Jealous Iowa? Purdue 20, Northwestern 17
by TelePunk5 on Oct 10, 2010 2:31 PM EDT
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PrintI have to admit, I didn't think Purdue had any chance to win this game. 60 ugly minutes later, the Boilers end up victorious and undefeated in the conference. This was a huge game for the Boilers' very slim bowl hopes. If the boys can take care of business next week against the Gophers and give the Hoosiers their usual Ross Ade reception, then we are one upset away from eligibility. Unfortunately, the easiest game of those is a trip to Illinois who just upset Penn State today. Still a win is a win, and this is one that the fanbase and the team desperately needed.
Before I get to the positives and negatives of the game, I'd like to present the Ed Hightower Award for Excellence in Officiating, to the line judge in charge of spotting the ball today. I don't know if he is a Northwestern alum, or working for the mafia, or visually impaired, but the guys in purple got more than a few favorable spots. You can't be too mad since there were a couple make up bad spots, unless you prefer a well called game. May he ride off into the sunset with Ed on a shimmering dragon.
via a323.yahoofs.com
Positives and negatives after the jump.
Positives-
- Kawaan Short - 8 TKL, 1 Sack, 1 pass defended, 1 blocked FG - Short's blocked FG turned out to be the difference maker in the game. His sack came on a big 3rd down play, and he was generally great at being disruptive to the Northwestern offense. The entire defensive line was pretty dominant today, but Short was the standout. He had a key block on Evans' sack and Holland's sack as well.
- Rob Henry - 16 rushes, 132 yards, 1 TD - Henry was finding holes, hitting them, and burning through. The offensive line played very well, since Purdue gained 232 yards on 42 rushes. The lion's share of that went to the freshman quarterback, who even turned out a stumbling 67 yard long rush. He ran pretty well in his debut as the Boilers starter. We will be coming back to him later...
- Special Teams - shockingly not a huge liability today - The return coverage was solid, and Boilers came up with some big turnovers on special teams. Not only did they block the tying kick, but Albert Evans' big fumble recovery on the muffed punt set up what turned out to be the difference making FG. It has been the first time that Gibboney reminded us why he gets paid. Of course it helped that Northwestern played poorly on special teams, but for once it was another team losing in that phase of the game.
- Pass rush in general - 5 sacks - Northwestern got crushed in the trenches on both sides of the ball. We got great pressure from the front 4 all day, we had effective blitzing, and we held them to 2 yds/carry on rushing. Can't ask for much more from the defensive front seven.
- Rob Henry - 6/18, 47 yards, 1 INT - Henry played well overall in his debut, but those numbers tell the whole story about the passing game. It was so bad that even when the Boilers would come out in a 5 wide formation, Northwestern would still put 7 in the box (the worst part about that scheme was that Purdue was often running from that formation). The passing game was so bad that playcalling became very predictable. His interception was a very poor decision. For a freshman in his first start this is forgivable, but numbers like that aren't going to lead to wins against more potent offenses in the Big Ten.
- Pass defense - The secondary was, again, the weakest point of the Boiler's defense. They kept the Wildcats out of the endzone but allowed some big gains, including 14 passing first downs (we had 2). Evans and Link played well at safety, but I can't remember any of the corners being a huge factor in the game.
- Wide Receivers - Part of the ineffectiveness of the passing game rests on the shoulders of Henry, but there were more than a few balls that should have been caught and ended up dropped. Obviously, the wide outs aren't yet in sync with Henry, but I expected better against a not-so-good Northwestern defense coming off of an extra week of practice and prep.
- Tight Ends - Not to belabor the passing game, but tight ends need to be a young quarterback's best friends. Lindsay and Adams combined for 2 catches and 19 yards. Again, they looked out of sync with Henry, and took away a lot of the check down throws that Henry should have been making rather than pulling it down and running. There will need to be more production from the entire receiving corps if this team has any chance at bowl eligibility.
- 3rd Down Efficiency and Red Zone Offense - 3/13 on 3rd down - Finally, the abysmal third down conversion rate and not great red zone offense can be attributed to the playcalling. Hope was so afraid to pass the ball that Purdue was rushing on 3rd and long and settling for field goals from short range rather than trying to strike for a touchdown. Statistically speaking, the Boilers got dominated in this game, falling behind in every category but the score. That can be traced directly back to the passing game. You could say that Purdue stole this game by dominating the line of scrimmage, but it makes me wonder how many more games like that the Boilers can win. As we get to the better teams in the Big Ten, Purdue isn't going to be able to just pound the ball with Henry and run on every down.
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well done, good sir
Beat me to the punch, but I have some outsider thoughts to post. Thanks for doing the “I was able to actually watch the game.” Wrap. It’s a great comeback!
A futile crusade to prevent mass ignorance
HammerAndRails, SBNation's Boilermaker Blog
by BoilerTMill on Oct 10, 2010 2:40 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
Damn twitter thing isn't working
Other than that, great to be back.
Hammer and Rails
The only Purdue blog at that web address.
2 things
1) I thought the secondary was very good, with the exception of a few missed tackles. The majority of their passing game was short stuff on the linebackers, or underneath routes against off coverage (i.e., coaching). The one or two deep balls were very well covered, and there were no major errors. I think this secondary is a lot better than they get credit for, especially Allen. There haven’t been mistakes or penalties, and I can’t remember a single busted coverage, remarkable for an all-new group. Much of our pass defense problems are the linebackers and their general lack of speed and tackling.
2) This is more of a nitpick, but dominating the line of scrimmage is not “stealing” a game, IMHO. Statistically, yes, we got dominated, but no more than we dominated physically.
"Hey Jay, what time is it?"
"9:30"
"AND IU STILL SUCKS!"
by Boiler Bandsman on Oct 10, 2010 6:10 PM EDT reply actions
Let me tell you...
Watching this game was like watching your hated ex-girlfriend drunkenly fight that bitch that you work with… The only great outcome is for both to get arrested for public intox and to be embarrassed in front of everyone that you know and work with.
But seriously, nice win. Definitely pulled for you guys to overcome the Fitz wizardry
"I shoot, I score. He shoots, I score." - Dan Gable
As a Hawkeye fan
I am extremely jealous. jNW would probably have found a way to kill Stanzi/ARob/Clayborn/someone, while pulling off the close win. Again.
This was a blackhole game for us Hawk fans. Couldn’t really cheer for anybody. Finally I brought myself to root for the other Black and Gold team, and you guys didn’t disappoint.
I’d be tempted to say that Iowa should force the jNW (should it be close) to come down to a mid-to-long field goal by Demos. But knowing our luck against theirs, he’d probably make a 50yd game winner against Iowa, during the middle of a blizzard.
Oh come,
they barely defeated justNorthwestern. Don’t give them too much credit.
If I wanted a signature line, I would have asked for one... /facepalm
by hawkeye_heartattack on Oct 13, 2010 9:38 AM EDT up reply actions
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