Game 3: Sindelar, Bailey injuries too much to overcome in Purdue's loss to TCU
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue desperately missed offensive and defensive leaders Elijah Sindelar and Markus Bailey during Saturday night's 34-13 home loss to TCU.
Sindelar, Purdue's veteran quarterback who was leading the nation in passing yards and touchdowns through two weeks, was still suffering the effects of a concussion and couldn't play Saturday. He'll be back soon, but Bailey, the Boilermakers' best defensive player, is out for the year with a torn ACL.
Purdue had no answer for how to replace the pair against TCU. The result was a second loss in three weeks. TCU is 2-0.
“It doesn’t matter who we have in there, who we’re missing and who we’re not,” Purdue coach Jeff Brohm said. “We have to play better.”
Purdue's offense usually dominates through the air, but the stingy TCU defense limited them to just 181 yards, a major drop-off from its season average of 466 yards per game. Sindelar's absence was that obvious.
Redshirt freshman Jack Plummer got the start in place of Sindelar and seemed overwhelmed by an attacking TCU defense. The Horned Frogs pressured him all night, sacking him three times and forcing him out of the pocket on multiple occasions. Plummer finished the game 13-for-29 passing for 181 yards, two interceptions and one touchdown pass. His lone score came late in the fourth quarter with the game already out of reach.
“Jack hung in there,” Brohm said. “I knew this would be a tough matchup for him.”
The rest of Purdue’s offense did little to alleviate the pressure on him.
“It wasn’t a good performance by even our best players,” Brohm said. “We’ve got to get better around him.”
Purdue superstar Rondale Moore is one of those players Brohm is talking about. TCU executed its defensive plan to perfection, limiting him to just 25 yards on three catches. Moore also had an uncharacteristic dropped pass in the red zone during the first quarter.
“It wasn’t one of his better days,” Brohm said.
It would have been nice if the running game could have made things easier for Plummer. But the ground game, which has struggled all year, was stymied once again. Freshman King Doerue was the team’s leading rusher, gaining only 27 yards on 11 carries. As a team, they carried the ball 25 times for just 23 yards, its lowest total in a game with gaining 23 yards against Minnesota on Nov. 5, 2016.
“No running game once again, which has got to get fixed,” Brohm said. “We’ve got to figure out a way to get some creative runs, something to get us going.”
The Boilermakers were lost on the defensive side of the ball without Bailey around. Brohm wasn't pleased with the way his defense responded.
“Whoever’s in there has to play more downhill and make more plays,” Brohm said.
His absence up the middle left a glaring hole in the Purdue defense, which couldn't stop the run all night. TCU gashed Purdue for 346 yards on 58 attempts (6.0 yards per carry). Running backs Darius Anderson and Sewo Olonilua each had more than 100 yards on the ground for the Horned Frogs.
“You don’t want to give up 300-plus yards rushing no matter what’s going on,” Brohm said. “We’ve got to get better and we’ve got to get more physical.”
Purdue now has two weeks to get healthy, figure out a running game and fix the holes on defense before Minnesota comes to town on Sept. 28 to open up the Boilermakers' Big Ten schedule.
“It was just a complete lackluster day,'' Brohm said. "Excuse me, that’s too polite. It was a dismal day for all of us.”
