games (their last loss to the Hoosiers in Ross–Ade Stadium coming in the 1996 season). Joe Tiller and the Boilermakers finished the regular season with a 7–4 record.

Arizona State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Sun Devils	3	0	7	17	27
Boilermakers	0	2	7	14	23

Roster

2004 Purdue Boilermakers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 2 Ray Williams Jr TE 3 Garret Bushong So QB 3 Jason Renn  Fr WR 4 Fabian Martin Fr WR 6 Desmond Tardy Fr WR 9 Dorien Bryant Fr QB 11 Brandon Kirsch Jr QB 14 Scott Carroll  Fr WR 15 Bruce Gordon Jr QB 16 David Ramirez Fr QB 17 Curtis Painter Fr QB 18 Kyle Orton Sr WR 19 Brandon Whittington Fr WR 20 Andre Chattams So WR 21 Taylor Stubblefield (C)  Sr RB 22 Jerome Brooks  So WR 23 Kevin Noel Sr WR 25 Jake Standeford  Fr RB 26 Chris Haslon Fr RB 27 Brandon Jones  Jr TE 28 Dustin Keller Fr TE 46 Matthew Kern  Fr RB 40 Kory Sheets Fr RB 42 Anthony Heygood Fr TE 43 Jeff Bennett  Jr G 50 Tyler Moore  Sr T 51 Garret Miller Fr G 53 Nick Fincher  Fr G, C 56 Matt Turner  Jr T 60 Zach Smith Fr T 63 David Owen  Sr G 64 Danny May  Sr T 65 Mike Otto  So G 66 Jordan Grimes Fr G 67 Uche Nwaneri  So C 68 Robbie Powell  Fr T 70 Pat Oxley  Fr T 74 Sean Sester Fr T 75 Brian Wang  Jr G 76 Willie Bach  Sr T 77 Ryan Noblet  Fr WR 80 Brandon Hare Jr WR 83 Jake Cunningham  Fr WR 84 Byron Williams  Fr WR 86 Chase Lecklider  So TE 87 Charles Davis  Jr WR 89 Kyle Ingraham So TE 90 Ryan Baker Fr TE 96 Nick Raben  So	Defense Pos. # Name Class CB 5 Zach Logan Fr SS 7 Kyle Smith  Jr FS 8 Grant Walker  Fr DE 10 Ray Edwards So CB 12 Antwaun Rogers (C)  Sr S 13 Torri Williams Fr LB 17 Josh Ferguson  Fr SS 19 Christian Graham Fr LB 22 Delos Bhatti Fr CB 24 Sean Petty  Jr FS 25 Paul Long  So FS 26 Lance Melvin Fr LB 30 George Hall  So SS 31 Bernard Pollard So CB 33 Brian Hickman  Jr LB 34 Jimmy Ladd Fr LB 36 Dan Bick Fr FS 37 Rafael Price  Fr SS 38 Brian Mattaway  So LB 39 Bobby Iwuchukwu Jr LB 41 John Lampert  So LB 44 Jon Goldsberry (C)  Sr DE 45 Eugene Bright  Fr LB 46 Luis Vasquez Fr CB 47 Paul Dubler Jr SS 48 Pat Kohtz  So DE 49 Anthony Spencer  So LB 52 Mike Durrett  Fr DE 54 Adam Huebner  So DT 55 Brandon Villarreal  Jr DE 57 Jeremy Coley Jr DT 58 Brent Grover  Jr LB 59 Stanford Keglar  Fr DT 69 Neal Tull  Fr LB 81 Al Royal  So LB 85 Cliff Avril Fr LB 88 Drew Rucks So DE 91 Nick Cavallo  So DT 92 Josh O'Brien  Fr DE 93 Rob Ninkovich Jr DT 97 Jamaal Jones Fr DT 98 Dan McGowen  So DT 99 Jonathan Patton Fr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P, K 16 Dave Brytus Fr P, K 29 Aaron Levin  Sr K 35 Ben Jones  Jr K 36 Casey Welch  So LS 72 Chris Mattson  Fr	Head coach Joe Tiller Coordinators/assistant coaches Jim Chaney (Offensive Coordinator / Tight Ends) Brock Spack (Defensive Coordinator / Linebackers) Gary Emanuel (Assistant Head Coach / Defensive Ends) Lou Anarumo (Defensive Backs) Blaine Bennett (Quarterbacks) Bob DeBesse (Wide Receivers / Recruiting Coordinator) Mark Hagen (Defensive Tackles / Special Teams) Bill Legg (Offensive Line) David Mitchell (Running Backs) Chris Clopton (Offensive Graduate Assistant) Burt Thornton (Defensive Graduate Assistant) Don Coller (Director of Football Operations) Jim Lathrop (Strength and Conditioning Coordinator) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: November 21, 2016

2005 NFL Draft

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL Club
Kyle Orton	Quarterback	4	106	Chicago Bears

References

1. "Cumulative Season Statistics". Purdue University.