WEST LAFAYETTE -- When Purdue quarterback Kyle Orton said histeam's offense could improve on a 51-0 season-opening win, hewasn't kidding.
Orton completed his first 15 passes, and threw for a career-highfive touchdown passes -- in the first half -- as the Boilermakers(2-0, No. 18 in the latest AP poll) routed an outclassed Ball Stateteam, 59-7, at Ross-Ade Stadium.
In all, Orton completed 23 of 26 for 329 yards, 289 of them inthe first half, as Purdue led 45-0 at halftime. The team's 599-yardoutput topped the previous week's total of 571.
The Boilermakers literally wasted no time in assertingthemselves, as freshman Dorien Bryant returned the opening kickoff53 yards to the Ball State 47. Five plays later Orton waltzed infrom three yards out for the first score, just 1:45 into thegame.
"[It was out of hand] from the first kickoff," said head coachBrady Hoke, whose team fell to 0-2. "One thing you want to do withan offense that potent is make them earn it.
"To play like that and be humiliated like that, that's not whywe came here. We're very disappointed."
After Reggie Hodges' 58-yard punt resulted in a touchback,Ortonled his team on a methodical 14-play drive, capped by his 9-yardtouchdown to Taylor Stubblefield at the 4:49 mark.
Following a three-and-out and another Hodges punt, the Boilersmoved 63 yards in just five plays, the last one a 17-yard scoringstrike from Orton to Stubblefield.
In the second quarter, blocked punts by Jerod Void and BernardPollard led to 15-yard TDs to Bryant and Kyle Ingraham (on the lastplay of the half), respectively. Ben Jones added a 31-yard fieldgoal and Orton lofted a 43-yard scoring pass to Stubblefield.
"I don't think [Stubblefield] was faster," said sophomore cornerback Randall Means, often a victim of Stubblefield's catches. "Hejust ran good routes.
"We didn't put any pressure on [Orton], and we didn't hold ourcoverage long enough. We just didn't execute the things we neededto execute."
Purdue outgained the Cardinals 380-67 in the first half.
Void ran four yards for a TD in the third, as Purdue scored onits first eight possessions. When punter Dave Brytus dropped backfor the first time, he bobbled a clean snap, couldn't get a kickoff, and was tackled short of a first down.
Joey Lynch was 8-of-13 passing for 79 yards. Redshirt freshmanCasey Gillen entered in the fourth and piloted Ball State to thePurdue 20. But he suffered a slight injury and Lynch came back in,throwing 16 yards to Bryan Williamson for BSU's lone score.
"[Purdue] got some pressure on the offense," Lynch said of BSU'sstruggles, "But it was a lot of things. They didn't do anything wedidn't expect. We didn't get it done."
Larry Bostic rushed for 76 yards and Adell Givens 27, but theCards had just 71 total rushing thanks to five sacks. The Cardsfinished with 197 yards, the same total Purdue yielded to Syracuselast week.
"We were going to work on the things to get ready for conferenceplay," Hoke said of the game plan after halftime. "In the secondhalf I didn't care if we didn't throw once. We needed to run theball."
Gillen and Bostic both left with injuries on the scoring drive,but Hoke could not elaborate on the extent of them.
The loss was Ball State's worst since a 49-3 defeat at the handsof Miami last year, and the biggest in non-conference play sincethe 76-0 debacle at Kansas State in 2000.
"It's not easy to wipe out," Means said. "It's a lesson."
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