WEST LAFAYETTE — After watching Denard Robinson lose a fumble on the Michigan football team's first drive, redshirt freshman spur Cam Gordon did something the Wolverine defense hadn’t done since Oct. 10 of last year.

He took scoring into his own hands.

As sophomore defensive end Craig Roh barreled into the Boilermaker backfield and hit Dan Dierking, Purdue's leading rusher, the ball popped out and Gordon scooped it up, scampering 58 yards for a touchdown.

And in a season in which the offense has spent much of its time making up for struggles on the other side of the ball, the defense continued its effort from last week’s win to bail out its offense. Despite five turnovers from the Wolverine offense — now with 10 in two weeks — a shining defensive performance held off Purdue 27-16 to cement what will be the first winning season in the Rich Rodriguez era.

“It was a huge lift, and I think (the defensive touchdown) gave our defense a lot of confidence,” Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said after the game. “They played the whole game with a lot of confidence because of that.”

The Wolverines (7-3 overall, 3-3 Big Ten) didn’t allow an offensive touchdown all game long, and they did it without two of their best players on defense — junior nose tackle Mike Martin and senior linebacker Jonas Mouton, both of whom were held out as game-time decisions.

But Rodriguez said the play of the team’s less-experienced players on defense made up for a slew of offensive miscues, forcing five turnovers of their own, as both teams struggled to deal with tough, wet conditions.

“We had a whole bunch of errors offensively: poor play, penalties, turnovers,” Rodriguez said. "The weather conditions made it difficult for both teams to hold onto the ball. We haven’t had a game like this all year and we have a lot to learn from it.”

The weather especially affected Robinson, the sophomore quarterback. After committing his fourth turnover of the game in the third quarter when Purdue defensive end Ryan Kerrigan knocked the ball out of his hands, Rodriguez put sophomore backup quarterback Tate Forcier in the game to try and give Robinson some time to regain his composure.

Rodriguez decided to “go by feel” from then on out, switching back and forth between the two signal callers for the remainder of the game.

For once, the offense — ranked No. 5 in the nation before this game — just couldn’t move the ball like it did last week against Illinois, when Michigan accounted for 67 points.

But in as bizarre a game as Saturday's, it was the defense that brought the Wolverines to .500 in the Big Ten.

Michigan’s 115th-ranked pass defense held Purdue (4-6, 2-4) to 132 yards and forced a pair of interceptions — its best performance of the season. The defense forced five turnovers for the first time since Sept. 10, 2007. And the Wolverines kept their opponent out of the endzone on offense for the first time since Michigan’s blowout win over Delaware State last season.

For redshirt sophomore linebacker Kenny Demens, the wet, sloppy conditions gave Michigan’s defense a perfect opportunity to have its best showing of the year.

“Oh my God, I love it,” Demens said. “We all love it. Just to get out there and get dirty and play hard and just come downhill, it was really fun.”

Although Purdue’s offense has struggled all season, Demens said the confidence from a game like this is invaluable to a Wolverine defense that has had plenty of its own struggles.

“In the locker room after the game, the offense was just patting us on our back and just thanking us,” he said. “We been down in the slumps and the offense picked us up the whole season so it was about time we could do that for them and just get a win.”

“It shows not just us but the country that we can really go out there and compete.”

Purdue coach Danny Hope said after the game that they expected Michigan to make mistakes. But five turnovers and four bizarre quarters later, Rodriguez is just happy to get out of West Lafayette with an important Big Ten road win.

After all, two of the Big Ten’s best teams — Wisconsin and Ohio State — await Michigan in the next two weeks.

“There’s no bad wins,” Rodriguez said. “There’s bad losses, there’s no good losses. It’s a win on the road in tough conditions and we didn’t play our best. But our defense played better than they have in a while, our guys held in there, and we won the game.”