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Mizzou Vs. Purdue: 5 Things We Learned

Another week, another competitive loss.

NCAA Football: Missouri at Purdue Thomas J. Russo-USA TODAY Sports
  • David Blough has earned the job

You agree here, right? After breaking the Purdue record for most passing yards in a game, you would think he has won the job. David Blough looked like Drew Brees back there Saturday, slinging the ball all over the field with great accuracy. He threw it deep, threw it short and ran it a bit also.

His record performance of 572 yards was not enough to propel the Boilers to a win, but the offense did not look stagnant as it did in times vs Northwestern and the majority of the game against EMU. The run game disappeared from the previous week, but the passing game is now alive.

  • Secondary still struggling

Last year, our secondary was surprisingly good. This year is another story. Consistently missing tackles and blow assignments over the past couple of weeks. Tim Cason was benched this week for Kenneth Major, which I am fine with. I am totally fine with rolling with the youth movement back there, if we are going to be terrible at defending the pass, you might as well do it with youth to let them get better.

Thieneman was never great in pass coverage, but this year he has been exposed at safety. He has still done a nice job in run support, but on passing downs, I almost prefer a player like Cory Trice coming in.

  • More rotation on the offensive line

The offensive line stayed fresh by rotating pieces all night, it was rare that Blough received any pressure. Mike Mendez rotated in at guard and Swingler was rotated in at Right tackle after not starting. We got 7 or 8 deep on the offensive line. If they can stay healthy, that will help down the road.

  • Cornel Jones is the real deal

All the buzz was around Derrick Barnes before the season. But, Cornel Jones has outplayed him to this point. The sophomore linebacker is all over the field all of the time. With Markus Bailey struggling early this year, it has been nice to see another Linebacker step up and deliver. Cornel may be a star linebacker in the making.

  • Catch rule needs clarification

Was it a catch? Was it not a catch? I am not here to debate that. Rather, the catch rule needs clarification. Similar to the NFL, you see catches ruled incomplete in college all the time and you also see catches that don’t appear to be catches turn into catches. So, who the heck knows what is going on with it. To be honest with you, if it was a catch or not, Mizzou probably goes down the field and scores anyway with how or defense was playing Saturday.

But, the rule needs addressed in the off-season. There were many instances of this rule being up for debate this weekend, this rule shouldn’t be deciding games.