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| Unrecognizable. |
Last week, Ricardo Allen looked overmanned and out of his league against a big time system and a big time receiver. This week, as Gray telegraphed his passes and Minny's receivers didn't give Purdue DBs much to respect, Allen jumped a route an turned yet another interception into a TD (that's his third of his career).
Minnesota couldn't stop Purdue's running game, and it didn't really matter who was carrying the ball. Shavers, Bolden, Edison, Hunt, Pegram and Mostert all combined for over 200 yards. Pegram, Mostert and Hunt averaged over 8 yards/carry. Hunt, Mostert, Shavers and Pegram all had runs of 17 or more.
The playcalling was pretty vanilla, but didn't need to be anything more than that as Purdue controlled the trenches (on both sides, really). The defensive scheme still had me scratching my head a few times, but Purdue's front four (the tackles specifically) and cornerbacks helped gloss over any schematic issues that might have proven to be costly.
The Purdue QB comparison isn't a fair one after this game- TerBush looked better and his numbers backed that up. He finished 14/21 for 139yds and a TD. Marve finished 4/6 for 15yds and a TD. The play calling went something like this- draw, sweep, pass to the flat...and you'd better believe #9 stuck to the script after the last few weeks. Spencer Dawson played a bit, but as he did v. SEMO, didn't register in the box score.
My bright spot of the game was Shavers' running- he had more pop in his step than anybody on the field- hit the holes faster and ran the ball very hard. If Bolden is still a bit banged up, it shows because Shavers played at a notably higher-gear (which isn't the norm, to me).
Wiggs had a 53 yard FG (missed a short one too), and with that, he now has the 5 longest Purdue field goals in the books.
Purdue was up by 24 at the end of the first quarter, and that was really the story...and with a 31-0 lead at the half, the second was little more than a formality. Hope (correctly) took his foot off the gas and Purdue won easily for the second time in two years at Ross-Ade v. Minnesota, and in doing so, improved to 3-2 on the season. Plus, unlike last year, there was no bad news about Hummel's knee before or during this one...so there's that.
Purdue looked faster, strong and better-prepared...the inverse discrepancy looked pretty similar to last week to me. I know Minny is rebuilding, and my Boilers are no worldbeater...but they looked like one today. Fellow Boiler fans, savor these games, I don't know if we'll get anymore like this in '11.
Next up, the good guys head to Happy Valley to play the weaker-than-usual Nittany Lions...don't expect anything like we saw this week on the field at RA though. Plus, today was kinda like a spring game with the attendance in the mid-upper 30K range...so outside of Bloomington, that'll be the last of that for the season as well.
17 comments:
Great win for our Boilers! That being said, I agree that this will probably be our last win of the season. Even though we dominated nearly every aspect of this game I think it was more Minnesota being that bad than our Boilers improving from last week. What worries me is that I don't think Hope sees it this way. I get the sense that he was genuinely surprised that the same game plan that destroyed SEMO did not work for Notre Dame. And I bet he will be scratching his head next week when we fail to rush for 200+ yards in Happy Valley.
The players executed well today. Tackling was much, much better. They got to the QB with a sense of urgency. They caught the balls thrown there way. Just good execution. Still tooooo many damn penalties though.
PSU looks pretty awful right now. As does IU, Iowa... we'll see what OSU does tonight, but they haven't been world beaters.
There could be a few more wins this year, but I would say it depends on how badly the OPPONENT plays (Indiana, Penn State, Iowa), than how Purdue plays. If any of those teams have a good day, we already saw all the winning we'll see this year.
at L2F... I think he meant this would likely be the last blowout win, not the last win for Purdue. Although IU looks to be pretty bad too at the moment... Glad to see the Boilers win big today.
I'd like to give some context for that late unsportsman like conduct on Jones late in the 4th:
After Jones ran back the kick, he came back to the bench and started getting in a verbal fight with the student section - specifically the gentleman to my left. After this 'discussion' he was pushed down the bench, but he kept coming back and letting the students get in his head. After his 30 yard reception, it happened again, but now he was clearly shaken up by any sort of comments. Next time on the field, he gets hit hard and, in his emotionally compromised state, ends up starting a fight.
It was good to see the Boilers rise up and put an overmatched team away early ... and if there were any questions about how bad Minnesota is, they may just have been answered one more time. (And how bad is Miami, to lose to this Minnesota team?)
You guys know Penn State is 5-1, right?
Wow. Minnesota is bad. This changes nothing.
J- None of us think its likely that Purdue wins at Penn State...its never easy to win there. But their game at IU made them look average at best.
We're going to have serious issues moving the ball against PSU if we don't run the ball more. I still think Akeem Hunt needs to see the field more...I haven't seen a more explosive player at Purdue in a while.
I just find it interesting that I keep seeing PSU on the short list of potential wins....feels like a serious long shot to me.
I agree with you J. Serious long shot @ Happy Valley. Penn State knows who they are. They are team with a staunch defense that won't mind playing ugly, or "average at best", to win a football game. Purdue doesn't know its identity. Or maybe we know what Purdue is all about, a team that can only beat teams that are without a pulse. Minnesota practically handed Purdue 21 points... in the first quarter. Purdue didn't even enforce its will per se, until it was the 3rd quarter and Minny was thinking about the flight back to MSP. So this game's grade is still pending.
I say all this because, I don't see this team being able to push against Penn State. If DH wanted to give his team a chip on their shoulder, he'd probably berate them and tell them they hadn't done anything yet. Keep showing them the ND game, and keep teaching them how to block a sweep run play efficiently or how to run a bubble screen effectively. Give this team a swagger... this team needs to be pissed, yet poised, for Penn State next Saturday. Sadly I think Hope is doing a Happy Dance, or the ever lame 1st down dance that persisted during my time at Purdue, with Nord (and possibly Burke) right now.
To all those saying we have a shot at Penn State, did we learn nothing from the Notre Dame game? I was guilty of this optimism after SEMO and even predicted a win against what I thought was an overrated Notre Dame team. Bottom line is Minnesota is one of the worst teams in the country and Purdue beating them by four touchdowns is evidence of that. On the other side, Penn State is good. I don't care that they haven't put up good offensive numbers. They are 5-1 against a much harder schedule than us. Their defense is very solid, and their offense looks to be improving. And finally, it is in Happy Valley, in front of 110K. Just like we made MTSU's offense look like Oregon's, Penn State's offense will come to life against Danny's defense. No way we win this game.
Credit where it is due:
The team came out and did what they were supposed to against an overmatched, bad team. There wasn't ever a question what the outcome would be, soon after they took the field.
And, despite my anger over the UND debacle, I still sat and watched the entire game, and scared the dog a little bit screaming on Ricardo's pick 6. And I'll be back for more next week, as always when they go to Happy Valley.
In the predicto this week can you put an over under on Paterno on the field/in the press box?
Final thought, was it just me or were there a couple of interesting calls concerning the instant replay yesterday?
Boiler Up!
Purdue lost at Rice in front of 76.
When your running backs combine for XXXX, you really can't ask for more than that.
Good point, J. How this wasn't pointed out by someone else is kinda amazing.
I understand not getting too excited about this Purdue team. However, PSU has looked horrendous the past 2 weeks. I watched the entire IU game and a lot of the Iowa game- yeah, it was painful- and their offense is absolutely terrible. Their 2 QB system is not working for them and they could barely move the ball against IU! To go into the game thinking there is no chance of pulling off the "upset"... I hope that DH is not approaching the game that way with the team.
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