PHOTO: Jim Rajotte
LaVar Arrington sacks Purdue quarterback Drew Brees causing a fumble.

By RYAN HOCKENSMITH
Collegian Staff Writer

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Maybe in five years Purdue coach Joe Tiller will sit down and smile about Saturday's events.

At least for this week, however, the third-year coach won't be warmly contemplating his No. 16 Boilermakers' clash with No. 2 Penn State.

Tiller's Purdue squad locked a chokehold onto the visiting Nittany Lions before getting collared in the second half en route to a 31-25 Penn State victory.

The Boilermakers, with nine senior starters, commandeered the statistics sheet, dominating in almost every conceivable category — except for the final score.

"We just need to experience this stuff more," Tiller said of his young squad's narrow loss. "As we do, we'll get better. We'll handle it better.

"The next time we're in this situation, we'll win this game."

With the ball and only 59 seconds left, Purdue quarterback Drew Brees jogged onto the Ross-Ade Stadium turf needing a touchdown drive to win. He nearly got it.

Throwing to four different wide receivers, Brees maneuvered Purdue to the Penn State 12-yard line, where the Boilers had four downs to punch in the winning score.

Three straight passes in the end zone fruitlessly flopped to the turf, setting up a fourth-down play for the game.

Brees dropped back, immediately looking off wideout Randall Lane and directing his attention toward senior receiver Chris Daniels.

Lions cornerback Bhawoh Jue locked up Daniels, who was running an out pattern into the left corner of the end zone. Brees' final toss of the day slowly meandered out of bounds, ending Purdue's hopes of a second straight upset of a top-five team and cinching Penn State's eighth straight win to open this season.

"We just wanted to throw the ball up in the end zone and see if Daniels could out-jump the guy," Tiller said of the final play-call.

Brees finished with 379 yards through the air, completing 31 of 48 attempts — but the most important toss of his day floated a few yards too far.

"We didn't have much room to work with, so I just tried to get it out there as fast as I could," Brees said. "The adrenaline was pumping, and I just threw it too far."

Despite a pinball-like first half in which Brees steered his team up and down the field almost at will, Penn State, well behind in almost every statistic, managed a 14-14 tie at the half.

Lions linebacker LaVar Arrington beat Boilers right tackle Brandon Gorin on a blitz, getting to Brees an instant before the junior got rid of the ball. Arrington's shot knocked the ball loose toward the end zone, which the junior All-American scooped up and hauled in for Penn State's first score.

Still trailing by a touchdown, Penn State finally knotted it at 14-14 on a perfect toss by Lions quarterback Kevin Thompson to streaking wideout Eddie Drummond, who carted in the pass for a 39-yard score.

Two quick touchdowns, one by Lions defensive end Courtney Brown and another Thompson touchdown strike, gave Penn State a 28-14 lead with five minutes gone in the third quarter.

But Brees and the Boilers clawed back, priming Purdue for its failed final-minute attempt.

"I thought we played a good game in a tough situation," Penn State coach Joe Paterno said. "I told everybody that this was going to be our toughest game of the year."

"Penn State has a great football team," Tiller said. "If they didn't, they wouldn't have won the football game."