The Boilers bookended a 38-0 thrashing from Wisconsin with a pair of impressive touchdowns today in a soggy, empty Ross-Ade Stadium. See what I did there?
Yeah, take away the opening-minute pass from TerBush to Edison and the meaningless 81 yard TD by Akeem Hunt with under two minutes to go and Purdue has a total of about 120 yards of offense.
Remember people were saying Wisconsin's defense was susceptible? Remember when people said Purdue could win this game and basically guarantee a trip to Indianapolis? How utterly idiotic does all of that sound now?
Purdue is not good, folks. Sure, I know Michigan and Wisconsin aren't as tasty as Marshall, EKU, EMU, etc., but still... Purdue has not even competed the past two weeks. A combined 82-27 is how badly Purdue has been crushed at home over the past two weeks, in supposedly two of the most critical, defining games of Danny Hope's coaching tenure.
Purdue was outgained 645-252 today. It was 409-213 last week. So Purdue has 465 yards of total offense in their last eight quarters of football. Positively dreadful.
Purdue QBs were a combined 11/31 passing today (7/16 for 80 yards for TerBush; 3/9 for 43 yards for Marve; 1/6 for 1 yards for Henry). You know, it's almost as though nonsensically playing multiple quarterbacks in a willy-nilly fashion is not a formula for success. Of course, if you're going to do it, it's always good to let your team get behind and then ask the guy you say isn't "efficient" to come in and be....efficient, I guess. And then when it gets later in the game and you really have no choice but to pass a lot to try to make up ground, that's the perfect time to bring in your option quarterback who has never been a good passer.
Seriously, this coaching staff has no idea what the hell is going on. Another punt blocked today, the defense gets run over to the tune of 467 yards rushing, the offense once again looks unclever and not at all difficult to defend, balls are being dropped all over the place. Things are a mess.
I have a hard time hating on this team, as the kids say, because I really like these players. They're likable guys, they love being Boilermakers and they want to win badly. I can tell that just from listening to them. But talent alone is not enough to overcome poor preparation and game decisions from your coaching staff. And that might be the most awful thing here -- there really isn't anything the coaching staff does well. They aren't good game-planners, they aren't good at adjustments, they aren't creative, they aren't good "Xs and Os" coaches, and so forth. What are they good at? Being the players' best friends? Maybe so, because so many players sound like they'd run through a wall for Danny Hope. That's good and all, but not if you're getting embarrassed in every big game you ever play.
Where do they go from here? Another thrashing, most likely, on the road next week at Columbus. At that point, Purdue fans will be even deeper into depression. Will they then rebound with some wins to inch towards a middling bowl game? Even if they do, will anyone care? Ross-Ade looked jarringly empty in the second half today. Even early on, they only had an announced crowd of somewhere around 46,000, somewhat pathetic for homecoming.
It does seem at the moment that the bad ol' days are here again.
