1979 Purdue Boilermakers football team

The 1979 Purdue Boilermakers football team represented Purdue University in the 1979 Big Ten Conference football season. Led by third-year head coach Jim Young, the Boilermakers compiled an overall record of 10–2 with a mark of 7–1 in conference play, placing second in the Big Ten. Purdue was invited to the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl, where the Boilermakers defeated Tennessee. The team played home games at Ross–Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana.

1979 Purdue Boilermakers football
Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl champion
Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl, W 27–22 vs. Tennessee
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 10
AP	No. 10
Record	10–2 (7–1 Big Ten)
Head coach	Jim Young (3rd season)
Offensive coordinator	Bob Bockrath (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Leon Burtnett (3rd season)
MVP	Dave Young
Captains	Steve McKenzie Pete Quinn Keena Turner
Home stadium	Ross–Ade Stadium
Seasons ← 1978 1980 →

1979 Big Ten Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 4 Ohio State $	8	–	0	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
No. 10 Purdue	7	–	1	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 18 Michigan	6	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
No. 19 Indiana	5	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Iowa	4	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Minnesota	3	–	5	–	1			4	–	6	–	1
Michigan State	3	–	5	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Wisconsin	3	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Illinois	1	–	6	–	1			2	–	8	–	1
Northwestern	0	–	9	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 8	Wisconsin	No. 6	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN		W 41–20	65,002	[1]
September 15	at UCLA*	No. 5	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		L 21–31	44,174	[2]
September 22	No. 5 Notre Dame*	No. 17	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN (rivalry)		W 28–22	70,567	[3]
September 29	Oregon*	No. 10	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN		W 13–7	69,327	[4]
October 6	at Minnesota	No. 12	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis, MN		L 14–31	47,686	[5]
October 13	Illinois	No. 20	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN (rivalry)		W 28–14	69,413	[6]
October 20	at Michigan State	No. 16	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI		W 14–7	79,561	[7]
October 27	Northwestern	No. 16	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN		W 20–16	69,656	[8]
November 3	at Iowa	No. 15	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA		W 20–14	59,940	[9]
November 10	No. 10 Michigan	No. 14	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN		W 24–21	69,829	[10][11]
November 17	at Indiana	No. 12	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN (Old Oaken Bucket)		W 37–21	53,202	[12]
December 31	vs. Tennessee	No. 12	Houston Astrodome Houston, TX (Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl)	Mizlou	W 27–22	40,542	[13]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[14]

Game summaries

Oregon

• Wally Jones 30 rushes, 156 yards

Illinois

• Mark Herrmann breaks Mike Phipps' school record for career passing yardage
• Dave Young 114 Rec Yds, 2 TD^[15]
• Jimmy Smith 23 rushes, 125 yards

At Michigan State

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
• Purdue	7	0	7	0	14
Michigan St	0	0	0	7	7

• Date: Saturday, October 20
• Location: Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, Michigan

Scoring summary

1		Purdue	Wayne Smith]|Wayne Smith 42-yard interception return (Seibel kick)	Purdue 7-0
3		Purdue	Jimmy Smith 1-yard run (Seibel kick)	Purdue 14-0
4		Michigan St	Steve Smith 1-yard run (Andersen kick)	Purdue 14-7

Mark Herrmann broke the Big Ten career completion record set by Michigan State's Ed Smith in the previous year. ^[16]

At Iowa

Purdue at Iowa

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
• Boilermakers	7	7	6	0	20
Hawkeyes	6	8	0	0	14

• Date: November 3
• Location: Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, Iowa

Scoring summary

1		Purdue	D. Young 3-yard pass from Herrmann (Seibel kick)	Purdue 7-0
1		Iowa	Mosley 1-yard run (kick failed)	Purdue 7-6
2		Iowa	McKillip 16-yard run (Reid pass from Mosley)	Iowa 14-7
2		Purdue	McCall 17-yard pass from Herrmann (Seibel kick)	Tie 14-14
3		Purdue	McCall 6-yard run (kick failed)	Purdue 20-14

See also: 1979 Iowa Hawkeyes football team

^[17]

Michigan

#10 Michigan at #14 Purdue

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Michigan	0	0	6	15	21
• Purdue	7	0	7	10	24

• Date: November 10
• Location: Ross–Ade Stadium, West Lafayette, IN
• Game attendance: 69,829

Scoring summary

1		PUR	Ben McCall 2-yard run (Seibel kick)	Purdue 7-0
3		PUR	Mark Herrmann 1-yard run (Seibel kick)	Purdue 14-0
3		MICH	Curt Marsh 6-yard pass from John Wangler (kick failed)	Purdue 14-6
4		PUR	Seibel 29-yard field goal	Purdue 17-6
4		PUR	Ben McCall 9-yard run	Purdue 24-6
4		MICH	Roosevelt Smith 1-yard run (run failed)	Purdue 24-12
4		MICH	Butch Woolfolk 2-yard run (Virgil kick)	Purdue 24-19
4		MICH	Safety, Mark Herrmann tackled in end zone	Purdue 24-21

^[18]

At Indiana

See also: 1979 Indiana Hoosiers football team and Old Oaken Bucket

• Ben McCall 20 rushes, 148 yards

Vs. Tennessee (Bluebonnet Bowl)

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
• Purdue	0	14	7	6	27
Tennessee	0	0	16	6	22

• Date: December 31
• Location: Astrodome, Houston, Texas
• Game attendance: 40,542

Scoring summary

2		Purdue	Ben McCall 6-yard run (John Seibel kick)	Purdue 7-0
2		Purdue	Bart Burrell 12-yard pass from Mark Herrmann (John Seibel kick)	Purdue 14-0
3		Purdue	Dave Young 12-yard pass from Mark Herrmann (John Seibel kick)	Purdue 21-0
3		Tennessee	Glenn Ford 8-yard pass from Jimmy Streater (pass failed)	Purdue 21-6
4		Tennessee	James Berry 15-yard pass from Phil Ingram (Hubert Simpson run)	Purdue 21-14
4		Tennessee	Hubert Simpson 1-yard run (Hubert Simpson pass from Jimmy Streater)	Tennessee 22-21
4		Purdue	Dave Young 17-yard pass from Mark Herrmann (pass failed)	Purdue 27-22

Main article: 1979 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl

See also: 1979 Tennessee Volunteers football team

• PUR: Mark Herrmann 21/39, 303 Yds, 3 TD
• PUR: Bart Burell 8 Rec, 144 Yds, TD ^[19]

Personnel

Roster

1979 Purdue Boilermakers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB 23 Mike Augustyniak Sr TE Tom Barr WR Bart Burrell OL Henry Fiel WR Mike Fuetterer QB Larry Gates OL Don Hall WR Mike Harris QB 9 Mark Herrmann Jr RB Wally Jones RB Eric Jordan RB John Macon RB Ben McCall OL Steve McKenzie RB Jim Owen OL Pete Quinn OL Dale Schwan RB Jimmy Smith WR Ray Smith TE 80 Dave Young Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DL Calvin Clark DL Marcus Jackson DB Bill Kay DL Tom Kingsbury LB Jim Looney DL Ken Loushin LB Mike Marks DB Marcus McKinnie LB Kevin Motts DB Larry Perry DB Tom Seneff DB Wayne Smith DE 85 Keena Turner Sr DB Bobby Williams	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K Walt Drapeza P Greg Hayes PR Tony Hill P Terry Kingseed P Joe Linville PR Dave Retherford K John Seibel PR Jeff Speedy	Head coach Jim Young Coordinators/assistant coaches Bob Bockrath (offensive coordinator) Leon Burtnett (defensive coordinator) Mike Hankwitz Randy Hart Doug Redmann Bob Spoo Larry Thompson Ed Zaunbrecher Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

^[20]

Starters

Offense: se Burrell/Ray Smith, lt Feil, lg Schwan, c Quinn, rg Hall, rt McKenzie, te Young, qb Herrmann, fb Augustyniak, tb Jones/McCall, fl Harris, k Seibel

Defense: de Kingsbury, lt Clark, mg Loushin, rt Jackson, de Turner, lb Motts/Looney/Marks, cb W. smith/Kay, ss Seneff, fs Williams/McKinnie, p Hayes

Awards

All-Big Ten

Main article: 1979 All-Big Ten Conference football team

• Calvin Clark (1st)
• Ken Loushin (1st)
• Steve McKenzie (1st)
• Dale Schwan (1st)
• Keena Turner (1st)
• Dave Young (1st)
• Mark Herrmann (2nd)
• Marcus Jackson (2nd)
• Kevin Motts (2nd)
• Pete Quinn (2nd)
• Wayne Smith (2nd)

Statistics

Passing

Player	Comp	Att	Yards	TD	INT
Mark Herrmann	203	348	2,377	16	19