Maiden Voyage a Success - Danny Hope Era at Purdue Begins

The Danny Hope era at Purdue is officially kicked-off. There was a lot of mystery regarding this team coming into this first season. The mystery stems from all of the transition that has been experienced since the first of January.

Along with a new head coach, the offense is being led by a new Quarterback. Joey Elliot is by nature a relatively lively person. This translated to a bit of jitteriness at the beginning of the game. Relatively quickly, Joey got settled down, thanks in part to a phenomenal running game. Joey finished with a QB rating of 140.6. This is driven by the 60% completion percentage and 3 touchdowns he threw. He threw for 220 yards during the game which is low for Purdue standards. However, that being said, Joey didn’t need to throw for 500 yards Saturday as he was supported by 315 yards rushing.

There were three interceptions thrown, two of which contacted our receiver first. The last interception will make Joey cringe when he reviews film. On a roll-out play he floated a softy across the grain and a linebacker meandered over and grabbed it out of the air. Being relatively harmless, this gives Joey a great teachable moment for going forward.

I normally would go over the running game now but I want to focus on why the running game was so solid. The offensive line Saturday played with a sense of urgency and purpose. Football games are won and lost in the trenches and this game was no exception. There was only one sack on the day and Ralph Bolden and Jaycen Taylor had coliseum sized holes for running lanes. The receivers did an acceptable job of blocking downfield. I want to tip my hat to the O-line for winning this one for us. With new receivers and a new QB this is a picture perfect way of making their initiation into a season easier.

I have watched Jaycen Taylor since he transferred from Cali. I always thought he could be a special player for the boilers. When I heard that Ralph Bolden got the start over Jaycen, it meant one of two things. His injury was still impacting his performance or we got something special in Ralph. Jaycen looked like he was back to 100% Saturday and we have confirmed that Ralph Bolden can be an electrifying player for Purdue. Ralph received the “co-Big Ten Offensive Player-of-the-Week” award for his 234 yard, 2 touchdown performance against the Rockets. He demonstrated home run speed which will only make our passing offense that more effective this season with the threat of a vaunted running game.

Keith Smith had 8 receptions for 117 yards and 1 touchdown. I don’t know if we can say we have any major threats but we can definitely move the ball downfield. I was pleased with Keith’s performance even though he did take his eyes off of one pass during the game which could have been a significant gain. The major concern is if Joey can throw to anyone other than Keith. With 17 receptions total, almost half went to Keith. Defensive coordinators will be able to take that away quickly, so either Keith Carlos or Aaron Valentin will have to make some noise in the next game to prevent that from happening. I am not going to dwell on this much; Joey was taking what the defense was giving him.

The defense was sold on having to carry the offense this year. Not only do I want my money back on buying that, but it could be the offense carrying the defense.

I don’t want Purdue to be in a position that they have to score over 36 points a game to win. That is too much pressure on an offensive unit.

Speaking of pressure, for as much as we heard about Mike Neal and Ryan Kerrigan, there wasn’t very much pressure on the Rocket QB. Also there were a TON of missed tackles in the first 2 quarters from over-pursuing of the ball carrier. That can be corrected; I remember watching games and not seeing anybody pursuing the ball carrier, so no complaints.

We have a senior laden secondary. However, they are all alone on an island out there. If we cannot reduce the amount of time a QB can wait to throw the rock, then we are going to continuously be lit up by opposing passing games. To be fair, the rockets gave up on their running game quickly be falling behind 14 – 0. We held them to 70 yards rushing for the game which Ralph surpassed on the first drive of the game. Some props have to be given there, we typically are not known for shutting down running games. It shows you what getting out to a good start can do to a game.

We gave up 423 yards passing against the Toledo Rockets. I repeat the Toledo rockets. This is a combination of 2 things, being down big and early the Rockets stopped running the ball as much. Secondly, Aaron Opelt had a lot of time to sit back and wait for Stephen Williams and Eric
Page to get open, and they did, repeatedly. Both receivers ended with over 100 yards receiving. Stephen Williams, who is a difficult match up, had almost 200 yards receiving. That guy is a stud.

Let’s wrap up with special teams, Carson Wiggs is my hero. 7 extra points and a field goal that was teed up in downtown Lafayette makes for a solid game. It’s now Monday and his kick still hasn’t landed yet. This is a tremendous weapon if he can nail his consistency. So far so good.

We travel to Eugene this weekend to take on the Ducks of Oregon. They just got bitch slapped by the Broncos of Boise State. Then their starting running back, LeGarrette Blount, proceeded to return the favor and he’s done for the season. Hopefully, this hampers their running game to the point that Purdue can pull out a close one at Oregon. Unfortunately, if we go to Eugene and win, then Purdue will not sneak up on any other team this season. Talk to you next week.

Painting the wrong picture: Purdue’s Football outlook is not as bleak as it reads…

I read an article in the South Bend Tribune today that made me blink multiple times before I re-read the article. Here is the link to the article: LINK

I feel that the article’s intention was not to paint the picture of how Danny Hope is coming to Purdue to resurrect a fallen program. On the contrary, its intention was to highlight the intrinsic difficulties in following a respected coach of who was a campus icon.

That being said, the article reads almost with the air of an obituary for Coach Hope. Much of this editorial aftertaste is attributed to the closing of the article highlighting all the obvious issue that Purdue will be facing going into next season. Touching on Justin Siller’s dismissal and McBurse’s Clearinghouse process leaves a reading feeling sorry for Coach Hope’s position.

Personally, I do not thing that the cupboard is as bare as the article implies. I, of course, am always hopefully optimistic regarding our football team. I grew up in the Fred Akers/Jim Colletto years of Purdue football. Therefore, there is still a sparkle in my eye regarding the last ten-plus years of Boilermaker football.

Coach Hope has at his disposal a competent stable of running backs, bolstered by McBurse’s clearance to play by the NCAA. Jaycen Taylor will by cleared by fall and Ralph Bolden is an up and coming dual threat back who is just a sophomore.

Joey Elliot at QB is a fifth year senior who has had enough game experience and skill to actually vie for a starting spot last year against Curtis Painter, who is now with the Indianapolis Colts.

There are question marks as with every program. Will the receiving corps step up and deliver? Is the defense going to be able to carry the offense early in the season until the unit gels? Only time will tell on questions like this. But as writers and fans, these are the questions that entertain us until the season begins.

I think that the Boiler faithful is ready and excited for Coach Hope. Purdue athletic director Morgan Burke has done a masterful job of managing the alumni and fan base expectations through two major coaching transitions. Using the succession plan model has given both Coach Hope and Coach Painter head starts in public relations and recruiting setting both coaches up for success rather than failure. Coach Hope’s energy and passion have been well documented and on display to help inject tremendous positive energy into the team and the fans.

There is no denying that the last couple years of Purdue Football have lacked the passion and enthusiasm that existed during Tiller’s early years. However, Coach Hope is taking over at exactly the perfect time. Here’s wishing Coach Hope the wisdom, passion, and energy for a successful tenure at Purdue University.

Purdue Basketball - Life is about choices

The concept of student athletes making the same types of poor decisions is becoming practically cliché. During the early hours of Wednesday, April 15th, Lewis Jackson, the sophomore with tremendous potential, was stopped for speeding in his native Illinois.

These kinds of incidents are seemingly becoming a broken record of sorts. We all get the "here we go again" feeling whenever a program has a student athlete make poor decisions.

Lewis is facing four charges stemming from possession and consumption of alcohol and marijuana. All charges are filed as misdemeanors. Nevertheless, opportunities like this can become turning points in a young person’s life. To think that kids will never make the wrong choice is ignorant on society's part. However, how we address these coach able moments can be the difference between an individual growing up to be a shining example of redemption and another example of failure to reach one's potential.

This reminds me of the Mike Robinson situation that was similar and different at the same time. The charges were totally different. Mike Robinson was a small forward for Gene Keady in the 90's who was caught up in shoplifting charges. The reason for the correlation was the Mike grew from the experience. Not only did he become a more mature individual, but he actually became a better leader on the court. Most of us grow from absorbing the consequences from our decisions and overcoming the adversity.

I just hope that Lewis becomes better and more mature from this situation. Not only does he have to face the consequences himself, but his teammates will be sharing the burden of those same consequences.

A look back while turning forward

Reflecting on this very successful Purdue Basketball season, I wonder about the true potential for this current team. When was the last time a Purdue Basketball team had this much talent on it? Was it the Glenn Robinson/Counzo Martin team? Was it the teams who won 4 straight Big Ten titles? It's hard to tell, but easy to speculate.

This season had a few ups and downs. One thing that the Purdue faithful learned was how truly valuable Robbie Hummell is to this team. Even with JuJuan Johnson's emergence as a budding star in the Big Ten, the team lacked a unifying presence on the court without Hummell. He might not always put up the scoring numbers, but it is more about how he contributes to all the statistical categories other than points. His contribution to a game that is not tracked with a statistical category makes it easy to not appreciate his understanding of the game, that is, until he is not present in the lineup. Without Robbie in the lineup, the Purdue team was still talented and could compete, but it is clear that we lost our competitive difference without Robbie. Many of the games we lost without Robbie were very close games, but we could not close out the game without his clutch performance.

JuJuan Johnson has emerged as a force in the middle. Early in the season I think we caught a few teams by surprise with his improvement and increased initiative on the floor. What is most exciting is that JuJuan can still improve so much more and become absolutely dominate with more time spent refining his game. He has the physical talent to excel that much.

We all know he needs to add another 20 to 30 pounds. If he stays all four years, he might actually get too that. I believe he added 10 or 15 between his freshman and sophomore years.

He is particularly comfortable facing the basket, but he needs to improve his 'back to the basket' tools that he has available. Also, while he has established an inside presence for Purdue, our particular team can tremendously benefit from the "inside/Outside" NBA game plan. I would like to see JuJuan's assists to increase next year from gaining the double team and kicking the extra pass out to an open three.

Next year I feel that this team might be able to play up to its expectations. Being a long-time Boilermaker fan, I am cautiously skeptical. I think for the most part, we will win the games that we are supposed too. I do think that we tend to drop one game during the season that we should have won, but ended up playing flat for that game. To his credit, Matt Painter has done an excellent job of making half-time adjustments this past season to mitigate that risk.

Against highly ranked opponents, we have a tendency to not come through in those situations. That primarily is what will have to change. For instance, all the hype around the Duke/Purdue game this past year leading up to, quite frankly, our worst loss. You could see how Duke was playing on another level that we were not. One can speculate as to what contributed, but simply put, I do not think we were ready to compete with the Duke's, North Carolina's, and UCONN's.

We ended this season with a 27-10 record. I would look for that to improve a couple of games, but until the schedule is released, it will be hard to tell.

Adding Basketball to the Fray

For the record, I am adding Purdue Basketball to this blog. I don't know why I haven't done this before, but going forward I will.

Needless to say, this past season was a success. A sweet sixteen appear for our program is establishing a new level of credibility and expectation. I am happy with how the program is doing and I am excited with the recruiting classes that are coming in. I would like to see a blue-chip recruit hit our radar over the next season or two.

Wasted opportunities and talent… Purdue gives heartless performance against Northwestern

In Purdue’s 26-48 loss to Northwester on Saturday, fans of the Boilermakers are left shaking their heads at what could have been this year. Curtis Painter gives another performance that leaves the viewer sick to their stomach following Purdue’s fourth straight loss. Finally, we are realizing that Purdue is wasting the talents of Kory Sheets who gives another gutsy performance as he begins winding down his Boiler career.

The offense was again unimaginative as fans begin to look forward to the Danny Hope era at Purdue. Numerous balls were batted down at the line, predictable passing routes were being jumped by the secondary, and the coaching staff made questionable lineup changes midway through the game. I understand the point in pulling Curtis Painter, however, if you going to go to a backup, why not try developing your young talent? I was expecting to see freshman Justin Siller get placed into the lineup in the second quarter. However, Joe Tiller decided to go to senior Joey Elliot, who consequently turned the ball over with his first series, and then a three-and-out for his second series prior to getting injured.

The defense really struggled in the secondary, especially with the first half coming to an end. We gave tremendous cushions to the Wildcat receivers as Northwestern confidently marched down the field to score with a few seconds left on the clock. The defensive line did not get any pressure on C.J. Bacher at all on this day.

I do want to end this wrap up on a high note. We are witnessing some consistently impressive performances by Kory Sheets. Not only has he become Purdue’s all-time leader in touchdowns this year, he is week in and week out the spark plug for this stalling Boilermaker offensive unit. The more touches Kory gets, the better. He has the big play ability to take the pigskin to the house on every possession. He wrapped up the dismal offensive show this weekend with a brilliant 78-yard scamper long after the game was decided. What I like most, he didn’t celebrate at all. He dropped the ball and walked off the field. He knew there was little to celebrate about his team’s performance over the weekend.

The Purdue Boilermakers may win a couple more games this season; however, I doubt that this is the way they intended to send Joe Tiller off during his farewell tour.

www.boilerfootball.blogspot.com

Bleacher Report

I have posted my editorial to the Bleacher Report.

You are all welcome to view it and critic it.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/60335-3rd-down-long-to-go

Editorial for Bleecher Report

My posting this weekend will be a bit light because I am writing an editorial regarding Purdue's season year to date for the Bleecher Report.

www.bleacherreport.com

I will still review the Central Michigan game this weekend

Are you kidding me…? Oregon 32, Purdue 26

I have taken a couple days of getting over the debacle of the loss to Oregon. I have spoken to several of my friends and colleagues regarding their perspective and feelings regarding what transpired this past Saturday.

The keenest observation is that everyone knew, even with Purdue up 17 at the half, that we were in serious trouble going into the second half. How many times have we seen this before?

On offense:
I really don’t intend to get real elementary or immature regarding this review, but can Curtis Painter hit a receiver? How many passes did he throw that were not even close? How many times did Bob Griese have to provide and excuse for receivers dropping the ball and/or Painter not being able to throw an accurate pass? A fifth year senior must be able to manage a game better than this.

On the other perspective, this is one of the better defenses that Curtis will see this year. Probably, THE best secondary he will ever until next year. However, during the fourth quarter when we were on offense, I had no confidence that our offensive unit was going to competently move the ball.

I don’t want to continue without highlighting one of the best football performances that we have seen in a long time from a boilermaker. Kory Sheets had 180 yards on 29 carries. Not to forget, his 2 touchdowns and the most important statistic, no fumbles. Kudos, Kory. Hopefully, you will continue to deliver results as the season goes.

On Defense:
I was very impressed for 3 quarters how the Boilermaker defense withstood the vaunted Duck offense with all the speed in the world. Brock Spack’s defense came in with a solid scheme that applied decent pressure on the Duck quarterback, Roper. For 3 quarters I was rubbing my eyes wondering what defense was on the field completely limiting the Ducks rushing attack to insignificant production. However, it appeared that the gas tank ran empty as the big burly backs from Oregon began to pound out large chunks of yardage at a time.

As the Oregon rushing attack began to breathe with new life, Purdue again demonstrated that it has no idea how to cover an athletic tight-end. Play after play, Dickson, the big TE from Oregon found the open part of the field and sat down until Roper was able to lob him the ball.

Special Teams:
Dan Dierking’s recovery of the botched kick-off for Oregon was an outstanding, athletic play. However, that play will be forever dismissed as boiler fans will only remember that Chris Summers missed two consecutive field goals, one which was to win the game.

Summary:
How many times during the Tiller era can we remember the Boiler teams not being able to close out games? My heart is still on the ground when Kyle Orton fumbled against Wisconsin. I have never been the same. Since that game, I no longer feel comfortable with any lead, knowing that we will always have to stop a star Tight-end, or that we are about to punt/kick-off to the opposing team.

Until the Boilers develop a killer instinct where we can finish off our opponents when our foot is on their necks, the fan base will never be able to rest easy until the clock runs 0:00.

September 20th, 2008: Hosting the Central Michigan Chippewas

The primary source of my preview is www.cmuchippewas.com

The Central Michigan Chippewas will meet Purdue again in what is budding into a very entertaining relationship between these two teams. I am getting the impression that CMU will be very happy when Curtis Painter moves on to Sunday football.

CMU is looking to become the first MAC program to win their conference championship 3 years in a row. This, on any level, is an impressive feat. A total of 44 lettermen including 16 starters return from 2007, but just 12 seniors appear on the preseason roster.

Eight starters return to an offense that ranked among the best in the nation last season. MAC Offensive Player of the Year quarterback Dan LeFevour returns seven of his top nine targets from 2007 and four starters are back on the offensive line.

This is an offense that proved last year can put points on the board and move the ball all over the field. Fortunately for Purdue, we were able to win the footrace through Curtis Painters 500+ yard performance for the record books.

Quarterback
Junior Dan LeFevour has developed into one of the top signal-callers in the country. He accounted for 47 touchdowns a year ago (27 passing, 19 rushing, one receiving) while becoming just the second player in Bowl Subdivision history to pass for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in the same season.

The two-time All-Mid-American Conference first team selection already holds CMU career records for passing yards, completions, touchdown passes and total offense. Among Bowl Subdivision quarterbacks who return in 2008, LeFevour ranked second in total offense (341.0 ypg) and scoring (8.7 ppg), fourth in rushing (80.1 ypg) and 13th in passing yards (260.1 ypg) in 2007.

Running Back
The most competitive position on either side of the ball is running back. Seniors Ontario Sneed and Justin Hoskins, junior Marcel Archer and sophomore Carl Volny comprise a foursome that combined to rush for 1,364 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2007. The group also combined to catch 56 passes a year ago.

Hoskins, a starter in nine games last season, ran for 664 yards and 10 touchdowns in his first season in the Chippewas’ backfield. Sneed started five times and accounted for 514 yards and six touchdowns after leading CMU in rushing in 2005 and 2006.

Wide Receiver
Dan LeFevour’s top two targets—All-MAC second team receivers junior Bryan Anderson and sophomore Antonio Brown—return after record-setting campaigns in 2007. In all, seven players who caught at least 10 passes a year ago are back.
Anderson (90 receptions, 1,132 yards, 10 touchdowns) and Brown (102 receptions, 1,003 yards, six touchdowns) were the most prolific pass-catching combination in school history in 2007, totaling 192 receptions for 2,135 yards and 16 touchdowns. Anderson set a single-season school record for touchdown receptions, while Brown set a new standard for receptions.

Offensive Line
The Chippewas must replace three-year starter Eric Tunney, but four other starters return to the offensive front.

Left tackle Andrew Hartline is the leader of the group, having started all 39 games over the past three seasons. He started all 14 games at left tackle last season after spending the 2005 and 2006 seasons at right tackle.

Tight End
Redshirt freshman Rocky Weaver is the favorite to take over the starting role at tight end. He caught a 39-yard touchdown pass in the Chippewas’ spring game, a play that saw him make a catch in the middle of the field, absorb a hit and out-run the secondary to the end zone. Weaver will be challenged by classmate Brandin Friske and senior Andre Moore.

Defense

Defensive Line
Four players with starting experience return to fill three spots on the Chippewas’ defensive line. CMU must replace All-MAC third team pick Steven Friend at tackle, but senior nose guard Casey Droscha and junior ends Frank Zombo, Sam Williams and Larry Knight all return.

Zombo tied for third in the MAC with 7.5 sacks last season and led the Chippewas’ defensive linemen with 62 total tackles. Droscha was in on 52 stops, including a team-high tying 11 tackles for loss. A former walk-on, Droscha is one of just three seniors in the defensive two-deep entering the season and will be looked upon to fill a leadership role.

Linebacker
The biggest holes CMU needs to fill are at linebacker. Sophomore Nick Bellore returns after starting all 14 games and registering a CMU freshman-record 102 tackles last season, but All-MAC first team selections Red Keith and Ike Brown are both gone.

A number of candidates will vie to replace Keith and Brown, including sophomore Matt Berning, junior Tim Brazzel, seniors Jonathan Lapsley and David Lawrence and redshirt freshman Mike Petrucci. Junior Calvin Hissong also will compete for playing time after moving from the secondary during spring practice.

Secondary
Nine different players started at least one game in a secondary that was decimated by injuries last season. Junior cornerback Josh Gordy, who missed four games due to injuries in 2007, is CMU’s top returner in the secondary. He intercepted four passes last season, including a school-record tying three in a win over Army.

Juniors Tommy Mama and Kirkston Edwards and sophomore Vince Agnew all are candidates to fill the corner position opposite Gordy.


Summary and Prediction

This looks to be another high-flying, run and gun shootout. I am looking for an all-around improved defense to better limit the Chippewa offensive capabilities. There will be more points than the Northern Colorado game, but I still think that Purdue should take care of business this time.

Keep in mind, CMU is very familiar with our mode of operations. The will be scheming against Curtis Painter, however, I think Kory Sheets will be established very early in the game and this will lead to the passing game opening up.

Final Predictions: CMU 24, Purdue 35

Purdue 42, UNC 10

Writing from the perspective of someone who cannot make it too the games enough, but still is passionate regarding Purdue Football, can be a bit of a setback. However, I still try and take the time to at least listen to the games on the radio.

So with the ice broken, let’s look at this week’s victory over the Northern Colorado Bears from the Football Championship Subdivision or as I like to say it, The Artist Formerly Known as Division 2.

On Offense: As T-Mill from Off the Tracks puts it, vanilla, is how the offensive game rolled out today. Curtis Painter could have been a lot more effective today. While his statistics really don’t tell this story, 286 yards and two scores with no interceptions, his completion percentage isn’t where it needs to be to be able to compete against the better competition which begins next week. Throughout the game he hovered around 50-55% completion range and the way our offense lives and dies with the pass with short to medium range passes, that has to be a higher percentage to be successful later this season. We utilize the pass to setup the runs and if we are not completing a higher percentage, then we hamstring other phases of our offense.

On third downs, we were right were we should be against a solid opponent, 6/11, but against a D2 team we should be completing a higher percentage than this.

Kory Sheets could have had a better day, if we handed the ball too him more. I think he took pretty good advantage of his opportunities when they presented themselves. 16 carries for 81 yards and two scores is a solid day at the office, oh, and I don’t recall him fumbling. Nice work! I wanted to see Ralph Bolden on the field and Justin Siller a little bit in preview of what the future holds for RB.

The receiving team turned in a pleasant surprise. The largely documented unknown commodity coming out of camp this year put up decent numbers today. However, there football did not get spread around like it usually does. Also, I had higher expectations for Greg Orton as our leader. He finally made his presence felt in the game, but not until the game was soundly put away. I expect him to have a larger influence on the outcome of games going forward. Desmond Tardy was impressive, showing some big play ability. And Keith Smith had his first career touchdown as a boiler. Congrats!

On Defense: We gave up 338 yards to a D2 opponent. I am not sure how I feel about that. One player had a fairly exceptional day against us, Ryan Chelsa, whose name was called on plays too many times. I.e. he was always open…

Anthony Heygood missed a couple tackles. Gerald Gooden made his presence felt. And Frank Duong showed he belongs.

For the most part, we held the Bears in check. The only touchdown coming in trash minutes of the game. I felt we were a little soft of coverage, which might be more of me not giving the QB from UNC enough credit, it sounded like he was operating the offense pretty competently.

Special teams made a significant impact on this game. Frank Halliburton’s two blocked punts isn’t something you see everyday. Also, you have to feel good about Mike Conway’s return for a TD. The return game was solid again, with Sheets and Tardy breaking off large returns. However, I am not sold that this performance really will transpose to better competition later on.

Final thoughts: The defense performed better than I predicted, but still left me concerned regarding next week. The offense was taking a lackadaisical approach to the game, which REALLY has me concerned. Maybe it was the injuries, maybe they were not concerned about winning, I don’t know, but it needs to change quickly. I am always looking for a sense of urgency with our offense, and this week we didn’t have it.

My initial predictions for this week were Purdue 42, UNC 27. It ended up Purdue 42, UNC 10. So I cannot say that the defense didn’t show up.

My predictions for next week: Oregon 35, Purdue 24: Hopefully the offense can get its sense of urgency back and play with a bit more athletic tension.