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
Captain	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]

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

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

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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^[16]
• Jimmy Smith 23 rushes, 125 yards

At Michigan State

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. ^[17]

At Iowa

Purdue at Iowa

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

^[18]

Michigan

#10 Michigan at #14 Purdue

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

^[19]

At Indiana

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

• Ben McCall 20 rushes, 148 yards

Vs. Tennessee (Bluebonnet Bowl)

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 ^[20]

Statistics

Passing

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

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)

References

1. "Purdue rocks Badgers in sloppy opener, 41–20". The La Crosse Tribune. September 9, 1979. Retrieved October 27, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
2. "No. 5 Boilermakers surprised by UCLA". The Des Moines Register. September 16, 1979. Retrieved October 27, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Purdue rallies to upset Notre Dame". The Gloucester County Times. September 23, 1979. Retrieved October 27, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "Purdue edges scrappy Oregon, 13–7". Lansing State Journal. September 30, 1979. Retrieved October 27, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "Minnesota shocks 12th-ranked Purdue, 31–14". Detroit Free Press. October 7, 1979. Retrieved October 27, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
6. "Hermann lifts Purdue". Tulsa World. October 14, 1979. Retrieved October 27, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "Lackluster contest won by Purdue". The Des Moines Register. October 21, 1979. Retrieved October 27, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
8. "Herrmann sets Big Ten record as Purdue nips Northwestern". The Courier-Journal. October 28, 1979. Retrieved October 27, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
9. "Herrmann leads Boilermakers, 20–14". The Lima News. November 4, 1979. Retrieved October 27, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
10. Mick McCabe (November 11, 1979). "Purdue jolts U-M, 24-21". Detroit Free Press. pp. 1F, 5F – via Newspapers.com.
11. "Boilermakers bump blue, 24-21". The Michigan Daily. November 11, 1979. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
12. "Purdue, Herrmann survive IU challenge". Evansville Courier and Press. November 18, 1979. Retrieved October 27, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
13. "Tennessee rally falls short, Purdue wins Bluebonnet Bowl". Johnson City Press-Chronicle. January 1, 1980. Retrieved May 8, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
14. "1979 Purdue Boilermakers Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 27, 2024.
15. "1979 Purdue Boilermakers Roster". Retrieved January 22, 2025.
16. Ocala Star-Banner. 1979 Oct 14. Retrieved 2018-Oct-28.
17. Palm Beach Post. 1979 Oct 21.
18. Palm Beach Post. 1979 Nov 4.
19. "Boilermakers nip Michigan but it only helps Buckeyes." Eugene Register-Guard. 1979 Nov 11.
20. Eugene Register-Guard. 1980 Jan 1.