King Doerue's Career Day Brought Balance to Purdue Offense Against Minnesota
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue couldn't afford to kick field goals when Minnesota was putting the football in the end zone Saturday. Faced with an early deficit, the Boilermakers turned to King Doerue on fourth down from the 11-yard line with one yard to go.
The junior running back took the handoff and catapulted himself over a pile of linemen at the line of scrimmage. With two hands on the football, he hit the turf after picking up two yards and a first down.
The conversion led to Purdue's only touchdown during a sloppy, rain-soaked afternoon that ended in a 20-13 loss to Minnesota at Ross-Ade Stadium. Running the football is a must when it's showering overhead, and Doerue put together a career-high 95 rushing yards to achieve an offensive balance the team lacked in recent weeks.
"I feel like I had a good performance, but it could have been a lot better," Doerue said after the game. "I could've done a lot of things better out there. I left some yards on the field that I could have got. Just trusting it, my O-line was doing a great job opening up the holes for me. Just trustring to make the right read and running hard."
Doerue, who missed the team's 13-9 victory over Illinois due to a medical condition, was listed as a game-time decision leading up to the matchup with Minnesota. With him in the lineup, Purdue was able to have a counterweight to its passing attack.
However, despite putting up 434 total yards as a team, the Boilermakers managed one touchdown in four trips to the red zone. The passing lanes get tighter the closer you get to the end zone, creating more pressure for the running game to take over and lead to touchdowns.
Purdue has just two rushing touchdowns this season. Even with 21 carries and 95 yards on the ground, Doerue did not add to that total in Saturday's loss.
"We've got to pound it in there and figure out ways to get points," Purdue coach Jeff Brohm said. "When you move the ball and you get down there, you have to get seven points, bottom line. We're not doing that, and it's cost us. It's cost us a great deal."
It was a step in the right direction to see Doerue pick up positive yards, which included big plays of 19 and 16 yards to help keep the offense ahead of the chains. But for Purdue to be more successful moving forward, it will have to evaluate how to reach the end zone with more consistency.
The Boilermakers showed it can play with a balanced offensive attack against Minnesota. The next step is to turn field goals into touchdowns.
"We just gotta do little things right," Doerue said. "I feel like we'll get better as time goes on, we just gotta find a way to put the ball in the end zone."
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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.