Purdue's Incredible Depth at QB On Display

Rob Henry, Bobby Hank, White Lightning... whatever you call him, he's out of commission for the next two weeks.

Henry's finger is reportedly not broken, but his fingernail was torn off and his finger was cut. This is his index finger on his throwing hand.

There's a joke to be made here about Henry being unable to throw not really impacting the game plan....

However, the situation is now this:

Robert Marve -- out for season (ACL)
Caleb TerBush -- our for season (academics)
Rob Henry -- out for two weeks (finger)

So now the Boilers will start freshman Sean Robinson. Understand this: Robinson was slated to be the fourth QB this season, which really meant he would see zero action (like b-dowd in college) and would likely be redshirted. You really should not have heard of Sean Robinson if you're a casual Purdue fan. Yet, here he is!

And after him, you ask? Why, it's scout teamer Skylar Titus, a walk-on. Or possibly the recently recovered from injury Justin Siller.

So if anything happens to Robinson this week, your options are a walk-on or a guy who hasn't played QB in two years.

Despite this, the team is 4-3 and 2-1 in conference. Join us, as we venture into the great unknown.

The Next Step: Purdue v. Minny Wrap-Up

My day started with an e-mail from my pal and co-BS editor J asking a simple question that had been asked to him- Have you heard any rumor of Hummel being injured?

I hadn't...and if there's one thing I've learned as a Purdue fan this season, it's that these rumors usually don't mean much. Oh wait, no I haven't learned that. I've learned they're pretty much always true...but worrying about something that I couldn't control wouldn't do me any good. So the BDowd family headed to God's Country for homecoming.

Perfect day- sunny, warm, but not hot, a ton of friends in town to see our alma mater play...Love days like this.

Purdue wore throw-back uniforms that kind of looked more like knock-offs, to me. The colors weren't quite right, the numbers were too small, the stripes on the sleeves weren't the right shape and the icons on the jersey all seemed to be the wrong size. Nike had done it again- just as they had for the Alstott throwback- they had butchered it. But, Purdue paid homage to the BT Co-champ team from a decade ago...and unlike in Pasadena, our Boilers won with roses through the P on the side of the helmet. I guess it kinda helped that they were playing Minnesota and not New Weasel's Huskies.

The game started in pretty-horrible fashion. Both teams seemed to be locked in a battle of who could move the ball less. Three-and-out, three-and-out, FIVE-and-out...etc.

But, eventually, Purdue's o-line started making space, Nord called a few zingers and Dan Dierking made Minny look mini. Danny D finished the day averaging more than 10yds/carry on 12 carries and Henry had an efficient 57 yards rushing...with 3 TDs. The last time a Purdue QB did that, J hadn't yet been born.

Purdue also passed the ball a bit better than last week- Henry was 13/20 w/ 163 yard, 1 TD, 1 Int. Not horrible...definitely better than what we saw in Evanston. But, as a starter, he's now 2-0. The bestest stat of all.

Back to that rumor about Rob's injury. It was all confirmed via multiple sources as Purdue was beginning to take control of the game on the field...and you could feel it throughout RossAde. Purdue was manhandling their opponent, but it was quiet in the concourses and restrooms. I even saw a grown man crying about it- no joke. Granted, all of us felt like crying or vomiting then crying...but most of us didn't do it.

The salve in the Purdue family's massive would was this homecoming game. Honestly, I don't think it wasn't enough to make us feel better, but I'm kinda glad I was in Ross Ade when I got the news...and it would have been much worse had Purdue lost.

But, this Minnesota team looked as bad in person as the rumors told us they were. They made bad decisions, shot themselves in the foot time and time again, their receivers dropped a ton of passes (particularly, former Purdue recruit Marquis Gray) and their white helmets looked stupid.

If you screw with a school's uniforms, I think the alums generally think, it's OK if you're winning. Brewster wasn't. And another rumor that was circulating before the game is now reality- Tim Brewster is out...kinda...following their loss in West Lafayette today. You know what's worse than an interim coach? An interim coach that's already been fired. Nice work, Minnesota Athletic Dept!

Here are some of the noteworthy things I saw today:

-Antavian Edison looked like he was controlled via the R1 button a few times today. On more than one play, he was surrounded by Gophers, then juked one direction, then the opposite to escape nearly untouched.

-Henry's poise is impressive. He seems to be confident when he breaks the huddle and tends to just make good decisions. Plus, his offense looks to be improving each week. In today's game, they scored a TD/qtr...solid.

-Kerrigan is a bad dude...you all knew that already, but holy crap does he hit hard...and gets held EVERY SINGLE PLAY. Plus, he was the victim of a simply horrible personal foul call late in the game. This, following an absurd no-call after Henry took a knee and then was popped by a Minnesota D lineman...with no call made.

What next transpired was pretty great. The anger that Purdue fans had built up was taken out on the officials as the Ross Ade faith reminded the officials for a solid 5 minutes how bad these two calls were.

-Coach Hope made another lousy play call at the end of the first half. With Purdue up by 14 and Minnesota not able to move the ball effectively, Hope and Co. decided to kick a field goal instead of going for the 4th and 1 from the 1 yard line.

I love Hope's ability to motivate and stay positive...but some of the questionable Xs & Os decisions are infuriating. There seems to be one-or-so a game.

Speaking of Hope- where are our pals who have been calling for him to be fired? I guess we'll see you guys next week?

-GBI and a few post-game radio shows remarked about how lucky Purdue got on a few plays this afternoon...true. But, much of that luck was a result of Goldy's poor coaching and Purdue doing some things well. Our Boilers are hitting much harder, seem to be spaced better, are blocking better (both on the line and on the outside) and seem to be playing inspired.

-Rob Henry and OJ Ross were able to do what hadn't been done up to this point in the season- connect on a deep ball...that's a good sign.

-Purdue's DBs are now catching most of the interception opportunities given to them- I think there was one dropped ball, but the defensive backfield is getting better at taking advantage of QB mistakes.

Burning Questions

-Do you think Urban Meyer actually did retire after he decided to come back? UF now has 3 losses and will assuredly be unranked in this week's poll.

-Michigan's now 1-2 in the BT. If they drop another next week, will Jim Harbaugh be asked if he's available after the first of the year? Was anything less-surprising than Robinson getting hurt v. Iowa? For a guy his size taking that man shots, it's amazing he's taken as many snaps this season as he has.

-With MSU continuing to play as they have and aOSU losing easily in Madison, who's your prediction for BT champ at this point?

-If you saw the aOSU game, you watched Pryor while like a lil' baby for a full quarter. Do you think this is isolated or will his attitude problems continue throughout the season?

Get Handsome...Now!!

After a bye week, the handsome pair is well-rested and ready to talk Purdue football.

Rob Henry, aka Runnin' Rob, aka White Lightning's numbers weren't great...but he did something that Drew Brees and Kyle Orton couldn't do: start his Purdue career 1-0.

Tune in for a technology-induced cliffhanger ending...

Listen now!!!

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Boilermakers Beat Northwestern In Only One Statistical Category: Points

"You get what you deserve in football, and Pat Fitzgerald's team had this coming."
- Adam Rittenberg

What do we say about this one?  The Boilermakers found a way tonight in Evanston, beating the Wildkittens 20-17. The disturbing trend of winning games people don't think they'll win and losing games they're expected to win continued for this team.

Let's not sugar coat this. It was an ugly win. Let's also remember that Northwestern wasn't exactly a powerhouse 5-0, ranked team. However, they were 5-0, they were ranked and they were at home. In recent years, winning road games against undefeated and ranked teams has not been part of Purdue's bag of tricks. I'll let someone else look that one up, but it hasn't happened many times.

The somewhat hilarious irony of it all is that Purdue's offense is still a shell of what we thought it might be in 2010. Sure, some of that -- a lot of it -- has to do with the injury issues. But now we're looking at a team that really just runs the ball -- and doesn't have any true running backs available other than Dan Dierking.

This is a team whose QB was 6-of-18 for 47 yards and a pick. Yikes. I mean....yikes.

That said, Rob Henry continues to grow up before our eyes. No, he's not yet confident with the throws. But let's also remember his receivers didn't do him a whole lot of favors tonight. The pick in the end zone was pretty clearly an underthrown rainbow and yet OJ Ross simply watched it sail majestically into the arms of a NU defender. No, I'm not blaming OJ. But he could help out a little there. And on that subject, too many times when Henry did throw the ball, the receivers reacted like Wile E Coyote had just thrown a lit stick of dynamite at them.

But Rob Henry led this team tonight. They believed in him; that much was clear, at least to me. And Rob ran for 132 yards on 16 carries, including a TD. Best of all, he never looked panicked. He never looked spooked. He never made critical bad decisions.

Purdue was once again outplayed. Let's state that as well. But a solid defensive effort and some special teams magic can make special things happen. But let's look at the numbers. Purdue only had 279 total yards in this game. Northwestern had 305....passing. Purdue had 13 first downs; NU had 23. Purdue held the ball for eight fewer minutes than Northwestern.

But Kawann Short got his paw on a FG attempt by NU that would have made it 20-13 and, I think it's safe to say, effectively ended the evening's festivities. Purdue then looked like they had more life than we've seen in a long time -- perhaps all season. Henry led an inspired drive that made me proud of the boys all over again.

Earlier in the game, things looked as bleak as they have recently. Predictable, boring play calls, too many draws...the usual. The amazing thing was that there were flashes of excitement when Coach Nord did get a little creative. Mind you, I'm not talking about wild and crazy plays.... I'm talking about an end around, some creative misdirection on an option play, that sort of thing. These aren't nutty, crazy play calls...but compared to the boring crud we've been witnessing, they were refreshing. Let's see a few more of these and maybe a really fun play mixed in here and there.

I know that winning this game might lead the coaching staff to think they should keep doing what they're doing -- but let's not kid ourselves. Purdue was outgained and out played for much of this game. They took care of the ball, though, and NU missed a game-tying FG and had the aforementioned one blocked. For a change, the Boilermakers were the recipients of the kind of good fortune that seems to always land on teams like Northwestern.

Let's enjoy this one. 1-0 in conference. Can't be better than that.

Not according to plan.

The bye week was supposed to be a chance to for Purdue's football team to get healthy and prepare for a new chapter as Rob Henry will soon be Purdue's starter. Well, half of that is going to happen.

We all thought that Justin Siller was an option to be moved back to the QB rotation...until recently. Everybody saw him go down v. Toledo and come back on the field in sweats. But, Hope announced yesterday that Siller would be unavailable, to play any position, for the next few games at least. His sprained foot has been described as a "serious sprain". I had a serious ankle sprain in college that made me pretty worthless for a long while...so I understand. But, that makes the repercussions no easier.

Siller and Keith Smith excited a lot of Purdue fans, like myself, coming into the season. Their athletic ability, ability to pass and size combined to give Purdue all sorts of potential options (that we never really saw this season, by the way). Now, Those options are both off of the table as is a whole lot, at this point, honstly.

Purdue's skeleton crew, skilled players on offense look like this (right now) for the Northwestern game:

Rob Henry QB (0 starts) RS Frosh

ATM (1 start) Soph.

OJ Ross WR (0 starts) True Frosh

Cortez Smith WR (5 starts) Sr.

Antavian Edison WR (0 starts) Soph.

Kyle Adams TE (long-time starter) Sr.

Worse still, the depth chart, particularly at WR, is pretty scary- two RS Freshman and a Junior who has played little bolster the line-up. All of a sudden, the running back corps looks rock solid (in comparison)- ATM, Dierking, Carlos and Crank are all options as they're all getting healthy. Perhaps Carlos will be moved back to WR? Kinda hope not simply because his hands were so shaky in '09...that's probably not changed in the last few months.

What this all seems to spell out is the offense must change immensely. I think we'll see more read option, passing to the flat and maybe Kyle Adams will finally become more of a receiving threat...kinda has to, really. If you watched Henry run the offense in practice videos (the few that exist) and in his limited action, you might have seen what I noticed- he seems to run the offense at a faster pace than did Marve. Perhaps that might translate to a no-huddle that's even more effective...plus, the no-huddle has yielded the most success (I know that's not saying a ton) for Purdue's offense, regardless of who has been at the helm, this season.

I hate to say it, but it's tough to have anything but low expectations for the offense right now...at worst, they'll continue the lack of production we've seen thus far this season. But, anything more would be pleasantly-shocking.

This is all the more reason the defense and special teams simply must produce right now. Simple things like tackling and spacing are of utmost importance...but, sadly, we have no reason to believe these parts of the gameplan can be counted on at this point. Another way the defense can make a difference immediately would be making every easily-catchable interception that presents itself. That said, it doesn't seem Persa will give Purdue many chances to intercept the ball- he's completing an eye-popping 80% of his passes and his TD:Int ratio is 10:2...but the Wildcats looked amazingly-beatable against a mediocre Minny team last Saturday.

Editor's Note:

I'm out of town on vacation, so posting is kinda tough right now...J is dealing with something much more important than that. In the next week or so, things should get back to normal around here...thanks for your patience until that happens.

A Closer Look at Robert Marve: The Newest Boilermaker

Robert Marve wearing familiar colors

For a few days, if you're a Purdue fan, you thought Robert Marve was a Purdue lean...especially if you visit GBI regularly. But, when his announcement was officially made, many Purdue fans got anxious as he said "I'll be attending...the University of...Purdue."

Honest mistake, but that made that mini-presser more-than-interesting for some. Honestly, I didn't watch it. While I'm excited about the prospect of Marve coming to God's Country, I was pretty-much done with following it...speculation was rampant, he had been slow to make his decision...and at that point, did it really matter?

It's official, so now it does matter- here's why-
Marve is a legit talent...but his commitment to Danny Hope might be even-more beneficial than some are willing to admit. Hope's staff, like last season, is hitting the Sunshine State hard...and many of those kids that might become Boilers remember the news their Freshman year as Marve completed his record-setting high school career with a dramatic come-from-behind State Championship victory. Shortly after, Marve was named Florida's Mr. Football.

If you remember playing sports in high school, you remember watching the best upper-classmen and hoping you could follow in their shoes in a few years...perhaps a few of them are still thinking this way as Hope zig-zags across the state.

Eugene Marve, Robert's ex-NFL linebacker Dad is pleased with his son's decision to play for Danny Hope

Rough Ride
After breaking Tim Tebow's Florida high school state yardage record and ending his high school career, Marve looked like he might be starting as a true Freshman at Miami. But, in July prior to his Frosh season, he was riding in a car that barrel-rolled in a violent wreck. Following the wreck, Marve had multiple injuries to his non-throwing hand...one being a nearly-severed pinky. The injuries suffered caused him to redshirt in the fall of '07.

After being named the starter for the '08 season in Miami, Marve got into a bit of trouble. He got into an altercation that led to him breaking a mirror on a car and then fleeing police to avoice being arrested. As a result, he was suspended for Miami's home opener last season.

The next week, he was welcomed to college football by the Florida Gators- a tough way to begin...Make no mistake, Marve's only season as a starter was rocky. He averaged just-over 100 yards passing per game while splitting time with another quarterback...he threw 9 TDs, but 13 Int. while only completing 54% of his passes. But, in relief duty, Marve made a gritty comeback by both passing and rushing to beat a solid Wake Forest team. Just for a point of refernce, Marve's back-up, another Freshman completed 47% of his passes, had 16 TDs and 7Int. Neither set the world on fire...and that's probably the problem with Marve in the eyes of The U fans- he was supposed to be the next great QB; but he just looked like a Freshman...and as anybody knows, the back-up is always extremely popular...no different here.

At the end of the season, Marve was suspended, yet-again- This time for the Emerald Bowl. The suspension was a result of either a miscommunication of class schedule requirements or flat-out cutting of class (depending on whom you believe). But, the whole season left Marve and Coach Shannon at odds, and Marve wanted out.

The fued left everyone looking pretty lousy, in my opinion...But Marve's high school coach thought Shannon handled it poorly, and because of that, lost respect for Shannon.

Looking Forward
And that leads us to what happened this afternoon...As Marve made his announcement, he intimated that he won't get his chance to lead the offense until he sits out for the year. But perhaps, this isn't an open/shut case. There will be two other quarterbacks vying for the position of starting quarterback- The 6'5", strong-armed Caleb TerBush and the extremely-athletic Rob Henry. Both of these quarterbacks might develop a great deal in the next year as neither has seen a ton of action under center...even in high school. But, for those of you who don't know Henry, one way or another, you probably will in the near future. It seems he's too good of an athlete to keep off the field- perhaps it will be in the shotgun at Ross-Ade? Time will tell.

Before that battle begins, you can be guaranteed Purdue will have one of the most-highly touted scout team quarterbacks in America, in Robert Marve...After that, let the competition begin.