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NCAAF: Purdue lean on Fame Ijeboi against Wake Forest

Eighty-seven yards, and one that got away

Fame Ijeboi did not need many carries to make his point. Eleven of them, 87 yards, a touchdown, and a 63-yard scoring run wiped out by a penalty flag. That was the Minnesota transfer’s first afternoon in a Purdue uniform.

“He runs with a physicality and a lot of body violence,” Boilermakers offensive coordinator Josh Henson said. “He’s not an easy guy to tackle.”

Purdue beat FCS opponent Indiana State 44-19 last week and gained 523 yards doing it. Most of that came through the air. Ryan Browne went 23 of 29 for 317 yards and three touchdowns. Saturday is likely to ask for something different.

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Wake Forest arrive with a quarterback of their own

The Demon Deacons opened with a 38-16 win over Akron and led by 35 points before the Zips scored twice in the closing minutes. Gio Lopez, in from North Carolina, threw for 350 yards and three touchdowns on debut.

His best moment landed early in the second quarter, a 72-yard touchdown to Louisville transfer Antonio Meeks. Carlos Hernandez had already caught five passes for 165 yards and a score before he was knocked out of the game late in the half. Jake Dickert says he “will be fine”.

The Wake Forest head coach spent the week pushing his players on the part that went wrong rather than the 35-point cushion.

“One thing I know about our group, we’ve got a really mature group, and they want to be coached. They want to take the lessons. They want to see the things they didn’t do well,” Dickert said. “They want to go apply them and be better.”

What Purdue want from the ground game

Purdue averaged 4.4 yards per carry against Indiana State. Henson wants that figure to hold up against an ACC defence so the Boilermakers can, in his words, “not let the defence dictate to us”.

The series history sits with the hosts. Purdue lead 4-1 all time and have won three of the four meetings played in West Lafayette. This is the last nonconference game on the Wake Forest schedule before ACC play starts next week.

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  • Photo Pierre Boulben - Editor in chief - Sports

    Former journalist for French newspaper L’équipe and ESPN, I have been the News Editor for MathOdds for the past two years. Mainly in charge of the news and previews coverage as well as our data powered sports trends and cheat-sheets.


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