According to Purdue players and coaches alike, this afternoon's game v. PSU was an important one.
The high expectations of camp and the early season weren't completely out of reach as Purdue could still take a step forward for the program, by winning out. Seven wins for this team would be pretty solid...A bowl in Texas instead of Detroit wasn't out of the question, and Purdue's player's coach would surely earn another extension by leading his squad to a 7-5 season. So our Boilers were playing for their coach...playing for pride, and playing for this Senior class. All of those motivators seemed to matter little this afternoon in God's country.
Robert Marve's speech earlier this week was the stuff of legends...but Purdue's subsequent play was not. It wouldn't matter if Marve was at QB or Drew Brees was behind center...Nord and Hope's gameplan and play-calling was uninventive, uninspiring and flat. The game crept along at a snail's pace (at least for Purdue fans).
Purdue wasn't behind by much...then was behind by a few scores...then was completely out of the game. Lousy spacing, defensive schematic breakdowns, poor tackling, awful execution and vanilla, predictable play-calling put Purdue in a position that we're all familiar with: the prone position.
Make no mistake, this PSU team is just OK. They're not great...but Purdue made them look like a juggernaut this afternoon. I was looking for a spry JoePa on the sidelines...and KiJana Carter to break the huddle...but all I found was a mediocre QB and a slow, plodding RB...who kicked Purdue's ass time and time again. The end result was another thrashing: Purdue 9 PSU 34.
Purdue's defense couldn't get a stop when they needed it...and the offense was no better. At one point, our Boilers were averaging under 3 yards/pass attempt...that number swelled to 4.6 with TerBush's strong effort in relief of #9.
Back when J and I were students, we just waited for the moment when Purdue would be out of the game...today, that moment came pretty early in the game as Purdue didn't put up much of a fight after midway through the second quarter. The familiar two yard out was back in force on offense...and on the other side of the ball, Purdue looked like they were trying to catch a jack rabbit, but to no avail.
I still believe that these players are capable of much more than what we're seeing...and we have proof: UND is still undefeated and Purdue took them to the edge of defeat. Same goes for anOSU. But games like last week, this week and both the Wisky and UM games make even the most-faithful Boiler doubt that anything's left in the tank.
Shavers averaged 8.1 yards/carry...but Hunt was the guy that Nord went to as the game was slipping away. Edison had a couple uncharacteristic drops, but still finished with 93 yard receiving and a TD...but he was forced to catch the ball with his back to the defense and his feet in cement...not by his design, mind you.
The sad thing is, Nord, Tibesar, Gibbony, Hope and company probably haven't reached the bottom yet. Purdue travels to Iowa next week. Iowa is not good...they're sub-.500 and they lost to IU today...plus, Purdue hasn't won at Kinnick since I was in high school...and many of Purdue's players weren't born, at that point. What I'm saying is that I'm not counting on things to change next week, or for the remainder of this season, sadly.
Watching college football for me is tough right now. As I type, Oregon is scoring with regularity...K State is enjoying a resurgence under a guy that looks like my grandpa...and college football is still fun for some fan bases. But, it's not much fun for Boilers right now. In fact, it looks like Purdue isn't even playing the same game that many teams, like Sumlin's Aggies and others, are playing right now.
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| Mercy. |
One of Purdue's really good fans came up from Texas this weekend to watch the game in the nice seats in Ross-Ade. He didn't buy the seats from a scalper, but he purchased these years ago...and due to work and life, he doesn't get to go to many, but keeps supporting his Boilers with his time and wallet. The reward for his long trip was his Boilers laying a gigantic egg on the RA prescription athletic turf. Fans like this guy I'm talking about, our pal, deserve better...hell, Purdue fans in general deserve better than what we saw today...and what we've seen this season.
The coaches didn't give the players the tools to win today, and the players repaid them with a lackluster effort, especially after the first quarter. This putrid blend of lousy effort and worse planning has helped create a nearly-unwatchable product clad in vegas gold and black this season.
37,500 seats were sold for the game today...and by the middle of the third quarter, about 25,000 die hards remained in their seats...I wasn't one of them.
My brother, a fellow Purdue grad, turned 35 yesterday. We celebrated his birthday at his home with an open house...during a four or five our span, 20-25 Purdue grads, along with their spouses and kids came through his house...and none of them seemed to indicate that they were too bothered by missing the game. Some even left their seats in RA empty while celebrating my brother surviving another year. Most of these men and women graduated during the Tiller era...But, the early oughts are a distant memory at this point, and in their place, the late-80s seem to have taken their place.
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9 comments:
Should be noted that the guy in the pic isn't our friend who bdowd was referring to.
cant believe thats only the 2nd time with an embarassed tag. For the 4th time in five games everyone expected Purdue to put forth some effort, and look like the want to be there. It didnt happen, for the 4th time. We have beaten the worst team in D1, and FCS team, and a pretty crappy Marshall. Thats how good this team really is, just barely better than a crappy c-usa team. You can say 'oh we almost beat nd and aosu', so? Almost doesnt put butts in Ross-Ade, almost doesnt prevent the head coach from getting fired, almost does not cut it in this league.
We still inexplicably have a mathematical chance at a bowl, but really with the way the team has played we should lose each game by 2+ scores. Danny Hope's comments after this game show he has totally resigned himself to the fact he will not be coaching this team after this year. Burke should save some face and come out and say that Hope is dead man walking, like Zook last year. Maybe then, just maybe, this team will show up.
BBall looking really good so far this year. only 7 days to the first game
My emotions today went from angered by the performance, to excited about getting a new coach to frightened by the thought of who our new coach might be.
There are so many good young coaches out there who would love this job, but my fear is that Spack is on the short list.
I like Spack but I really think we need some outside blood (or Sumlin sigh).
A lot of times you here of companies hiring from outside in order to get some new perspectives. Likewise I really think Purdue would benefit from getting a guy that has been at some big name programs.
I don't really have anything to say that hasn't been said multiple times over the last 5+ weeks.
Nice work as always with the site, guys - I have no idea how you're able to even produce anything at this point - I'm so frustrated and angry I can't even put my thoughts together cohesively (the rum probably doesn't help).
Regardless, BTFU.
-pp
I am excited as well at the prospect of having a new coach...and I have the same old fears that every other Boiler fan has. This is where my anger, rage, disappointment and total bewilderment comes into play. Purdue University as a whole seems so G D detached from their fan base. Morgan Burke seeming to be the worst of the bunch. He comes across so arrogant to me. Completely denouncing pretty much anything and everything that we as fans have to say. I have NEVER understood this and I never will. The part that really irks me (you guys just talked about on The Handsome Hour)is there have been MANY, MANY good coaches that Purdue could have gotten while waiting for Danny Hope "the coach" to show up. These guys are no longer available or out of our price range now. I truly feel as if our fan base is much more connected to what is going on than our damn athletic director. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE???? How do we know the opportunities that exist and yet Captain Morgan goes and hires an unproven division 12 directional school coach just because Drew Brees would run through walls for him???? SO FRUSTRATING. We just can't get out of our own way. I really think if Captain Morgan lent an ear to 1/10 of our fan base, our football program would be in much better shape than it is today. Take a page from other schools and LISTEN TO YOUR FANS!!! WOW...what a novel idea huh?
Some observations from the Penn State game.
Purdue was BIGGER! Until yesterday all of the games I have seen at Ross-Ade were "preseason" games against MAC opponents (Ball State, Toledo, etc.). I had great seats directly behind the bench, courtesy of Military Appreciation Day, and was able to watch the action on the sidelines closely. Size-wise Penn State looked like a MAC team. That was surprising.
I arrived early and watched the warmups. Marve was throwing very hard, jumping up and down, and tossing the ball in the air to himself. It was difficult to tell if he was leading by example, fired-up, or just plain nervous. Interestingly, I did not see that sort of intensity from any other Purdue player. In comparison Caleb Terbush threw low during his warmups. But for all of that Robert was unable to move the team. I felt sorry for him because a promising football career will likely end in three more games.
Penn State was smaller and yes, more pedantic, but they were crisp. McGloin, who looked positively small compared to the Purdue QB's, was sharp. His passes were accurate and he knew the location of his receivers. Coach O'Brien had his team well-drilled and prepared. They tackled well the first time. The receivers caught the ball when they were supposed to catch it. New England wins year in and out. Now I see why. Penn State was prepared, and we can't say that about the Boilers.
Though better heads can criticize the play calling, allow me one criticism. In the third quarter Coach Nord called an option left almost right in front of me. The play made a nice gain. I yelled, "Why didn't you call the option sooner?"
Lastly, as I walked out of the stadium I talked to some Penn State fans. One fan with a Philly accent (trust me, I know it when I hear it) said, i.e, "We've had a great time here. The people are nice and treated us well. The school is beautiful. I like it here and wouldn't mind if my kid went here." I grew up in Northern Kentucky and know arrogant fans who think their school invented basketball. You can't buy that sort of advertising!
Also, I walked down the hill with a Penn State family of seven or so who were all wearing the jersey of one player. After asking the obvious, "Are you a player's family?" they proudly told me that their brother or cousin is on the team. I told Mom, "I can't imagine what the team has gone through this year." She simply answered, "You have no idea."
"Purdue started three drives at midfield in the first half. The Boilermakers also started drives at their own 48- and 41-yard lines. They got a total of three points before the break. Penn State has an impressive defensive front, but that’s inexcusable."
That's from an IndyStar article this AM. This is how bad our offense is. 0 points. And yet Nord hasn't changed or innovated with his play calling - which was painfully obvious when the last possessions of the first half when we took a knee instead of trying something, anything.
I just hope we don't promote Matt Painter to AD, we need him as BB coach. Back in the day, we promoted George King from BB coach to AD and suffered in both areas
What did I say on this very blog last week?
http://www.boiledsports.com/2012/10/perhaps-ive-figured-out-problem.html?showComment=1351549235386#c3428050111595188394
Basically I said that I don't mind the WR screens and speed outs so much, if they were actually used to set something up downfield (as both Minny and PSU burned us on -- I guess our DB's have never seen this play in practice!)
The funniest thing was that I was watching the game at home, and the ESPNU announcers kept saying, all through the first half, "Purdue's going to use these screens to set up something downfield later."
How cute. Apparently he doesn't understand the Nordfense philosophy... OF COURSE we weren't trying to set up something downfield -- we'll just let them crowd the LOS and blow up all our screens in the backfield.
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