Former Caldwell County star and Kentucky Mr. Football Elijah Sindelar threw for a career-high 509 yards on Saturday as his Purdue Boilermakers downed Vanderbilt 42-24 in West Lafayette, Ind.
Sindelar accomplished something not done at Purdue since Drew Brees, while receiver Rondale Moore set a new personal career high for catches and receiving yards.
Sindelar completed 34 of 52 passes for over 500 yards and five touchdowns, becoming the first Purdue quarterback to throw for 400-plus yards in consecutive games since Brees did so in 1998.
The last time Sindelar threw for more yards was his freshman season at Caldwell in 2011. In his first varsity start at Calloway County, Sindelar passed for a school-record 552 yards and six touchdowns as the Tigers outlasted the Lakers 80-62.
Meanwhile, Moore caught a career-high 13 passes on Saturday for a career-high 220 yards and one touchdown, with 169 of those yards coming in the second half.
“Our offense made a lot of big plays in the passing game,” Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm said. “It’s hard to pass for that many yards, especially against a good SEC defense.
“I don’t know how many more times we can throw,” Brohm added. “We wanted to go down being aggressive, but trust me, I’d rather have some balance and run the football. But credit to Elijah, Rondale, Brycen Hopkins and the receiving corps. We threw the ball a ton and they made a lot of tough plays. We blocked well when we had to do so against a team that knows how to rush the passer.”
Moore’s 220 receiving yards are the third most in a single game in Purdue history, behind Chris Daniels (301 yards in 1999) and Selwyn Lymon (238 yards in 2006). His nine 100-yard receiving games are already fourth in program history.
And on top of that, Moore just continues to climb school ranks for touchdown receptions (now 15th place with 14) and receptions (now 18th with 138).
Purdue hosts TCU on Sept. 14.
(Information from Purdue Athletics was used in this story.)