Sanders: Purdue offers “glimmers of hope” in loss to Wisconsin
By BROCK SANDERS
ISL Correspondent
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Saturday’s game between Purdue and Wisconsin reminded me of a good old game of golf. In fact, the whole season seems to remind me of a round on the links. Now how, you would say, does a football game correlate even remotely to golf?
There are always slight glimmers of hope that keep you believing and coming back. Even though 90 percent of your round is spent cursing and blaming clubs or birds or other distractions, you always seem to sink a 30-foot putt or crush a drive right down the middle that convinces you just enough to come back and play another round.
Purdue has given us plenty of those reasons to curse and blame everything under the sun, but they have also given us plays like Akeem Hunt’s 79-yard touchdown catch and Landon Feichter’s strip and fumble recovery that keeps giving us hope that the Boilers are a legitimate team. It seems to be a ringing theme throughout the year that Purdue plays well in spurts, but they cannot put together a full game that shows how good this young team can be, and Saturday’s 34-16 loss to the Badgers was no different.
Feichter’s great game at safety was the highlight of Purdue’s defense, particularly in the third quarter. On the second play of the period, Feichter wrapped up star running back Melvin Gordon, ripped the ball out and recovered the fumble. After the Boilers didn’t convert, Feichter made another huge, momentum-swinging stop at the Purdue 15 yard line on fourth down to get the Boilermakers the ball back. Finally, to cap off the magnificent quarter, Feichter went up to snag an interception that stopped a driving Badgers team.
“I go out every game being a leader,” he said. “I tried to do my part and step up. We didn’t get the win, but we will get back out there and get it fixed.”
On the other side of the ball, the offensive line couldn’t protect sophomore quarterback Austin Appleby. There was a stretch where the Badgers sacked him on three out of four plays. Wisconsin ended up with four sacks on the day, but Appleby was rushed several times, being forced to hurry the pass or throw the ball away.
“We have to get open and protect,” Appleby said. “There isn’t one specific spot we need to improve on. It wasn’t a matter of one person breaking down; we all need to do our part.”
Part of the frustration has to do with the fact that so many players are sidelined by injury. This forces younger players to fill in who otherwise might not be prepared for this type of Big Ten showdown. Purdue had 11 players sit out, including key players like Frankie Williams, Sean Robinson, Danny Anthrop, BJ Knauf, and Ra’Zahn Howard. Robinson and Anthrop are out for the year, but the others look to come back soon, if not next week.
With the loss to Wisconsin, the Boilers no longer have a shot at a bowl game. Still, they have been steadily improving all year. This is a different team than we saw a few weeks ago in a loss to Central Michigan.
Purdue has a bye this upcoming week before returning to action Nov. 22 against a Northwestern team that beat the Badgers a couple of weeks ago. We’ll see if the Boilermakers can turn it around, but until then, we will continue to hold onto those glimmers of hope this team keeps repeatedly giving us.
