Holland (Bishop Chatard), who was moved from safety to linebacker only eight days ago, found himself in the starting lineup after Jason Werner was sidelined with back problems.
"I happened to be watching one time when they ran a lead play at him, and if I gave you a critique based on that play it wouldn't be a very good one," Purdue coach Joe Tiller said of Holland. "But the other side of the coin, based on the limited amount of experience he has, to go in there and play as many plays as he did speaks highly of Joe.
"He's extremely bright, a guy who doesn't need a lot of reps. He'll be one of those undersized guys to play here at Purdue, but the more game experience he gets the better he'll be."
Holland finished with three tackles and broke up a pass, while Gooden had six tackles (tied for second on the team), including five solo stops and one tackle for loss.
Gooden earned the start over Keyon Brown, last year's starter.