:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/51591387/usa-today-9639652.0.jpg)
It was the best of times it was the blurst of times.
Like 1,000 monkeys typing at 1,000 typewriters there’s always a chance with Purdue football that a masterpiece will be painted. While the first half wasn’t a masterpiece, the defense was a sieve at best, it was certainly a solid first half offensively. Purdue put up 17 points against a fairly stout Penn State defense. Purdue got creative with shovel passes, the wildcat, a fumblerooski (that didn’t work AT ALL), and came away with 17 points. Markell Jones also looked like his old self just briefly in that first half as he came away with a couple bruising runs taking on defenders. Then, the teams stopped for halftime. Once they came out after that it was like a completely different ballgame.
I don’t think any of truly expected Purdue to win this game because, as I discussed in my prediction (tooting my own horn), Purdue simply doesn’t have the depth to stay in a game against a superior opponent. Purdue doesn’t have backups that aren’t big dropoffs at many positions. It makes the second half extremely difficult as the opponent can generally bring in players with fresh legs with little change whereas when the backups are in for Purdue it is quite noticeable.
The second half started about as poorly as you could imagine with David Blough throwing a rather ugly interception. Purdue wound up with four turnovers overall with all of them leading to points. Part of the problem was the aggressive play but quite honestly I can’t fault Parker for that. He has to do something with this team. I don’t know what the answer is but whatever we saw today in the second half certainly isn’t it.
There will be much more to come but for now Purdue falls to 3-5 on the year and Coach Parker goes to 0-2 since he took over. It should be noted that both of those losses have been against ranked teams. We will have much more to come on this one. In the meantime go outside on this beautiful day, ignore social media, and the internet (except Hammer and Rails).