Fortuna: Purdues giant-slaying QB Aidan OConnell and coach Jeff Brohm enjoy moment, face to

Aidan O’Connell didn’t have a lot of personal space, and that was just fine with him. The Purdue walk-on-turned-giant-slaying quarterback was waving from the field to his parents in the Ross-Ade Stadium stands as the game official pronounced his team’s win over the No. 3 team in the country complete.

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Next thing you know, the fifth-year senior was surrounded by 57,000 of his new best friends.

“It’s funny, they took some videos and you can see me in the bottom kind of wave at them, so we have that moment, I guess,” O’Connell said Sunday of his parents. “But I was just trying to get them to come down to the field, and then I had some other family and friends that were closer to the field and they finally got on the field, but it was after a bunch of pictures and people coming up to me and touching me and stuff like that. So it was pretty wild.”

For O’Connell and his Boilermakers, this was familiar and foreign all at once. This program knocked off a top-five Michigan State team just three weeks after it knocked off a second-ranked Iowa team. Purdue clinched a bowl berth after missing the postseason the past two seasons (which came after a surprising pair of bowl berths in Jeff Brohm’s first two seasons at the helm of the program). The Boilers moved into a four-way tie atop the Big Ten West division, despite having lost to two of the three teams they are tied with.

O’Connell experienced his second fieldstorming, having been a redshirt freshman reserve when Purdue routed then-No. 2 Ohio State in 2018. He soaked up all of the commotion that came his way, despite being a guy who uses no social media whatsoever. He rode the high of his fifth straight start, after not starting the season’s first four games — which came after two seasons in which he was in and out as a No. 1 quarterback, getting three starts apiece in 2019 and ’20.

“I wanted to challenge myself, see what would happen,” O’Connell, a suburban Chicago native, said of his path to Purdue, an 11th-hour marriage that was brokered through Brohm’s relationship with private quarterback coach Jeff Christensen. “Just coming out, just having a new experience, kind of get out of my comfort zone a little bit. God was just gracious and the path that He brought me on, so much stuff that I don’t deserve happening.

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“Very winding road, but there’s so many people to thank for that. It’s nothing I did, it was just people looking out for me, obviously God looking out for me, so I can’t take credit for it. It’s just been a cool journey, but hopefully not over yet.

If that sounds like one of his predecessors in West Lafayette, Ind., O’Connell will gladly take the comparisons. David Blough charted an eerily similar path during his time at Purdue, and the way he mentored O’Connell both on and off the field during their two crossover years together — they went on a mission trip to South Africa — has left a lasting impact on the Boilers’ current QB1.

“I learned so much from his journey,” O’Connell said. “It’s crazy to think about our paths.”

Said Brohm by phone Sunday night: “You’d want your daughters to marry them, and you’d trust them with almost anything that you ever wanted them to do. They both are tremendous character individuals with a great deal of faith and they’re not afraid to express that. And I think because of that, nothing rattles them. They’re good, natural leaders.”

O’Connell has simply been sensational these past two weeks in upsets of Michigan State and Nebraska, completing 74 of 99 passes for 769 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions. His 71.6 percent completion percentage for the season is the best in the Big Ten, and his 260.9 yards per game — a figure that includes his action as a reserve — is No. 4 in the conference.

An offense that had posted 13 points in three straight games from Sept. 18 to Oct. 2 has averaged more than double that across its last four contests (26.25).

“We’ve got a good group of guys that work hard, are hungry and want to prove themselves,” Brohm said. “And we’ve been lucky enough to play a couple of really good teams that we really prepared hard for. Our guys were up for it. And when we found a way to beat Iowa, it really boosted the confidence and our guys felt like maybe we can get this done. I think, overall, we have a better team than we’ve had in the past as far as offense, defense and special teams.”

Purdue now has 17 wins against AP top-5 opponents while unranked. It technically won’t be going for its third such win this season Saturday at No. 6 Ohio State, but the Boilers know the tough test at hand.

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They are, after all, the last Big Ten team to have beaten the Buckeyes — three years, one OSU coach and 24 conference games ago.

“While we’ve had some big ones, this will be the toughest one to date, in our opinion — going on the road to Ohio State and playing a team of their caliber with that type of talent,” Brohm said.

Once the final touches on Saturday’s win against the Spartans were finished, and once he had escaped the dozens of selfie requests and fulfilled his postgame media duties, O’Connell celebrated the victory with his family at nearby Mountain Jack’s Steakhouse. When the signal caller had made eye contact with his parents earlier at the stadium, he was looking at the handicapped section. O’Connell’s mother, Kathy, nearly died in a car accident in June of 2020, and she still feels some of the effects of the crash, which required months of rehab and several follow-up surgeries. She is scheduled for what should be the last of those operations this Friday, so she won’t be in Columbus as O’Connell looks to lead Purdue past another favored foe.

“She’s a warrior,” said O’Connell, who is one of six kids. “She’s battled back, and my dad (Jim) obviously helped her through everything that she needed to get through.”

Put some respect on the Roadrunners’ name

Amid the (justified) uproar about the College Football Playoff selection committee’s disregard for Group of 5 programs, allow some room in your aggrieved souls for appreciation of what UTSA has done this fall.

The Roadrunners went into UTEP for an after-dark special Saturday (10:15 ET start) and removed all drama early en route to a 44-23 win over the Miners. They didn’t get a sniff from the selection committee’s initial top-25 rankings, and they didn’t get the “College GameDay” spotlight that fellow overlooked non-power school Cincinnati received, but they made a statement nonetheless, scoring on every possession before running out the clock on their ninth and final possession.

This is a team that has won at Illinois and at Memphis. It has scored 44 or more points in each of its last four games. At 9-0, UTSA has already set a program record for wins in a season and is on its longest winning streak ever. The Roadrunners are No. 15 in the AP poll.

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Jeff Traylor, he of the new 10-year, $28 million extension, clearly recognizes the magnitude of the moment, first through his comments upon signing the deal last week, then when acknowledging that he coaches one of just four undefeated FBS programs this season:

Think about that for a moment. #210TriangleOfToughness https://t.co/FqtW5KHmU4

— Jeff Traylor (@CoachTraylor) November 7, 2021

Hopefully, the committee stayed up for Saturday’s rout at the Sun Bowl. This team, at the very least, deserves to be ranked.

Looking ahead

What’s better than five mid-week MACtion games, as we got last week?

Six mid-week MACtion games, obviously.

Ball State at Northern Illinois highlights the league slate, as the preseason MAC West favorite Cardinals look to take down the current first-place team in the Huskies, who happened to be picked to finish last in the preseason. Ball State is currently in a three-way tie for second place at 3-2, so the stakes will be high Wednesday.

North Carolina goes to Pitt on Thursday night in a game that ought to feature a ton of points (these are the No. 11 and No. 1 scoring offenses, respectively). If UNC wins, this could set the stage for a wild finish to the ACC Coastal race.

On Saturday, multiple TVs will be required for the noon and night windows. Michigan plays at Penn State and Oklahoma plays at Baylor to start the day. Then, after a relatively modest mid-afternoon lineup (save for Purdue-Ohio State), Texas A&M and Ole Miss kick off at 7 ET for what could be an eventful primetime viewing period, with Notre Dame at Virginia at 7:30 on ABC, NC State at Wake Forest at the same time on the ACC Network and TCU at Oklahoma State at 8 on Fox.

Don’t overlook the 10:30 slot, either, as Washington State plays at Oregon on ESPN and Nevada travels to San Diego State on CBS Sports Network.

(Top photo of Purdue receiver Broc Thompson (29) celebrating with quarterback Aidan O’Connell (16) after Thompson’s touchdown against Michigan State: Trevor Ruszkowski / USA Today)

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