Know Your Opponent: Purdue Boilermakers
/
Image: Sammy Jacobs Hoosier Huddle
Written by: Nate Comp (@NathanComp1)
Head Coach: Jeff Brohm
Overall: 3rd Season, 17-20 (.459)
Bowl Appearances at Purdue: 2
2018 Record: 6-7 (5-4, Big Ten West)
Bowl Appearances Since 2000: 11 (4-7)
Mascot: Purdue Pete/Boilermaker Special
Colors: Old Gold and Black
Outfitter: Nike
National Titles: 0
Conference Titles: 12
Heisman Winners: 0
2019 Record: 4-7 (3-5)
Last Week: LOSS 45-24 @ Wisconsin
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Passing Jack Plummer (144-241, 59.7 Comp %, 1603 Passing Yards, 81 TD, 8 INTs)
Rushing King Doerue (125 attempts, 429 yards, 3.4 avg, 5 TDs)
Receiving David Bell (77 receptions, 899 yards, 6 TDs)
Tackles Ben Holt (104 TKLs, 6.0 TFL, 1 Sack)
Purdue’s Talking Points
1. Injuries will certainly be the story of Purdue’s lost 2019 bowl hopes.
Elijah Sindelar, Lorenzo Neal, Richie Worship, DJ Washington, Jack Plummer, even preseason Heisman-hopeful Rondale Moore… they’ve all missed significant time during the 2019 season for Purdue. And unfortunately for the Boilermakers, this is just a list of the biggest contributors; the list goes on.
After two straight seasons playing postseason football under Jeff Brohm, Purdue lost its 7th game last week at Wisconsin and will miss the 2019 postseason. Despite so much hype, even picks to win what was a wide-open Big Ten West to start the season, Purdue’s injuries have completely derailed this season. And with a class of only 11 seniors, many of whom also find themselves on the injury report, Brohm and senior leadership have been unable to turn this season around.
Despite the lost postseason hope, Brohm knows the importance a win in the Bucket game could mean for the season. “It’s an important football game for the university, and bragging rights, and recruiting,” Brohm said. “We’re hopeful that we can do our part this year and come out and compete and try to find a way to get the victory.”
2. Purdue defense will be aggressive.
Sure, the Boilermakers gave up over 600 yards of offense to Wisconsin. Sure, they lost by 3 touchdowns. And sure, they gave up over 400 yards rushing, over 200 of which came from just one player. But instead of focusing on what Purdue’s defense wasn’t able to do, let’s take a look at what kept them in the game for much of Saturday.
Intertwined in the Boilermakers’ struggling defensive performance was an attacking defense that forced four timely turnovers on a Badger team that averaged giving the ball up just over once a game. Only one of these turnovers was turned into points, while the others led to two punts and a turnover on downs. If Purdue is able to force Indiana into turnovers and use the home-crowd to turn these takeaways into points, it could be a long day for the Hoosiers.
3. Keep an eye out on what Brohm has up his sleeve on offense.
One of the reasons Brohm makes the big bucks at Purdue is his creativity on offense. After wide receiver Milton Wright threw for a touchdown last week, I’m sure we’ll see Brohm dig deeper into his assortment of trick plays for the season-ending rivalry game. The Boilers converted a 4th down fake punt when Indiana visited West Lafayette last time in 2017, and defensive coordinator Kane Wommack will have to be on the lookout for something similar in 2019.