Every time I heard the announcer refer to SEMO as the Red Hawks, it sounded like "Red Hots" to me...and LBD heard it the same way...so during the game they were renamed. But that name wasn't fitting as SEMO couldn't get hot and was not spicy...but they were eaten by the handful by the Boiler offense AND defense.
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| Beautiful blue skies over an ugly mismatch |
Looking at the final score, you wouldn't know it, but Purdue started off pretty slowly on offense.
OJ Ross had one of the few blemishes on the day in the form of a fumble that was lost as the offense looked like it was about to score...and prior to that, on the first offensive possession, Purdue went three and out and had to punt. Purdue only had three points on the board with around 6:00 left in the quarter, but Akeem Shavers first TD (of two) on the day awoke the Boilers as the onslaught began.
The first play of the game, SEMO thought it'd be a good idea to test Ricardo Allen with a 50 yard bomb down the sideline...and the pass looked very good as the Red Hots 6'6" receiver went up to get the ball. But, the tightly-packed corner from Purdue, who was with the receiver down the sideline simply ripped the ball away and came down with the ball. This play would be foreshadowing as Purdue's defense out-muscled SEMO all day.
The sledding was so tough for SEMO that they couldn't seem to get past their own 35 for much of the first half. They couldn't run, they couldn't pass, they couldn't create space from the bigger, faster and just better Boilermakers. And as a result of not moving the ball, Purdue's offense inherited short field after short field and chewed up the undersized Red Hots in a variety of ways.
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| Sharp. |
TerBush, with only one exception looked very accurate, had a ton of time (except for one possession) and picked his spots. He finished the day completing a silly 82% of his passes for 142 yards to a bunch of receivers. But he wasn't the only QB to play...he was one of three.
We heard that Marve was healthy and would probably play...so I shook the dust off of my BS Marve-lous shirt and wore it to support the former #1 QB. I was hoping he'd have the chance to throw the ball around a bit and get comfortable. I'd venture that he wouldn't have been more comfortable had he stayed home and sat on the couch for the afternoon. Marve's decisions making was crisp, his passing was very accurate and he eve had the chance to scramble and take a small hit. Marve's numbers were efficient and OK, if you're into this sort of thing: He completed over 87% of his passes and had 91 yards on the seven completions and a TD.
The final QB to play on the day was walk-on Senior Spencer Dawson...he didn't have to put the ball in the air, he just let a few Baby Boilers put in some work. He handed and pitched the all to a few of Purdue's 10 players that carried the ball on the day- specifically a couple of the most-noteworthy; Cottom and Hunt.
Cottom is noteworthy because he's a mountain of a man, especially in Purdue's stable of Smurfs. He's 6'5" and 255 pounds. He carried the ball 7 times for 70 yards. His scatback counterpart was an excellent change-up to Cottom's straight forward style. 5'9" (maybe) & 175 pound Hunt showed some moves that I'm positive the Red Hots didn't see coming. He made them miss time and time again on the way to rushing for 56 yards on 6 carries and two TDs...not a bad day, I guess.
Shavers (as I referred to earlier) had 75 yards on 11 carries and two TDs and started the game to the surprise of the people in RA who actually cared about what was happening on the field. Bolden, who was benched for the first quarter as a disciplinary action by Hope due to an academic issue, ran for a paltry 5.3 yds/carry on 11 carries and had two TDs as well.
On the other side of the ball, Will Lucas and Chris Carlino led the team with 7 tackles each. Lucas had the most-noteworthy hit of the day as he leveled a SEMO receiver across the middle. The hit earned him a 15 yard penalty (which I didn't agree with) but set a tone that Purdue was going to be hitting Red Hots hard. I really liked the way Bruce Gaston played too as he was clogging the middle and creating havoc for the undersized SEMO linemen to deal with for much of the first half...his partner in crime, Short wasn't too bad either...both had 5 tackles.
It was a fun day to be in Ross-Ade as we haven't seen a dominant performance in this vain since Orton was QB and Purdue railroaded Syracuse by a similar score.
BUT...
Purdue's opponent barely qualified for this game. They're not only an FCS team, but a very bad one. So Boiler fans, enjoy the victory, but temper your enthusiasm.
Purdue's coaches just got out of the way and allowed our Boilers to simply hit SEMO in the mouth again and again as the OL created space on every single play and the DL pushed into the Red Hots' backfield on nearly every play.
Maybe it was the pleading of this very site who asked Hope and Nord to simplify the offense and just do somethings well...OR...perhaps it was the fact that Purdue outweighed SEMO at every position and didn't need to do anything tricky to make this one a laugher. Methinks it was the latter.
Regardless, Purdue gets an opportunity to gameplan, for a UND team that found its groove today v. a good MSU team, for the next two weeks...that shouldn't be a bad thing. But the Irish will also will absolutely be Purdue's best-coached, most-talented opponent (by a lot) of this young season when they come to RA for an unusual 8:00pm kickoff two weeks from tonight.
That game is a big one for both football AND basketball as there will be a ton of recruits on the sidelines for the contest. It's a real chance for the Boiler faithful to impress some guys who might be able to make a big difference for the black and gold in the next 4-5 years.