Purdue overcomes lengthy weather delay to down Virginia Tech

Hudson Card went 23-of-34 passing for 248 yards to lead Purdue to a 24-17 win over at Virginia Tech on Saturday at Blacksburg, Va., in a game mired by a weather delay of more than five hours.

Devin Mockobee rushed for 95 yards on 21 carries for Purdue (1-1).

With the game tied at 17-17, Purdue took a 24-17 lead with eight minutes remaining after a 2-yard touchdown run by Card, which finished off a 13-play, 74-yard drive.

Virginia Tech (1-1) took over at its own 9-yard line with 2:30 remaining and inserted backup quarterback Kyron Drones into the game to replace starter Grant Wells, and Drones helped the Hokies drive down to the Purdue 42-yard line.

But the drive stalled on downs and Purdue took over with 1:16 remaining.

A 20-yard run by Mockobee gave the Boilermakers a first down and allowed them to run out the clock.

Purdue took the opening kickoff and struck first, going 75 yards in nine plays and taking a 7-0 lead with 11:26 left in the first quarter on a 15-yard touchdown run by Mockobee.

With 5:50 left in the first quarter and Purdue with the ball, the delay started and the game didn't resume until 6:15 p.m., which turned out to be a 5-hour, 27-minute delay.

The Boilermakers picked up where they left off when the game resumed, taking a 10-0 lead on a 43-yard field goal by Ben Freehill and then going up 17-0 on a 21-yard touchdown run by Tyrone Tracy with 12:39 left in the second quarter.

But Virginia Tech responded with 17 straight points to tie the game at 17-17 at halftime.

Wells hit Bhayshul Tuten for a 30-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-5 to make it 17-7, and then following a 41-yard field goal by John Love, Wells hit Jaylin Lane for a 2-yard touchdown pass with 10 seconds remaining until halftime.