Ryan Browne threw for 311 yards Saturday and accounted for three touchdowns as Purdue matched its win total from last year, blanking visiting Ball State 31-0 in West Lafayette, Ind.
Browne, one of a handful of returning players from last year’s 1-11 team that got Ryan Walters fired after two seasons on the job, spread his completions among seven different players. The Boilermakers played a clean game, committing only three penalties and avoiding turnovers in Barry Odom’s first game as their coach.
Browne wasted little time putting Purdue ahead, connecting with Arhmad Branch for a 49-yard touchdown pass on the game’s second play. Branch worked free over the middle, made a couple of tacklers miss inside the 20 and fell into the end zone while being tackled.
It was the start of a day that saw Branch become the program’s first wide receiver with more than 100 yards in a game in two years. He finished with 101 on just three catches.
Browne made it 14-0 at the 9:47 mark of the first quarter on a 5-yard scoring run, capping a 71-yard drive. Devin Mockobee upped the advantage to 21-0 with 10:21 left in the half on a 4-yard touchdown run that finished a 91-yard march that chewed 5:26 off the clock.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals couldn’t quite find traction offensively in their first game under new coach Mike Uremovich. They managed only 203 yards from scrimmage and allowed quarterback Kiael Kelly to absorb four sacks.
The mobile Kelly rushed 22 times for 63 yards while hitting on 10 of 16 passes for 87 yards. Ball State had two good drives in the second half but were stalled out, and kicker Carson Holmer missed field goal attempts from 45 and 29 yards away.
The Boilermakers increased the lead to 28-0 with 4:40 remaining in the third quarter on Browne’s 14-yard scoring strike to Michael Jackson III. Spencer Porath capped the scoring at the 9:59 mark of the fourth quarter with a 28-yard field goal.
