West Lafayette, Ind. — Eastern did not play the role of Appalachian State this weekend. The Panthers fell behind early, and never recovered en route to a 52-6 blowout loss to Purdue at Ross-Ade Stadium, not coming close to pulling off Appalachian State’s historic upset of Michigan last week.

By the time Eastern had its first offensive possession, the Panthers already trailed 10-0.

It didn’t get any better even after Eastern’s offense took the field.

Senior quarterback Curtis Painter led Purdue with a record-setting performance.

“He’s all they said he is,” Eastern head coach Bob Spoo said about Painter. “There’s no question about that. He did a good job of finding his open targets.”

Painter finished 38-of-49 for 348 yards, and tied a school-record by throwing six touchdown passes.

His first came on the first offensive drive of the game, as Painter found wide receiver Jake Standeford at Eastern’s five-yard line. Standeford did the rest, scoring the game’s first touchdown on a 13-yard touchdown pass.

The next play, Purdue’s kickoff to Eastern, ended badly for the Panthers. Junior wide receiver Quinten Ponius fumbled the short kickoff by Purdue, and Boilermaker Byron Williams recovered the Panthers special teams miscue.

“When you come into a game like this, as the smaller school, and something like that happens, you kind of look back and say ‘Oh, here it goes again,” said Eastern senior wide receiver Micah Rucker.

Eastern’s defense limited the Boilermakers’ offense, but Purdue settled for a 39-yard field goal.

The Panthers’ offense looked in rhythm on its opening drive. Junior running back Travrous Bess broke through the middle for a 35-yard run to put Eastern at Purdue’s 13-yard line. But the offense stalled and had to settle for a 24-yard field goal by Tyler Wilke.

The Boilermakers (2-0) led 31-3 at halftime, paced by Painter’s four touchdown passes in the half. He finished the first half 25-of-33 for 254 yards.

The game was delayed 1 hour, 5 minutes at the beginning of the second half because of inclement weather. Heavy rain, combined with lightning, forced the delay.

Eastern quarterback Cole Stinson finished the game 15-of-32 for 143 yards and no touchdowns or interceptions. He finished the first quarter 6-of-8, but Purdue’s defense put constant pressure on Stinson the rest of the game.

“I was high on him, Stinson, because he didn’t get pressured last week,” Purdue head coach Joe Tiller said. “Our thought was we needed to pressure him. That was one of our primary defensive goals. If he has time to throw it, he can pick you apart.”

The game was delayed 1 hour, 5 minutes at the beginning of the second half because of inclement weather. Heavy rain, combined with lightning, forced the delay.

Eastern (1-1) gets back into action next week when it hosts Illinois State at 6 p.m.

Check back to Dennews.com on Sunday night for more game coverage.

Eastern head coach Bob Spoo talks to players before the start of Eastern’s game against Purdue. The Panther’s lost 52-6. Spoo played and coached at Purdue.

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