Boilers sMACked In Ypsilanti, 47-44

World-beaters

Only scoring in the 40s. Shooting 31% from the field. Shooting 42% from the line. Not a single player in double figures. How the hell can you expect to win?

Oh, wait, those were the numbers from the team that did win today in the Purdue-EMU heavyweight tilt. 

If you can't break 50 points on a MAC team, it could be a sign of trouble.

The Boilers went up to Ypsilanti today to play a rare MAC road game and picked up their fifth loss of the season, falling 47-44. EMU fans responded by storming the floor as though they'd just knocked off a ranked team.

For Purdue fans, it was more of the same -- sub 30% shooting from the field, only 60% from the line, and a complete inability to put away a team. Instead, the Boilermakers played to EMU's level and allowed a pretty mediocre Eagles team to hang around in the first half. The Boilers would push the lead out to something like 11-2, but then stall there and allow the Eagles to painstakingly -- and it was painful -- inch their way back. By halftime, it was a 20-19 game. Exhilirating.

For those of you who didn't get to see this since it was only available streaming via ESPN3, well, you didn't miss too much.

Purdue's leading scorers were Terone with 12 on 4/11 shooting (and 1/4 from the line), followed by Ronnie and AJ both having 11. That's all the double figures Purdue had, which I guess isn't that awful since they only mustered 44 points for the game. Mercy.

DJ Byrd has gone 1/15 from the floor, including 0/14 from three, since his 22 point performance against Clemson. Something is wrong and it's hard to tell what. Maybe we'll learn he has a nagging injury that's worse than we've heard. Or maybe it's all in his head at this point and he's just pressing, knowing the team is struggling and that he's the leader. Whatever it is, DJ needs to iron it out soon. There are just no two ways about it.

In this one, the Boilers couldn't hit free throws and couldn't hit anything, frankly, and yet still had a good chance to win the game. The Eagles were up by as many as nine (I think) in the second half, but the Boilers ground their way back. With a minute and a half to go, after a timeout, the Boilers struck quickly to make it a 46-44 game. EMU had a critical possession, which they squandered, and so Purdue had the ball back. After bringing it upcourt, Matty took a timeout to draw up the winning play.

That winning play turned out to be drawn for Terone Johnson, who got a clear look at a three-pointer (and hey, why not? Threes have been so good to Purdue lately) but bricked it. Naturally, despite rebounding being a strength this season, the Boilers could do no more than knock it out of bounds, giving it back to EMU with ten seconds remaining.

Even then, EMU hit only one free throw on the ensuing predictable foul by the Boilers, allowing our boys another chance to at least tie it. And in typical 2012 Purdue fashion, it's not enough to lose -- it has to be done in an excruciating manner. The boys brought it upcourt and then, before a shot could be taken, fumbled it away. EMU takes possession, game over, drive home safely.

There are significant concerns among the Purdue faithful about this year's team. I've seen remarks that they'll be playing in a half-empty Mackey the rest of the season, which, if you guys do that, you don't deserve to have tickets. I've also seen people saying Byrd belongs on the bench -- I can understand this sentiment and if it means young guys get more minutes and Purdue is that much better next season, so be it. But DJ is a Boiler, too, and he's been a good soldier playing out of position for most of his time at Purdue. It's also still only December 8. A lot of things do indeed look bleak right now and this was an awful loss, but there is a long way to go. The team that should have beaten Villanova and did put a whipping on Clemson still exists in there somewhere. Do you really think it won't emerge again as these youngsters get more minutes under their belts?

No, this isn't a tourney team right now. But I maintain that the future remains bright and that this season will still have some exciting moments. We need to try to stay positive. There's a long track ahead of this train.

Boilers Start Slow, Then Roll: 54-16

The Boilers -- for the first time in a while -- were predictable in a good way on Saturday. We all expected them to control Eastern Michigan pretty thoroughly and they did it. The 54 points is a high for the Danny Hope era against FBS schools, and perhaps the only flaw to point out today is that the team took a while to get rolling, then scored in bunches.

In the first quarter -- and into the second -- I felt like this had some of those dreaded markings of the annual Danny Hope home snoozer against an inferior opponent. I've been saying for a while that I fully expect the Marshall game to be that game this season, but this one did show signs early. The Boilers had something like six yards on their first seven plays. Also, it was 0-0 three-quarters through the first quarter and only a 13-9 game halfway through the second.

EMU's ability to stop the run was, shall we say, less than strong. So after a 50 yard TD on a pass play to Akeem Hunt, Brandon Cottom got serious and broke off an 87 yard rumble for a score. The Boilers had three rushing TDs of 40 yards or more -- Shavers had a 40 yard scamper to start the scoring, and Hunt had a 56 yard dash in the third quarter (which the Boilers won, 7-0; baby steps, I guess).

As mentioned, this one essentially went as expected, though I will admit I didn't foresee the Boilers rolling up 54 points. It would have been 56, but McCartney had some trouble on a couple of PATs. Something to be concerned about? I think it's worth keeping an eye on, as the kicking game is a lot more likely to be the difference if Purdue hopes to pull out wins over the cream of the Big Ten next month.

Caleb TerBush got the bulk of the work and wound up 16/24 for 158 and two TDs (plus one rushing) and an INT. While those are not exactly eye-popping numbers, Caleb continues to throw for a reasonable completion percentage, and we'll take three TDs out of our quarterback against the one pick. Not sexy, but we'll take unsexy 38-point wins anytime.

Motoring

Rob Henry was unspectacular -- likely due in no small part to continued rust -- in going 2/6 for 26 yards and Hope and Nord continued their strange insistence on using three QBs, getting Austin Parker in there for a single pass as well.

The Boilers looked solid after the slow start and what they're doing to you, dear reader, is upping the expectations around Boilerland....and also beyond. Boilerdowd got a text today from an IU fan friend of his who stated flatly, "Purdue is winning their division this year." We're also hearing those murmurs elsewhere, as Wisconsin has not looked good at all to this point.

While we're not quite ready to go that far, as you know, winning the games you're supposed to win was something we've railed about many times. In addition to that, we've also discussed that good teams -- or teams that aspire to be good -- have to crush bad teams, not just sneak by them. Purdue did that today, taking care of business against a MAC team.

The Boilers get a bye next weekend and then welcome the Thundering Herd to town in a game I'm very concerned about but B-dowd feels the Purdue lines will have a significant positive impact in. Time will tell, as always, but if Purdue pummels Marshall as well and heads to Big Ten play 3-1 with only the three-point loss at ND on the ledger, the excitement will only be that much more pronounced.

Is the train coming? I just might be. Choo choo, muthas.

Purdue-EMU Predictorama

After a week that saw the Boilers lose a very winnable game at ND and then QB Robert Marve for at least some amount of time (though he's evidently actually talking about coming back by the Marshall game), I know that I'm not the only one ready to get back to football. And what better medicine for this program in its current state than the Eastern Michigan Eagles?

EMU is 0-2 and now faces Purdue and Michigan State in consecutive weeks. So maybe they'll be looking ahead to their in-state, same-color rival?

Eastern Michigan used to have a native American mascot but decided in 1991 to stop offending Native Americans and switched to "Swoop," pictured here, who interestingly is also the Philadelphia Eagles mascot. So apparently Swoop really likes green. And lousy football.

And away we go.

Boilerdowd sez:

EMU hasn't played any world beaters thus far, but still has dropped two games (Ball State and Illinois State). The Eagle team that went 6-6 last season and beat common Purdue opponent, WMU in a close, low-scoring game, returns a lot of last year's squad, especially on offense. 

Vegas likes the Boilers a lot, in the wake of whipping the spread in South Bend...and so do I.

The TerBush/Henry led offense should score early and often...and Shavers, Holmes and emerging inside target, Macarthy should get fat off of the respect given to Purdue's speed.

Hope's team beats a MAC team it's supposed to...going away as the defense remains rock solid and Shavers goes for over 100.

Purdue 42

Directional Michigan MAC squad 10

J sez:

Not much to say here -- Purdue will roll and has zero excuse not to. EMU actually lost at home against Illinois State last weekend, and it wasn't even close. Illinois St. is in the MVC and I don't know this for certain, but I imagine people in the MAC look down on the MVC to some degree, so this probably hurt a bit and probably suggests that EMU really is as bad as we think. 

I want to pick a score like 52-7 Boilers, but without Marve chucking it around, I don't think they'll roll it up quite so high. I do think it's going to be nice for Caleb TerBush to get to run the offense at home and against a far less talented team than ND -- we'll then be able to assess how he's progressing, as he'll have one start against a good team and one against a bad one. 

Regardless, Danny Hope will have his goofy smile on all day, as Eastern Michigan puts up not nearly the same fight as Western Michigan last December.

Boilers 35

EMU 7