Purdue’s 2012 football season: What could have been
By CRAIG DRAGASH
ISL Correspondent
Back in August, there were high hopes in West Lafayette; people knew perennial powers Ohio State and Penn State were ineligible for postseason play, and the Leaders division of the Big Ten was up for grabs for teams with the talent base that the 2012 Purdue Boilermakers possessed. Many felt that Wisconsin would be the only road block on the Boilermakers’ path to Lucas Oil Stadium and the Big Ten Championship game.
As it turns out, Purdue’s biggest road block was…Purdue.
After opening the season with a 48-6 rout of now former coach Danny Hope’s previous school Eastern Kentucky, the Boilermakers were faced with the challenge of facing then 22nd-ranked Notre Dame on the road. Robert Marve was the quarterback for the season opener due to Caleb TerBush serving a one-game suspension for an off the field incident. TerBush was then given his starting job back for the Notre Dame game despite Marve turning in a performance against the Colonels in which he was 30 for 38 passing with 295 yards and three touchdowns.
TerBush would play for the first two series in that game before Marve replaced him for the third series. After the Boilermakers punted on his first series, Marve drove the Boilers to their first touchdown drive, hitting Antavian Edison in the end zone from two yards out with nine seconds left in the first half to tie the game at seven heading into halftime.
What happened in the third quarter would be what had Purdue fans questioning Hope’s personnel decisions for the rest of the season. After Marve led the Boilers on a scoring drive to give the Boilermakers the momentum, Hope came back with TerBush to start the second half. TerBush continued to be ineffective; his next three drives led to two punts and an interception. Marve was then re-inserted into the game with Purdue trailing 17-7, and he led the Boilermakers to a drive that resulted in a Sam McCartney 33-yard field goal to cut the Notre Dame lead to seven.
Later in the game Marve would be sacked, and would suffer another knee injury. TerBush took over and led the Boilers to a game-tying touchdown pass to Edison. Notre Dame answered with a field goal with seven seconds left to win the game 20-17.
TerBush would then lead the Boilers to victories over Eastern Michigan and Marshall to give Purdue a 3-1 record going into the Big Ten season. So in four games, TerBush performed well against the three weaker opponents, but struggled against Notre Dame until the final drive of the game after Marve was injured. How would he perform against Big Ten competition?
In what figured to be a measuring stick for the Boilers in their Big Ten opener against Michigan at home, Terbush was 16 for 25 for 105 yards, with one touchdown and one interception as Purdue was blown out by the Wolverines 44-13. What was interesting was that Marve figured to be out for a considerable amount of time after the Notre Dame loss where he was injured, but the decision was to delay surgery on his knee with the thinking that it wasn’t going to get worse than it already was. Marve did play in this game, but he only threw eight times, completing five with an interception.
TerBush would start again at home vs. Wisconsin with Marve coming off of the bench. Neither quarterback was effective, and the Boilers were again crushed at home, this time 38-14 by the Badgers. So to this point, the Boilers are 0-2 in Big Ten play, and their next task was to travel to Columbus to face an undefeated Ohio State team with new coach Urban Meyer.
Much to the surprise of most people, Purdue led for the entire game until Kenny Guiton, who was in for an injured Braxton Miller, led the Buckeyes 61 yards in 44 seconds to give the Buckeyes a touchdown and the game-tying two-point conversion to tie the game at 22 and send it into overtime. Ohio State would score on its first possession in the overtime period, TerBush would go 1 for 4 and Purdue fell 29-22.
After this performance, Boilermaker fans were left to scratch their heads. Which team is this; the one that got blown out two consecutive weeks at home by Michigan and Wisconsin, or the team that put itself position to win at Ohio State before letting it slip away? Either way, the Boilermakers were 0-3 in the Big Ten, and now 3-4 overall. What figured to be a season for Boilermaker fans to remember was turning rapidly into one they would want to forget, and questions stirred about Hope’s leadership.
The next game figured to be the cure for Purdue’s woes, as they traveled to Minnesota, which entered the game with an identical 0-3 mark in the Big Ten. TerBush would sink to a new low, as he completed just 5 for 18 passes for 49 yards and an interception that led to a Gopher touchdown. Hope inexplicably inserted Marve into the ball game down 44-7 with 11:20 left in the third quarter after TerBush clearly demonstrated long before that he wasn’t able to have success on that day. Marve would lead Purdue to two straight scoring drives before turning the ball over on downs in his third series and eventually giving way to Rob Henry. Marve finished 11 of 19 for 97 yards and two touchdowns in limited action.
Hope finally made the move and named Marve the starting quarterback after his recent performances. Next challenge…Penn State at Happy Valley.
This time, Marve would be the one to be ineffective against the Nittany Lions. Although he was a respectable 22 of 39 passing, he would only throw for 138 yards with no touchdowns. Marve turned the reins over to TerBush near the end of the third quarter, and he turned in a 10 of 20 performance for 155 yards and a touchdown in mop up duty.
Marve would then lead Purdue to victories over bottom feeders Iowa and Illinois to put Purdue at 5-6 heading into the annual Old Oaken Bucket battle with Indiana with a bowl bid on the line. He clearly established himself as the leader of this team not just by his numbers and production, but by his vocal presence. Prior to attempting a game winning field goal at Iowa, Marve told kicker Paul Griggs “I don’t care if you make or miss this, just don’t aim it”. Griggs later commented that Marve’s words helped his confidence. These are the “little things” that often go unnoticed in great leaders.
Marve would prove to have a game that answered all the questions about what he could have been if given a chance to fully command the Boilermaker offense. Marve finished the day going 20 for 29 for 348 yards, a career high, with four touchdowns and one interception. Indiana’s offense was in high gear that day as well, but it seemed as if when Purdue needed a score, Marve, along with Akeem Shavers who also had a career high 231 yards total offense and three touchdowns, had the answer. Another example of Marve’s leadership came when he threw an interception inside the red zone, then chased the defender with the ball about 75 yards to the other end of the field and made a touchdown saving tackle; all on one good knee. Purdue would finish the season with a 6-6 overall record, and a 3-5 record in the Big Ten. Purdue also clinched in invitation to a bowl game for the second consecutive season.
So what should we make of this season? With the exception of Minnesota, the Boilermakers beat who they were supposed to beat. But the games they needed to have to elevate themselves to the next level…Michigan, Wisconsin, etc….Purdue failed miserably against those teams at home. And they struggled to win against a 5-7 Marshall team out of Conference USA.
But here’s the kicker…they were in the game with two teams that finished the regular season with undefeated records…Ohio State and Notre Dame. And let’s not forget that Notre Dame just punched its ticket to the BCS national championship.
If you look at the country’s top football programs, you don’t see this lack of consistency. Not to say they don’t make mistakes and they don’t play their best at times, but those teams have an identity established by their head coach. I struggled to find an identity with this team; largely in part because I was trying to figure out why Caleb TerBush was getting so much playing time when Robert Marve was healthy enough to play. It became very evident that they offense had a much better look when Marve was at the helm, and the energy level of the team was elevated. While TerBush certainly demonstrated the ability to manage a game at various points in the season, Marve was the one who could make a big play when you needed it. If I could see that, if other fans could see that, do we not think that they players could see that?
There is certainly more that contributes to a team’s success such as line play, defensive play, etc. But make no mistake about it, the quarterback position is the most important position on the field, and Purdue just didn’t have the consistency at the position to realize the promise that so many had in this team.
Many Boilermaker fans will point to that uncertainty in the quarterback position as a big contributor to their team underachieving this season. The Indiana game certainly put on display what can be done when Robert Marve can do when he is healthy and at the top of his game.
Would a healthy Marve, established as the clear leader of this team for an entire season, made enough of a difference in the possibility of Purdue going to Lucas Oil Stadium to play in the Big Ten Championship game?
Unfortunately, we’ll never know; and that is what has Purdue fans left wondering what could have been.
Follow Craig Dragash on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Greyhound32.
