When Purdue kept throwing at Joey Porter Jr., the Penn State CB kept delivering

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Joey Porter Jr., standing outside the visitor’s locker room at Ross-Ade Stadium after a relieving win, allowed himself to crack a smile.

“Aww man,” Porter Jr. (North Allegheny) said with a hint of regret. “I’m gonna watch that one back.”

Porter Jr. almost started his fourth (and likely final) collegiate campaign with a house call. Seven minutes into Penn State’s opener, the All-Big Ten cornerback read Aidan O’Connell’s eyes to a tee. He peeled off his receiver and jumped an underneath route but bobbled what should have been a 20-yard waltz to the end zone.

Porter peered to the sky, stunned he didn’t secure his first takeaway of the season. It was a missed opportunity. Point blank. Porter knows that better than anyone. But Penn State’s lockdown corner didn’t let that faze him. He didn’t let the pass interference he later committed in the red zone bother him, either.

Surprisingly, O’Connell and the Boilermakers kept throwing at the possible first-round pick. And as the evening wore on, Porter showed target after target why he’s held in such high regard by NFL scouts and evaluators.

“I enjoy it. I take it as a challenge,” Porter said. “If they want to keep trying me, I have to make them pay. I didn’t make them pay with a turnover. But I made them pay with my presence.”

Porter boasted a team-high eight solo tackles and six pass breakups (Purdue’s stats crew originally had Porter down for three PBUs before a postgame correction). Crucially, two of his breakups occurred deep in the fourth quarter when the Boilermakers were trying to extend their lead.

Purdue went up 31-28 halfway through the fourth on Sean Clifford’s pick-six. The Nittany Lions offense stalled the next two drives, putting the onus on the defense to keep it a one-score game. O’Connell threw at Porter on back-to-back series, and both attempts were denied. Purdue punted twice, giving Clifford and Mike Yurcich’s unit the opportunity it probably didn’t deserve, but needed.

Clifford was the redemption story. His eight-play, 80-yard march was the dramatic headliner. But Penn State’s secondary with Porter leading the way was integral to the Nittany Lions avoiding Week 1 disappointment.

O’Connell did what he wanted for the better part of three quarters. Entering the fourth, he was 21 for 38 (55.3%) for 282 yards and a touchdown. But in that final stanza, O’Connell completed only 7 of 20 attempts.

A part of that was Penn State’s pass rush. The Nittany Lions failed to get home before breaking through with a couple late sacks and pressures. But Porter and his fellow corners — especially Daequan Hardy in the slot — held firm against a Jeff Brohm offense that loves to stress secondaries and push the ball downfield.

“I feel like we did a good job keeping them contained, keeping the vertical passing game under wraps,” Hardy said. “We tried to eliminate explosive plays and play to our leverage, and I feel like we did a good job of that.”

Those explosive plays weren’t totally avoided. Purdue had five completions of 20 yards or more. But unlike their Music City Bowl win in which they had touchdowns of 62, 70 and 75 yards, the Boilermakers didn’t have a pass go longer than 30 yards.

Purdue found it difficult to break free. Relatively speaking, the Nittany Lions kept it in check, especially when it mattered most in the fourth quarter. And Porter was the key cog — just as he will be the rest of the year.

“This is what we wanted as a secondary,” Porter said. “We came in hot. There was a lot of noise around our secondary, and there was a lot of noise around their offense. We wanted this matchup. We’ve been waiting for this matchup. And we’re happy we came out here and did what we had to do.”