'Keep Our Mouth Shut and Just Play Football': Jeff Brohm Addresses Purdue's Penalty Issue
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue football finds itself at 1-2 after its first three games of the season and has been plagued by penalties in a pair of devastating losses.
The team was penalized 13 times for 144 yards in a 32-29 loss to Syracuse on the road last Saturday. In the season-opening defeat at the hands of Penn State, the Boilermakers were called for nine penalties.
Both games were one-score contests that were decided in the final minutes, with Purdue coming out on the losing end each time.
"Without question, penalties are hurting us, and you cannot win football games with the penalties that we're getting," Purdue coach Jeff Brohm said during his Monday press conference. "So that has to get fixed, and that starts with me. I have to make sure that happens, and we all need to do a better job, including myself, with making sure that we win the penalty battle.
"Also, we have to learn to keep our mouth shut and just play football and play as hard as we can. Play together, play as a unit, and let the pieces fall where they may."
Through three games, Purdue ranks second in the Big Ten in total penalty yardage. The team is averaging just over eight penalties per game for 81 yards. By the end of the 2021 season, the Boilermakers averaged 42.8 penalty yards per contest, which ranked ninth in the conference.
The difference is costing the team games and it's an issue that the program has addressed ahead of its upcoming matchup with Florida Atlantic.
Saturday's homecoming matchup with the Owls is the last of the Boilermakers' nonconference schedule. To make a real push for a Big Ten title appearance, Purdue can't beat itself against conference foes.
"I sat down in front of the whole team and staff, and we watched all of our penalties throughout the season," Brohm said. "Identified them, talked about them, talked about what happened. It wasn't a matter of whether we agreed with it or not. It was a matter of how can we make sure this doesn't happen again."
Entering the season, Purdue's secondary was highlighted as a unit of strength on defense. Several players on the back end are veterans of college football, but they've been riddled with pass interference and defensive holding calls.
Against the Orange, the Boilermakers were called for eight defensive penalties, including a handful that came in the secondary. The team had a pair of interceptions called back on separate calls for pass interference and defensive holding.
Purdue led 29-25 with less than a minute left to play and forced Syracuse into two third-down situations on its final offensive drive. Penalties in the secondary resulted in an automatic first down on both plays, which otherwise would have been incomplete passes.
"We have to adjust slightly the technique we're teaching and make sure that while we want to be physical, while we want to play aggressive, there can't be excessive holding downfield," Brohm said.
However, the Orange found themselves with a short field — starting from the 50-yard line — after the Boilermakers were called for two separate 15-yard penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct. One was on redshirt senior tight end Payne Durham, and the second was on Brohm.
Durham, who caught a 12-yard touchdown to take the lead, entered a verbal exchange with a Syracuse player following the extra point attempt which led to the flag. Brohm, while looking for an explanation of the call, was also penalized.
Purdue was forced to kick off from its own 10-yard line after the penalty yards were enforced. Syracuse quarterback Garrett Shrader went on to lead the Orange on a five-play drive that was capped by a go-ahead touchdown pass to Oronde Gadsden II.
"To me, to make two 15-yard penalty calls at that juncture, do I agree with it? No, not at all," Brohm said. "Now, with that said, it happened. So it's my fault. It's Payne's fault. We have to take responsibility for it, and we have to be accountable for it and make sure it never happens again.
"That was addressed with the team, and I apologized to the team for that flag and got to make sure that never happens again. We have to adjust and make sure that we talked about this as a team as well. The chatter has to stop. It has to stop in practice."
For Purdue to turn its disastrous start to the season around, it will have to limit its penalties. Whether that's late hits, unsportsmanlike behavior or errors in technique, the team has to eliminate costly mistakes in order to have a chance to win.
"We cannot get any more 15-yard penalties, including myself, including sideline warnings on the field, those type of things," Brohm said. "We just have to be really, really by the book and keep our mouth shut and coach and play football.”
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D.J. Fezler is a staff writer for BoilermakersCountry.com. Hailing from The Region, he is from Cedar Lake in Northwest Indiana and has spent the last two years covering Purdue football and basketball.