Purdue falls to 1-2, but the sky isn’t falling
By CRAIG CARRELL
ISL Contributor
WEST LAFAYETTE, IND. — A good Big 12 opponent coming into Ross-Ade Stadium under the lights had all the makings for a great evening on Saturday night. Unfortunately, it was TCU having all the fun, as the Purdue Boilermakers just couldn’t get the offense going. TCU out-shined the Boilers in every aspect of the game, defeating Purdue by a final score of 34-13.
The Horned Frogs out-rushed Purdue by an incredibly wide margin of 346-23 yards. In overall offense, TCU accumulated 421 total yards to Purdue’s 204. But despite the lackluster game, I still don’t believe the sky is falling on this 1-2 Purdue team.
We must remember this is year three in the Brohm-era. Coach Brohm has done a wonderful job rebuilding the Purdue football program in two complete seasons. He doesn’t make excuses when his team loses a game and he would be the first one to say how disappointed he is with how the game was executed. The biggest difference that I see is the lack of depth that Purdue has. With injuries to key players, it has forced some freshmen and others to step into new roles.
With red-shirt freshman Jack Plummer getting the start for injured Elijah Sindelar, you knew it would be a challenge for him to get settled into the game. Plummer played a decent game considering he had ZERO support in the run game. Plummer was 13 of 29 for 181 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. TCU did a great job bracketing Moore all night long. The offense line struggled to protect the freshman quarterback from the TCU front line. With an off-week up next, the hope is that some of the players will get healthy enough to return to action against Minnesota.
Do you remember looking at pictures of attendance of Ross-Ade Stadium in the last few years of the Hazel area, before Coach Brohm came to West Lafayette? You couldn’t give tickets away to come watch those teams. The attendance on Saturday night was 60,037, the largest attendance for a non-conference game since 2013. Purdue fans should stay loyal to your team and trust that Coach Brohm and his staff will get things turned around for this season and the seasons to come. The Boilers return to action on September 28th against the 3-0 Minnesota Golden Gophers.
