Purdue report card: Lackluster performance leads to failing grades
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — It wasn’t the way Purdue hoped to end the nonconference portion of its schedule. A 34-13 loss at the hands of TCU leaves them at 1-2 heading into the bye week, with a full slate of nine Big Ten games to follow.
Injuries to key players aside, Purdue was bad nearly all across the board. Since they don't use injuries as an excuse, we don't either in our weekly report card.
Here’s how the Boilermakers graded out::
Rushing offense: F
A Purdue rushing attack that has failed to get going all season long struggled once again a tough TCU front. In a game in which they needed to desperately step up without quarterback Elijah Sindelar, the team ran for a total of 23 yards on 25 carries. On the season the team has rushed for a grand total of 150 yards on 72 attempts. That just isn't going to cut it.
Passing offense: C-minus
With Sindelar out as he recovers from a concussion, redshirt freshman Jack Plummer got the start for Purdue. In his first career start, he looked overwhelmed and outmatched by an attacking TCU defense. Plummer had little success, throwing for 181 yards, two interceptions and one touchdown on 13-for-29 passing. His one touchdown came in garbage time.
Not all the blame can be put on Plummer, though. The Boilermakers did little around him to help. Wide receiver Rondale Moore dropped a few passes and was held to 25 yards, the line allowed three sacks and the running game failed to provide an alternate source of offense. All in all, Plummer did what he could with the help that he was provided.
Rush defense: F
TCU’s ground game was a complete 180 from what we saw from Purdue. TCU ran wherever and whenever they wanted, gashing the Purdue defense for 346 yards and three touchdowns. Both Darius Anderson and Sewo Olonilua rushed for over 100 yards and both found the end zone.
Purdue clearly missed defensive captain and linebacker Markus Bailey. With Bailey suffering a season-ending knee injury, the Boilermakers are going to have to learn to play without him. They clearly didn’t figure it out prior to Saturday night's game against TCU.
Pass defense: B
The passing defense was the lone bright spot for the Boilermakers. They held TCU’s two-quarterback system to just 75 yards. The Purdue defense opened the game with an interception, setting up a field goal to get them on the board first.
The Horned Frogs weren’t forced to do much through the air with the success that they had running the ball. When they did try to pass, the Purdue secondary made it difficult. On a day in which there was little to celebrate, the passing defense was about as close as you can get.
Special teams: B-minus
The Purdue special teams weren’t great, but they weren’t bad, either. J.D Dellinger connected on both field goal attempts, including a career-long 53-yarder. The punt coverage unit did its job, limiting TCU just one return for eight yards.
There’s not much to say when it comes to the special teams, Purdue did just about what you expect. There were much bigger problems on Saturday night.
Coaching: D-minus
Purdue coach Jeff Brohm will be the first to tell you that he called a bad game. When you lose 34-13, you can expect that the coaching staff didn’t execute the game plan. Faced with a question at the quarterback position, Brohm’s play-calling and lack of a run game did little to help the Boilermakers.
“”Obviously I did a bad job and we didn’t execute or play well,” said Brohm.
Intangibles: D
Any time you lose 34-13, things obviously didn’t go well. Purdue got off to a slow start, and couldn’t really get anything going on either side of that ball. The big-time players like Moore failed to step up in a game that they needed to. Purdue looked out of sorts without its quarterback and overall had its worst game of the season.
