The Curse Strikes Again: Rob Henry Out With Torn ACL

Without a doubt this needs to be a group effort. If you are a Purdue fan and a member of the clergy, please pray or do a séance. If you know anyone familiar with voodoo please visit a witch doctor. the Mackey Arena renovation had to have uncovered not only an ancient Indian Burial Ground, but a pioneer cemetery and the 7th gate of hell too. This is only going to get worse if we don't do something. We can expect Robert Marve to be declared ineligible, Caleb TerBush to miss time with Hysterical Pregnancy, and Sean Robinson to get hit so hard he loses a limb on the field.

I have no idea what we have done to piss off the sports gods, but clearly it is something bad. Few things in football have gone right since The Fumble, and The Curse clearly claimed Robbie Hummel for some unknown reason. I couldn't even relax this afternoon with a nice run without coming home and seeing that my twitter feed had exploded with the news. Rob Henry, our leading passer and rusher from last season, somehow tore his ACL in a year where Coach Hope had made a point of lessening the hitting in practice in order to diminish the chance of injury.

My first reaction was probably similar to yours,: namely, I shouted, "You've gotta be Effing kidding me!" At this point it is almost laughable that we keep losing key players to the same injury. I'm tired of being a pity case too. I patrolled Off Tackle Empire and most of them agree that this isn't even funny anymore. I don't even know what we have to do to avoid it since we took specific measures to fight the injury bug again.

Fortunately (I guess) it happened at just about the best time it could happen. Caleb TerBush has been taking a lot of the top snaps of late because of swelling in Robert Marve's knee and Henry being ill. Coach Hope has even gone on record as saying that TerBush was throwing the ball better than everyone else. Now is his chance to prove it.

Based on the information we have, I think TerBush moves into the number one spot. He's at least been practicing for the past three years and has worked extensively with the #1 offense throughout camp. Akeem Shavers and Ralph Bolden have been running the ball well, so we need TerBush to have a Joey Elliott type of season.

With Marve still favoring his knee (he has missed multiple practices due to swelling) I don't know if he will even be #2 at this point. Sean Robinson has also been running with the #1's, and since he is the third and final scholarship quarterback on the roster you can bet he won't redshirt unless Marve is suddenly healthy or TerBush takes every snap. (HA!)

I really think Marve isn't ready at this point, and that concerns me greatly. We may have to move Justin Siller back to quarterback out of necessity. Otherwise our options are walk-ons Spencer Dawson and Austin Parker. Dolapo Macarthy is a possibility, as he played at quarterback in the spring before moving to wide receiver, but I really hope that we don't get that far down the list.

I guess the plus side is that we aren't totally without options here. We have three other players that have started at least one collegiate game on the roster. Two of them have won football games as quarterbacks too. I honestly think we can be in good hands with TerBush or a healthy Marve. It will take away some of our running element from the quarterback position, but I think they improve the passing game. The running game should be fine with Shavers and Bolden, but it is more important than ever now.

Also, don't discount that we have three relatively easy games to ease into the season. We shouldn't be truly tested until we play Notre Dame, and that's over a month from now. That gives Marve more time to heal and TerBush more time to adapt to being #1.

I know it's a common refrain (sadly) but our goals can't change just because of one loss like this. It is entirely possible that TerBush or Marve will be fine running the offense and a month from now we'll see dozens of stories about Purdue recovering well from yet another injury. I still see six wins and a bowl game and I won't give up just yet.

Just please, for the love of God, let this be the last one.