Purdue came into the Music City Bowl short-handed and banged up, particularly at wide receiver.
The Boilermakers are going home winners after a game that had people clicking over to catch an amazing finish.
Mitchell Fineran kicked a 39-yard field goal in overtime and Purdue finished off its best season since 2003 by overcoming a 14-point deficit and beating Tennessee 48-45 on Thursday in a record-setting Music City Bowl.
Purdue’s Aidan O’Connell, a Stevenson graduate, threw for 534 yards and five touchdowns with three interceptions. He couldn’t explain the final five minutes of regulation as the teams combined to score four touchdowns — two apiece.
“It’s why you love the game, it’s why it keeps bringing you back,” O’Connell said. “The fact it’s unknown. No one knows what’s going to happen. It’s not a movie or TV show where the actors get retries. It seems like the world’s watching and anything could happen.”
Purdue (9-4) tied for the second-most wins in program history as only the 12th Boilermakers team in 134 years to win nine games. The Boilermakers also won their fifth game away from home, something they hadn’t done since 1943.
“We found a way to just barely win,” coach Jeff Brohm said.
Tennessee (7-6) missed a chance to make Josh Heupel the first Volunteers coach to cap his debut season with a bowl win since Bill Battle won the 1971 Sugar Bowl. The Vols also snapped a four-game bowl-victory streak with a loss that dropped the Southeastern Conference to 1-5 this bowl season.
The teams combined for 1,293 yards of offense — second-most in bowl history, trailing only the 1,397 yards Baylor and Washington had in the 2011 Alamo Bowl. Tennessee became the 10th team in bowl history to run 100 plays or more, and the combined 185 plays rank seventh.
The high-scoring game featured a flurry of big plays and points in the final five minutes, only to see Purdue’s defense make the deciding play.
On the first possession of overtime, Jamar Brown and Kieren Douglas stopped Tennessee running back Jaylen Wright short on fourth-and-goal. The call was upheld on review for Wright’s forward progress being stopped despite Wright reaching the ball over the goal line before the whistle without a knee touching the ground while laying on Douglas.
“I love these guys,” Heupel said. “They fight, they scratch, they claw and they compete. We came up a play short.”
Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker watched the replay on the large video board and was excited.
“I thought we scored, but it’s a tough call,” Hooker said. “Feels like me and my teammates gave it our all.
After Purdue ran three plays, Fineran sealed the victory with his fourth field goal of the game, sending the Boilermakers running down the field in celebration after what Brohm called a “a crazy game.”
“It really picked up there at the end,” Brohm said.
The Volunteers had a final chance to win in regulation, but Chase McGrath’s 56 yard field-goal attempt fell well short.
Tennessee finished with 639 yards and Purdue 623 — both bowl records before overtime. O’Connell easily set the passing yards record, well above the 383 Mike Glennon had with N.C. State.
Purdue came in without a pair of All-Americans in defensive end George Karlaftis and wide receiver David Bell, both prepping for the NFL draft, with a receiving corps further thinned by injuries. Broc Thompson, who needs offseason surgery on both knees, filled in with seven catches for a game-high 217 yards and two touchdowns.
The Boilermakers had a chance to keep the finish from being quite so exciting but settled for three field goals in the second quarter and led 23-21 at halftime. Tennessee led 31-30 after the third.
Hooker finished with 378 passing yards. Tillman had three touchdowns and 150 yards on seven receptions and Jabari Small ran for 180 yards. Small wasn’t available in overtime with Heupel saying he was fighting “some things” all through the game.
