Against Louisville Purdue managed to put up a respectable TD in every quarter. However, diving into the numbers tells us a lot more about the team, and specifically their offense.
They rushed 21 times for 51 yards (2.4 ypc)
Obviously when you can't run the ball like that, you have to throw...
David Blough was pretty accurate 18/26...but he threw 2 picks..
His backup actually threw the ball more times, but was considerably less accurate 15/31 and also threw 2 picks...
Together, they combined to throw for 33/57 293 yards 4 INT's and 3 TD's....not exactly setting the world on fire...
Purdue also fumbled twice and lost one of them.
Louisville probably didn't play their best game either....3 fumbles...including one on the goal line going in...the Cardinals were very sloppy at times, and their defense doesn't appear to be even remotely as fast or as athletic as UM.
The recipe for success is to pressure Blough, he's below average when there's pass rush. I'd be willing to bet Don Brown will be bringing the heat all game long.
If you can stop the run, which shouldn't be hard, and pressure the QB, there's a very high likelihood that Purdue will make mistakes.
We should out athlete them all over the field, but the key will be for our offense to possess the ball in this game, and get points, even FG's. Three and outs are not your friend against an explosive offense like Purdue. Even tho we have a great D, giving Purdue several possessions per half increases the odds of them hitting a big play.
If we can hold them to 2-3 possessions per quarter with long sustained drives, even drives that end in FG's, I think we win easily.
For UM the focus should be on sustaining drives, not beating ourselves with drive killing TO's and penalties, field position, stopping the run, and pressuring the QB.
Play a clean game, and rely on your defense and special teams to generate field position.
If we do this, I can see us winning something like 33-13.
They rushed 21 times for 51 yards (2.4 ypc)
Obviously when you can't run the ball like that, you have to throw...
David Blough was pretty accurate 18/26...but he threw 2 picks..
His backup actually threw the ball more times, but was considerably less accurate 15/31 and also threw 2 picks...
Together, they combined to throw for 33/57 293 yards 4 INT's and 3 TD's....not exactly setting the world on fire...
Purdue also fumbled twice and lost one of them.
Louisville probably didn't play their best game either....3 fumbles...including one on the goal line going in...the Cardinals were very sloppy at times, and their defense doesn't appear to be even remotely as fast or as athletic as UM.
The recipe for success is to pressure Blough, he's below average when there's pass rush. I'd be willing to bet Don Brown will be bringing the heat all game long.
If you can stop the run, which shouldn't be hard, and pressure the QB, there's a very high likelihood that Purdue will make mistakes.
We should out athlete them all over the field, but the key will be for our offense to possess the ball in this game, and get points, even FG's. Three and outs are not your friend against an explosive offense like Purdue. Even tho we have a great D, giving Purdue several possessions per half increases the odds of them hitting a big play.
If we can hold them to 2-3 possessions per quarter with long sustained drives, even drives that end in FG's, I think we win easily.
For UM the focus should be on sustaining drives, not beating ourselves with drive killing TO's and penalties, field position, stopping the run, and pressuring the QB.
Play a clean game, and rely on your defense and special teams to generate field position.
If we do this, I can see us winning something like 33-13.
