Wheels Coming Off Brohm’s Boilermakers
Three weeks ago, the Purdue Boilermakers were eyeing two of their most important games in a very very long time.
Fast forward to present day, and what fans of the Old Gold and Black have witnessed in double-digit losses to Wisconsin and Iowa have them ticked to say the least.
The loss in Madison was Purdue’s 16th straight to the Badgers (that’s the longest in the nearly 90-game series history).
The Homecoming game at Wisconsin was over in the first quarter as the Boilermakers forgot to get off the bus and before they knew it trailed 21-0.
Even after that inexcusable effort, Purdue controlled its own destiny in terms of winning the Big Ten’s West Division and punching its ticket to the Big Ten Championship Game next month in Indianapolis (the Boilermakers have never appeared in the Big Ten title game only Iowa, Wisconsin and Northwestern have represented the West).
Coach Jeff Brohm’s team had a bye week to get ready for its home game against Iowa, a team that featured one of the nation’s worst offenses, but a very stout defense.
It was a bye week that Purdue desperately needed, if nothing else to try and get healthy.
Well, after witnessing probably the worst performance by the Boilermakers in the Brohm Era, this team is limping if not crawling to the finishing line.
For the second straight game, Purdue was lifeless. It didn’t compete whatsoever. There was no fire or energy from the home team that simply was just going through the motions in Ross-Ade Stadium before a sellout crowd.
The Boilermaker offense managed just three points, the lowest total by a Brohm-coached Purdue team.
In addition, Purdue continues to turn the ball over at an alarming rate.
Quarterback Aidan O’Connell continues to hit the oppositions’ open defender. He has thrown five picks and just one TD in the last two games.
In eight of Purdue’s nine games this season, O’Connell has thrown 10 interceptions, nine of which have come in the last five games (remember he did not play against Florida Atlantic).
Purdue simply is not good enough to win games while continuing to lose the turnover battle.
It’s defense is poor and that’s being nice.
In the last three outings, Purdue has allowed 32 points per game. Now in fairness, some of the points the Boilermakers have permitted have been due to those turnovers setting up short fields for the opponent – i.e. Wisconsin returned a pick for six.
Poor tackling and blown coverages in the secondary are allowing a plethora of chunk yardage plays.
To show you how bad it has gotten, on Saturday Iowa true freshman running back Kaleb Johnson rushed for 200 yards and a score. The touchdown was a 75-yarder on the second play of the third quarter that had many of the Ross-Ade faithful wondering what, if any, adjustments were made by Brohm and his defensive staff at halftime.
Yes, the last two games for the Boilermakers have been bad, real bad.
Yet, thanks to Michigan State’s win Saturday at Illinois, Purdue is still in the West Division hunt.
To win the West, the Boilermakers have to win out, including Saturday at Champaign. Notching a W against Bret Bielema’s much-improved Illinois team will be a tough task. The Illini boast one of the best defenses in the country and play a physical brand of football reminiscent of the days when Bielema was coaching Wisconsin. Plus, Purdue will have to find a way to curtail star running back Chase Brown. The likelihood of the Boilermakers winning their third road of the season seems remote at best.
However, no one, including me, thought after Purdue’s close home win over Florida Atlantic, it would go on the road and win consecutive games against Minnesota and Maryland so I guess anything is possible.
After Illinois, Purdue closes the regular season against Northwestern and Indiana, knowing it needs one win in its final three to be bowl eligible.
You would think playing in the postseason for the fourth time in Brohm’s six seasons in West Lafayette is a slam dunk, but nothing is that easy for this team.
Speaking of slam dunks, most walking out of Ross-Ade Stadium Saturday – yes including me – were thinking it’s basketball season.
In fact, Matt Painter’s 18th Boilermaker team tips their season off tonight against Milwaukee at 6:30 p.m. in Mackey Arena (the game is televised on the Big Ten Network).
All of us will be welcoming basketball season with open arms if we have to endure another Purdue performance on the gridiron like we witnessed Saturday or the one that transpired in Madison.
The scary thing is a repeat performance could be only a few days away.
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