Purdue 14, Northwestern 21 - Fooled Again

This loss is on the offense. The Purdue defense played well enough to win. The Purdue defense forced three turnovers, including two in Northwestern territory, that resulted in exactly 0 Purdue points. Purdue wasn't even close on any of them either. Three and outs are the new thing ya'll! I honestly don't know what John Shoop is doing. The guy honestly called a pretty good first quarter and first drive of the third quarter but after that absolutely nothing. I can't wrap my head around what the guy is thinking the majority of the time. Everyone who isn't affiliated with Purdue or the Bears talks about Shoop as this mad scientist evil genius of an offensive mind. I just don't see it and I never have. My only thought is that maybe Shoop truly is a genius and that he just overthinks everything. I have no other explanation.

The game started out in typical Purdue fashion by allowing the timid and sad Northwestern offense to drive down and score with little to no resistance and just like that boom 7-0. At this point I was ready to move on with my day but alas Purdue had other ideas. David Blough headed to the field for Purdue's first offense positions and, thanks to a nifty double move, hit Domonique Young for a 68 yard touchdown pass. For those that were curious Young had 60 yards on the season going into today. The one thing I can say about the offense today is that they certainly spread the ball around to a lot of different receivers. Purdue had 10 receivers catch a pass today with many of those folks coming from the back of the bench or Hazell's doghouse or wherever he's been keeping them.

Purdue allowed one more touchdown in the first half and went into halftime down 14-7. Northwestern was able to capitalize off of a tipped passed from Blough to grab an INT and turn it into seven points. Purdue had a chance to tie it with a long bomb to the endzone to end the half thanks to a bonehead timeout by Northwestern but alas it wasn't to be. Purdue's first drive in the third quarter was a thing of beauty. It was the last thing of beauty this Purdue offense would do all day. Purdue went 71 yards on 7 plays capped off by a Markell Jones two yard touchdown run. It really shows you what this offense is capable of when firing on all cylinders. Unfortunately, Shoop's beard clogs up a lot of those cylinders preventing the offense from truly playing to their potential. It also doesn't help that Markell Jones got injured in the second half and would not return. No word yet on his status.

The Purdue offense wasted numerous possessions with three and outs and absolutely threw away the three turnovers the defense grabbed. They looked incompetent at times and just dumbfounded at other times. On the last drive of the game Purdue needed a third and seven so their plan was apparently to run a two yard drag over the middle and hope the receiver makes the play. That's not going to happen the majority of the time. Purdue wasting so many possessions gave Northwestern the many chances they needed to score just one more time and put the game entirely out of reach. The Purdue defense struggled on Northwestern's final TD drive. They allowed the QB to scramble for a 16 yard run on 3rd and 14 with the game tied 14-14. Really not a great effort there.

At the end of the day I'm sure we will be told this team is moving in a direction and that a corner is ready to be turned. I'm not sure what direction, or where this corner is but apparently Purdue is getting close. Purdue now sits at 2-8 and Darrel Hazell has still not won a game in the month of November.