Purdue uses balanced effort to beat Southern Illinois
By BROCK SANDERS
ISL Correspondent
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue was absolutely firing on all cylinders Saturday afternoon in a 35-13 victory over Southern Illinois.
Boy, Purdue fans have been waiting two long years to hear something like that haven’t they? The offense took advantage of its opportunities and got out to a quick start while the defense was forcing turnovers and preventing the Salukis from really getting anything going at all in the first half. The Boilers (2-2) led 17-0 at the end of the first quarter and 28-3 at half.
“We wanted to be able to come out of the locker room and get a fast start,” Purdue’s coach Darrell Hazell said. “That’s one of the things we preached a lot, and I thought both sides of the ball did that.”
Last week, Purdue’s offense stepped up against Notre Dame, a team that shut out Michigan. This week, it was the defense that really stood out. The Boilermakers allowed just 105 yards of total offense in the first half, including a mere nine rushing yards. The Boilers really played well together as a team, and the “swarming” mentality that they take pride in proved to be a key foundation in their game plan this week.
“We want guys to be able to take shots and make plays knowing that they will have 10 other guys busting their tails to the ball,” captain and middle linebacker Sean Robinson said. “Before every game, coach (defensive coordinator Greg) Hudson reminds us to ‘run to the ball.’”
Backup nose guard Ryan Watson had two big sacks, pushing his total to four on the season. Last year, the most sacks by one player for the whole season was three, and Watson has already surpassed that mark in Week 4. The coaches and players have raved over Watson and how much work he has put in over the offseason.
But it wasn’t just the defense that was impressive. Purdue was very successful in the pass game early on, making big plays when needed. Hazell even got a little gutsy and faked an extra point to go for two, as well as going for a 4th down that was easily in field goal territory.
“I just thought we could get it,” Hazell said when speaking of the attempted 4th down conversion. “We had driven the whole field, and I wanted to try to make a statement by being able to punch the ball in there.”
Big plays were key to the Boilers’ day on offense, and Danny Anthrop seemed to be involved in every one of them. He ended the day with five receptions for 106 yards and a touchdown, all coming in the first half. He even had a rushing touchdown that was called back due to a penalty. With 4:06 left in the first quarter, Anthrop got open on a post route and caught a beautifully thrown ball by quarterback Danny Etling for a 44 yard touchdown reception to extend the lead to 14-0.
“Going into that drive, we knew that play was going to be called,” Anthrop said, “Danny Etling threw a great pass, and at that point we really knew we were beginning to seize momentum.”
This is the Boilermakers team that the fans have been looking for over the last two seasons. They played together on offense and defense, and they had poise and confidence, especially in the first half. Purdue is consistently improving each week, and the last couple of weeks, Danny Etling and the offense have appeared to be settling in more. This is exciting for fans heading into Big Ten conference play next week vs. Iowa at home. The Boilers’ are finally starting to put some things together after two long and painful years, and if they continue their improvement, they could be a team to watch out for in the coming weeks.
