25 Questions that Boiler Up.

Don Nehlen carried off field after BG's first win at Purdue

What is their body of work?

Things have been tough on the Boilermakers.  Their last 8 win season was in 2007.  Former Kent Coach Darrell Hazell is in his third season and he's 5-22 so far, which, you know, is bad.  This year they are 1-2, with 1 win over FBS Indiana State.  They have lost to Marshall by 10 and Virginia Tech by 27.

How many seniors and juniors on the two-deep?

25, which is on the high side of normal.  They returned 8 starters on offense and 7 on defense.

Who are their statistical leaders?

Their only meaningful top 20 ranked players is So. Antoine Miles, who #8 in the nation in sacks.

What is their turnover ratio?

They are -2 in 3 games.

Offense:

 How is their QB play?

Well, not good at the Cradle of Quarterbacks.  They started the season with Austin Appleby at QB and he was awful, throwing 6 INTs in their 2 FBS games.  He was especially bad at Va Tech and has been replaced by redshirt Fr. David Blough who has thrown only 8 passes in his career.  He is from Texas and Hazell says he can extend plays and keep his eyes downfield.

Josh Harris throws 4th down pass that seals
Purdue win #2

What was their scoring and yards per play?

They are scoring 31 ppg and 5.2 yards per play, both which are solidly average.

Can they run the ball?

As a team they average 4.8 yards per carry, which is nothing special even though it includes sacks.  However, Markell Jones, their leading rusher, averages 7.2 yards per carry.  DJ Knox actually has more carries but only 4.5 per attempt.

Do they pass the ball?

As noted above, not yet this year.  Low completion percentage, too many INTs.  It will be interesting to see what Blough does for it.

How was their run/pass balance?

They have run the ball 48% of the time this year, which is on the high end of the game as it is currently played.

Do they convert on 3rd Down?

They have converted 33% which is poor.

Do they score in the red zone?

They are not bad, at 5.1 points per trip.

Do they protect the quarterback?

5 sacks in 124 drop backs is 4% and pretty good.

Defense:

Most.  Horrifying. Mascot.  Ever.

Topline: Scoring and yards per play.

They allow 35 points a game, which is on the high end of average but 5.4 yards per play, which is pretty average.

Do they defend the run effectively?

They have done pretty well, allowing on 4.5 yards per attempt.

Can they be passed on?

They have also been good if not great here.  They have allowed 57% completions but 11.6 per reception, which is a relatively high number.  They also have 3 INTs.

Do they get off the field on 3rd down?

They allow 33% success, which is very good.

Do they defend in the red zone?

They are very good, with 4 outright stops in 15 attempts and 4.3 points per trip.

Did they pressure the QB?

They are very good.  They have 9 sacks in 109 dropbacks, which is 8.3%, a very high number.  This will be a big test for a BG line that has struggled on pass pro.

Special Teams:

Punting?

They also switched punters.  The new guy is Joe Schoppers who is averaging 44.8 yards per kick, which is good.  They are giving up 10 yards per return and have given up 1 TD and been blocked twice in 18 attempts.

Punt Return?

There is no larger drum on earth.

They've only had 2 for no real impact.

Placekicking?

Griggs is only average.  He is 3 of 6 with a long of 34 yards.  One of the misses is under 40 yards.

Kickoff?

They have 7 touchbacks in 16 kicks and the opponents start on the 29, which is not great.

Kickoff Return?

They start on the 26 on average, and haven't shown much on kickoff returns.

Miscellaneous: Overall atmospherics and intangibles.

Boiler Up.

In a lot of ways, this one appears to set up pretty well for BG, considering that it is a Big 10 opponent.  This is probably the worst team BG has played to date.  Furthermore, their QB issues leave a question mark as to whether they will be able to take advantage of BG's hit and miss defense.

Having said that, this is still a Big 10 team on the road.  And, BG will have to prepare for a QB that has not put very much on tape to date.

There's some pressure on Purdue, I would think.  People have to be expecting to start to see some improvement.

Obviously, these Big 10 games get our boys amped up.  And we are difficult to play against.

Pass protection is going to be critical.  If I was Purdue I would do just what Memphis did...cut off the short pass and then try to rush when BG throws longer routes.  Having seen that last week, it will be interesting to see how BG responds.