2008 Purdue Boilermakers football team The 2008 Purdue Boilermakers football team represented Purdue University in the Big Ten during the 2008 – 2009 college football season . Joe Tiller , in his 12th and final season at Purdue , was the team ' s head coach . The Boilermakers ' home games were played at Ross - Ade Stadium in West Lafayette , Indiana . They posted a losing record for the season , finishing in a ninth place tie in the Big Ten . Schedule . Game notes . Oregon . Kory Sheets rushed for an 80 - yard touchdown for the Boilermakers and Matt Evensen kicked a 23 - yard field goal for the Ducks . Chris Summers then kicked a 29 - yard and a 38 - yard field goals in the first quarter . Kory Sheets rush for 2 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter . In the third quarter , Summers ' punt was returned by Jairus Byrd for a 87 - yard touchdown . Then LeGarrette Blount rushed for 5 yards for a touchdown to tie the score . Summers kicked a 27 - yard field goal in the fourth quarter , but missed a field goal try to tie the game in regulation . Both teams kicked a field goal in overtime , but the Boilermakers failed to score in the second overtime period . The Ducks scored a touchdown to win the game . Notre Dame . Irish quarterback Jimmy Clausen threw for a career - high 275 yards and three touchdowns and Notre Dame running backs ran for 201 yards in the 38 – 21 defeat over the Boilermakers . Purdue took a 7 – 0 lead on a Kory Sheets run , but Notre Dame countered with a 47 - yard interception return for a touchdown by cornerback Robert J . Blanton . Purdue answered back when Aaron Valentin scored on a 3 - yard pass from Curtis Painter to make the score 14 – 7 . Clausen threw a touchdown pass to Golden Tate to tie it 14 – 14 heading into half - time . The Irish scored on their first two possessions of the second half to open a 28 – 14 lead . The Boilermakers cut the lead to 28 – 21 four plays later when Painter threw a pass that Desmond Tardy caught at the Notre Dame 30 and raced up the left sideline for a touchdown . The Irish answered immediately , however , when Clausen threw a 30 - yard TD pass to David Grimes on a fourth - and - 7 . The Boilermakers fell to 1 – 15 at Notre Dame Stadium since 1976 . The loss also left Joe Tiller with a 5 – 7 record against the Irish . ( Purdue had lost 11 straight to Notre Dame before Tiller arrived . ) Penn State . The Nittany Lions defeated the Boilermakers 20 – 6 , outgaining Purdue 422 to 241 in total offense . Penn State quarterback Daryll Clark completed 18 of 26 passes for 226 yards and a ran for a touchdown on a quarterback sneak on 4th - and - goal in the second quarter for the first points of the game . Running back Evan Royster ran for 141 yards and a touchdown and also caught four balls for 53 yards . Curtis Painter finished 13 - for - 22 for 112 yards but was replaced in the fourth quarter by backup Joey Elliott after throwing an interception to Nittany Lion safety Drew Astorino . Placekicker Chris Summers missed all three of his kick attempts — two field goal attempts and an extra point attempt . Kory Sheets ' fourth quarter touchdown run was Purdue ' s first offensive touchdown against Penn State since 2005 . Ohio State . Purdue managed to keep Ohio State ' s offense out of the end zone with OSU ' s only touchdown coming from a blocked punt . While the Purdue defense shut down Ohio State ' s Terelle Pryor and Beanie Wells , Ohio State ' s defense shut down Purdue ' s high powered offense . Purdue did manage to cut the lead to 13 – 3 in the third , but an Ohio State field goal restored the lead to 13 . Ohio State stopped a late Purdue chance to make things interesting to hold on for the win . Michigan . In his first collegiate start , third - string quarterback Justin Siller completed 21 - of - 34 passes for 266 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 77 yards and another score . Kory Sheets rushed for 118 yards and tied a career - high with four touchdowns . Indiana . To finish a mostly dismal season for Purdue , the Boilermakers blew out arch - rival Indiana to reclaim the Old Oaken Bucket in Joe Tiller ' s final game . The win produced the largest ever margin of victory in the Bucket series .