Let's talk positives first, because there definitely were many, especially early on. I had mentioned to B-dowd this week that I couldn't remember that last time the Boilers came out "shot out of a cannon" as he likes to say. Hope always seemed to be able to get these guys up for certain games -- even if they didn't result in wins. But lately it didn't feel like the guys were ever starting well. That all changed today as TerBush orchestrated arguably his best drive so far this season, and definitely his best if you consider the competition This was a ranked opponent who rolled into town with a 6-1 record. And Caleb takes them 91 yards in four and a half minutes on Purdue's first scoring drive.
The second drive was 88 yards in just over three minutes, ending with a 21 yard rushing TD by Raheem Mostert. Mostert's TD run was also wonderful to behold, running through a hole and sprinting nearly untouched to the end zone....and nearly into the arms of a waiting Purdue fan. How sweet.
Special teams redeemed themselves a bit today, too. While there were no returns to speak of, there weren't any catastrophic errors, either. And they were swarming early on, collapsing on a bobbled punt attempt by the Illini that wound up giving the Boilers the ball on the Illinois 14. Another impressive thing we saw out of the Boilers today was the ability to finish these drives off and not having to settle for FG attempts. A 21-0 lead is a lot more demoralizing to a team on the road than, say, a 13-0 lead would have been. That was huge.
The defense played solid today as well. Tackling seemed to get a little sloppy in the second half, but they, too, were swarming on Scheelhaase, who does not seem to have a whole lot of football awareness in general. He held on to the ball too long many times and made a ridiculously head-scratching decision at the end of the first half with his team down 21-0. The Illini were driving, such as it was, and were into Purdue territory. They got the ball to the Purdue 21 on a weird, 34-yard rush and lateral play and had :01 showing on the clock as they reset the chains. And what did Scheelhaase do? Why, he gave everyone the spike signal and lined up and, true to his signal, clocked the ball. Of course, at least a second has to run off the clock and so the half was over. Really? You're at the college level and still don't know how the clock works? Incredible. And fortunate for the Boilers. I like it when the other team makes the really stupid mistakes.
As for what didn't go as well, we need to look no further than.... everything after halftime. The Boilers played a very different game after the break, when they must have enjoyed the Joe Tiller staple of halftime meals -- pasta, turkey and warm milk. Purdue had three whole first downs in the entire second half, two of which came on one drive. Drive is a generous term, really, as the Boilers never got inside the Illinois 40 in the second half. Yeah, not good at all. It sure is a good thing they had a 21-0 lead.
Why was this? Was the team tired? Did they actually eat fettuccine? Or did the coaching staff go into its Tiller-mode of protecting the lead? Because, and I know I'm crazy this way, but I don't like sitting on a lead with more than half the game to go. Why not continue the play calling in a similar way in the second half? It was working and it's not like the Boilers were doing crazy things on offense. B-dowd texted me that he felt it was the best play-calling all year in the first half. Well, that may be, but the bar isn't exactly very high, and I wasn't thrilled with it.
Statistically, the Boilers had a decent day, especially if you consider the way they mailed in the second half offensively. Purdue was outgained overall but had 178 yards passing and 126 on the ground. However, the 126 was on 42 rushing attempts, which only works out to 3 yards per rush. Purdue's leading rusher was Shavers with 29 yards, followed by Bolden with 28. Mostert was third with his lone 21 yard TD rush.
Passing, Caleb TerBush played the entire game, throwing for a tidy 16/25 and two TDs. Robert Marve didn't see the field on homecoming. Take from that what you will.
Ricardo Allen had an INT that even Boilerdowd would have hauled in, as it looked more like a fair catch opportunity as the Zooker (or his coaching staff) made the wise decision to have a cold QB come in and air one out to RA's side of the field. Curious decision, to say the least.
So what do we take from this? As I said, I don't want to be the constant Debbie Downer, but I do worry a little bit about the Boilers after seeing that second half. If Illinois executes their on-sides kick attempt well, this could have been a very scary ending. But it is what it is and this team is what it is. They're not going to beat good teams handily and it seems the coaches know that, so when they get a lead like this, they play not to lose. A dangerous approach, to be sure. But how much can you complain about a win over a ranked team? Not much.
I said on the Handsome Hour that if they were to win this game that it indeed changes my outlook on the season, and it does. Now our Boilers are just two wins away from bowl eligibility. Can they win at least two of their final five games? Hard to say, but it's a lot better question to ponder than can they win three of their final five....right?
In the meantime, to the handful of you who showed up to cheer on your alma mater, good on ya. You got rewarded for your loyalty.
And for those who've been of the opinion that Danny Hope has to go, well, he may have just earned himself a stay.
12 comments:
A stay? Really?
A loss to nobody Rice and an embarrassing blowout against ND.
Losing the Bucket last year. Squeaking out wins against Western Illinois and Ball State.
Repeatedly bad play calling and overall lack of preparation.
This win is on the players. As far as Hope going this changes nothing.
I agree with patsloan on this one. I wouldn't call this game a reason to keep Hope around. At this point, Hope needs to get his team to a bowl game to keep his job, and needs to be fired for anything less.
Still, this is a great and absolutely needed win for our Boilers today
Don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying I personally think he earned anything with this one....just saying I think the reality is wins like this keep him employed. Not saying that's fair, just the way I think it is.
I agree with J Money - squeezing out wins like this tend to keep a coach around a little longer then they probably should. I'm pretty sure he was going to get next year anyone, now I'm positive of it.
But a better topic would be how well the players did. Even when Illinois was scoring in the 4th, the defense slowed them down enough that they couldn't get enough. I'm pretty happy with it.
Hope's 1st team got better as the year went on...
I think last year's would've had we not lost the entire team to injuries...even still, though the record didn't show it, I thought they looked better.
This year it's happening again.
I think Hope can coach, but I'm not sure he has the right game plan going into summer practices. It seems as though his teams always look lost at the beginning of the year!?!
Hope deserves one more year. He has earned that. Next year, though, we need to have 7 wins for him to stay, IMHO.
Does anyone else feel like the coaching staff's play calling in the second half was aimed to not lose the game opposed to trying to win the game? I understand conservative play calling with a lead but I feel like we totally shut everything down and hoped 21 points would be enough.
"Does anyone else feel like the coaching staff's play calling in the second half was aimed to not lose the game opposed to trying to win the game?"
You're damn right it was. This has, unfortunately, been a hallmark of Purdue football of late. The best example is last year's game at MSU when we gave up 22 points in the 4th to lose 31-35.
Still, the first half was great, and it was nice to see the team build on last week's effort at PSU. I'd like to see this continue, but I'm not convinced the coaching staff has what it takes to make that happen.
I'll take the W any day... but I saw an offense that only showed up for 2 quarters (and there were 2 VERY good quarters at that), Special teams that held serve and were neither good nor bad (which for this team ranks as an improvement) and a D that was in it for a good 3+ quarters, keeping in check Illinois playmakers that by most approximations are more talented. I have yet to see a complete 4 quarters by this team in all aspects. Make no mistake: this -IS- an improvement, and follows a trend we saw on the PSU game... but why in the blue hell are we seeing it 7 games into the season and 3 years into Hope's tenure?
Kudos to the players who worked so hard to get to this point and richly deserve the win and a measure of respect from the football intelligentsia. And begrudging respect to the coaching staff who came up with a game plan good enough to beat a talented-but-flaky #23 ranked squad. I'll withhold my final judgment on Hope until season's end (or we lose bowl eligibility, whichever comes first), but before Burke signs any contract extensions, he should remember that even Jim Colletto beat a ranked team (Michigan) once. Once.
FYI- Hope admitted they were just looking to hold the lead and not give the ball right back in the second half. Problem is, when you're going three and out over and over, aren't you kind of doing that anyway? Perhaps they should just avoid risk of injury and just punt on first down when they're up?
Unless our Boilers lose out, Hope is back as Burke HATES to fire people. The only firing of a coach I can remember was Dunn...so unless Hope starts making advancements on his players, he's not going anywhere.
If they're going to strive to not lose, especially when they playing so well on that side of the ball, at the very least, they should use every second of the game clock, which they didn't do.
There are plenty of details that need to be nailed down, but the good guys looked like a solid bowl team in the first half...and the defense looked darned good for the third-straight game.
I feel like Hope & company can't win... Had they kept the playbook open in the second half and we threw a pick-6 and another turnover or two resulting in a loss, everyone would be complaining why we didn't sit on the lead playing a more conservative game.
The rice and ND games were BAD. But the key feature here is this team has learned and is bouncing back in fairly large ways. This is a completely different team than 2-3 games ago. Keep it up boys. Boiler up.
Joe,
Have you ever heard anyone who watches sports regularly actually say, "I wish they would have just sat on the lead"?
Really?
Bdowd- No, not usually... except when it comes to the "whiny, sit down during the game, get mad when the crowd gets too loud, I think I know everything about football, and I'll post non stop negativity behind an anonymous pc screen" infamous PU fans. That is the sad thing; I would not for a second put it past these "fans", especially on JC, and other sites to do what I had mentioned. I think that speaks more to the opinion I have for the majority of posters/"fans" on various PU athletic sites and how non-logical PU fans can be. The state a large percentage of vocal fans are in is combative beyond repair towards their own program. I'm saying no matter what Hope does from this point on, there is going to always be this favorably sized group of fans that are going to find things wrong as there is always this need to complain about something; it is beyond changing minds at this point. He is a (very) poor man's les miles; a large percentage of LSU fans despise that man for whatever reason. I'm not against criticism when it is deserved (and it has been deserved a lot this year), but at the same time I am against not giving credit when it is due.
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