Purdue’s hopes of bowl eligibility drowned by Illinois on rainy day at Ross-Ade
By CRAIG CARRELL (@CarrellCraig)
ISL Contributor
WEST LAFAYETTE, IND. — The Purdue football team’s dreams of a bowl game might have gone the way of many passes from the black and gold today and slipped through its hands. On a rain-soaked day at Ross-Ade Stadium, the Fighting Illini dominated Purdue in every phase of the game. Purdue Head Coach, Jeff Brohm said, “It was a bad day.” Illinois won 24-to-six as Purdue fell to two-and-six on the season and one-and-four in the Big Ten.
You won’t find sympathy from Brohm; both teams played under the same conditions and it looked as if Purdue wasn’t prepared to play in the rain. Inexcusable when the forecast the entire week leading up to the game showed high chances for rain. Purdue suffered the same fate as it did a year ago in poor conditions against another predicted-lesser foe — last year on a cold and snowy day at Minnesota where the Boilermakers were trampled 41-to-ten — and again today against Illinois.
Aiding in Purdue’s collapse against Illinois were two turnovers at Jack Plummer’s hands (an interception returned for a touchdown and a fumble that resulted in an Illini touchdown three plays later). Those two freebies allowed Illinois a 24 point advantage heading into halftime. And although Purdue’s defense held Illinois without any other points the rest of the way, it was insurmountable for Purdue’s offense.
Purdue has struggled the majority of the season at any attempts to get a semblance of a run game going and on a day where Mother Nature is the best defender, Purdue yet again failed to get much going on the ground. Coming into the game Purdue had gained 414 yards on 188 rushing attempts (2.2 yards per attempt). Meanwhile, Purdue’s defense has given up 1101 yards on 249 attempts (4.4 yards per attempt).
“I wasn’t pleased with our quarterback play. I know it was a rough day with the weather, but I didn’t like the decision making today by our quarterbacks.” – Brohm
Give Illinois credit, coming off a major upset victory against perennial stalwart Wisconsin, the Illini now sit at four-and-four (two-and-three in the Big Ten) and seem to be heading in the right direction after notching their second consecutive win.
Mathematically, Purdue hasn’t been eliminated from a bowl game, but what little hope remained prior to today seems long gone. The Boilers would have to win out or get lucky with not enough eligible teams to have any shot at making the post season for a third straight season. The schedule doesn’t get any easier for Purdue as they will bookend home games against Nebraska and Indiana with a pair of road games at Northwestern and Wisconsin.
One might think that Purdue doesn’t have much left to play for, but there are still a number of reasons to be excited about the future of this Purdue team. Attrition has led to the need for more underclassmen to see extended playing time which should help them to grow and develop for the future. For Purdue to sustain any success, they’ll have to be better in the trenches on both sides of the ball, although freshman George Karlaftis continues to shine as he added two more tackles for loss, including a sack, to his total, and Elijah Sindelar’s injury is allowing the coaching staff to evaluate whether Jack Plummer can be the quarterback of the future.
Although Rondale Moore’s injury appeared to be devastating to this Purdue team, the help it received in this freshman class (like David Bell) has lessened the negative impact. For those reasons, it would potentially be a shock to see Moore suit up again this year unless he’s completely healthy. It appears Purdue has the right pieces in place at the receiver and running back (King Doerue has been a bright spot at tailback at times) positions which sets Purdue’s offense up with a chance to be special in the years to come, especially with an offensive guru like Brohm at the helm.
The month of November, regardless of wins or losses, is going to be very important for the future of Purdue Football as Brohm and his staff will use that time to evaluate their current players and see what they need to add through recruiting or potentially through the junior college ranks.
Brohm with an apparent shot at his players potentially not wanting it enough shared that, “we need to change this immediately. Find the guys who want to put in the work, so they can get better.”
Purdue will host Nebraska, who fell at home to Indiana today, next Saturday for a noon kickoff.
