WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — With his team leading comfortably in the fourth quarter, Oregon senior linebacker Bryce Boettcher watched from the sideline the entirety of a late Purdue drive that got all the way to the Ducks' 23-yard-line.

Facing a chance to record the program's first shutout in over a decade, coaches told Boettcher to re-enter the game on a key down to preserve the shutout.

"Coach was like 'Hey, get your butt in the game, we can't give up any points right here,'" Boettcher recollected. "It's huge. It's definitely good momentum to build off of anytime you can get a shutout as a defense. It's huge for the offense and the momentum of the team."

The Boilermakers would turn it over on downs on that drive, and fail to score in a 35-0 thumping Friday night at Ross-Ade Stadium.

It was Oregon's first shutout since 2012 in a 49-0 win over Arizona.

Purdue managed 301 total yards, including just 93 through the air. The Boilermakers were 4 for 12 on third down and a pivotal 0 for 3 on fourth downs.

They key was containing freshman quarterback Ryan Browne, who accounted for over 400 total yards last week against Illinois but had just 141 against Oregon. Browne rushed for well over 100 yards last week but was mostly contained by the Duck defense.

Oregon coach Dan Lanning credited his edge rushers, including sophomores Matayo Uiagalelei and Teitum Tuioti, who each had a sack.

"They're edge setters," Lanning said. "They're what you look for when you're looking for edge types. They're both guys that have done a good job of putting on weight and done a great job in the strength aspect of our program ... they're really hard workers and they're really conscientious. When you have edges to your defense, it controls a lot of other things for you. When you can turn that into pass rush, you become every-down players, which those guys have shown they can be."

After a thrilling, emotional 32-31 victory over Ohio State in Eugene last weekend, the Ducks took care of business on a short week against a foe known for a top-5 upset or two in Purdue.

But facing the same situations it did Oct. 4 against Michigan State, when the first-team defense held the Spartans without a score but the second-team defense allowed 10 points in mop-up time, the second-team defense held its ground Friday.

With the help of Boettcher, of course.

"There's a lot of guys on our team that are ready for their moments when their moment is called," Lanning said. "We always talk about next man up and being ready for your moment and I thought we saw some of that tonight."

Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football, volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com and you can follow him on X @AlecDietz.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon reacts to Ducks' first shutout since 2012 against Purdue