Despite stats, Purdue defense was solid.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Byline: Phillip Ramati

ORLANDO, Fla. _ Purdue's defense played a deceptively good game. True, the Boilermakers gave up a season-high point total in a 34-27 loss to Georgia on Thursday in the Capital One Bowl. On the other hand, it was Purdue's highly regarded defense that kept the Boilermakers (9-4) alive and helped send the game into overtime. The Boilers forced a late fumble and made the recovery to set up the game-tying 44-yard field goal by Ben Jones with 49 seconds left in regulation.

Purdue entered the contest ranked 11th in the NCAA in total defense (291.1 yards) and eighth in scoring defense (16.0 points per game) "I thought our defense played really at their best," Purdue coach Joe Tiller said.

Early on, with the offense struggling with just one first down in the first quarter, the defense was forced to spend a lot of time on the field, and didn't adjust well to the 80-degree temperatures. "I don't think it was an adjustment to (Georgia's) speed; we hadn't played in the hot weather like that in a long time," said Purdue defensive end Shaun Phillips, who became the school's career sack leader during the game. "They're a fast team, but we pride ourselves as a defense on being fast too. The sun was beaming down on us but they did a great job executing."

Said Tiller, referring to the Bulldogs' 9:46 time of possession: "The first quarter was a horrible quarter. We just put our defense out there and left them out there."

Georgia quarterback David Greene was able to have his way against the Boilermakers through most of the first half, throwing for 224 yards and three touchdowns as the Dogs (11-3) took a 24-0 lead with 4:47 in the second quarter.

Tiller was forced to make some personnel moves after the first quarter. Starting outside linebacker Gilbert Gardner, fourth on the team in tackles, was lost for the game with a shoulder injury. In addition, sophomore cornerback Sean Petty made his first career start in the game replacing Jacques Reeves, who was academically ineligible. The Dogs were able to exploit Petty's lack of size at 5-foot-11 and experience by running 6-4 Fred Gibson against him in the red zone, and Gibson responded with Georgia's first two touchdowns on little fades into the corner.