How many games can Purdue win this year?
- Thread starter izakman
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I think there's a difference between "can" and "will". I look at the schedule and see 6 games that are reasonably winnable. So I think we can win 6. Reality may be much different. But my internal gauge for success this year is how close we get to 6.
I couldn't decide between 1 & 2 wins, but your poll didn't cover 1 win, so I was stuck with having to go with 2 wins. I think we win 0 B1G games, but I hope I'm wrong [but doubt I am] about the win total this season. We all want Hazell & Purdue to do well, but the light at the end of this tunnel, is probably 1 or 2 non conference wins, at best, unfortunately. I don't possibly see how Purdue can honestly afford to keep Hazell, if he doesn't get at least 3 B1G wins this season. Where is the improvement/progress/hope/future & final destination? What would be the reason for keeping him, if he underpreformes again, as he previously has here? I just don't see enough progress at this time. I think it would take a miracle/3 B1G wins to keep him here anouther season, after this one. I really like the idea of a younger/more player identifiable/relatable head coach, but the current one has underpreformed, & then some.
Whoever had first choice, & picked Hazell, I think I'd let someone else/different have their say first, next time. This choice, clearly didn't work out, unfortunately. Maybe too many non football players/types in that decision mix? Someone closer to the situation, process & players probably would have made a wiser choice. It was a gamble that just didn't pay off, unfortunately. A more experienced, older, B1G level type coach may have been a wiser/safer choice?
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I believe he was the 2nd or 3rd choice on a panel that included Ryan Grigson, and a variety of people that inarguably know football.
To the OP, I pick 2, but anywhere between 2-4 wont shock me.
Like others have said, I think there are winnable games on the schedule. But given what we saw last year - especially at Minnesota and down the stretch against Northwestern and Indiana, I don't have any real faith that this staff can make it happen. In 2 years they've failed to win a single B1G home game.
My gut tells me Purdue will go something like 4-8 (2-6) I think we'll beat Indiana State, Illinois, and Indiana. I think we'll lose to Va Tech, MSU, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Iowa. Marshall, BGSU, Minnesota, and Northwestern look like the swing games.
My gut tells me Purdue will go something like 4-8 (2-6) I think we'll beat Indiana State, Illinois, and Indiana. I think we'll lose to Va Tech, MSU, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Iowa. Marshall, BGSU, Minnesota, and Northwestern look like the swing games.
Most of us believe we'll win 5 or less. I think at least 6, maybe 7, and possibly 8. If the o-line is as good as advertised, then we'll climb out of the basement in terms of 3rd down conversion. We should not get beat up in the 2nd half because we are older and deeper. A team that takes a end of the year dive,its often because of injuries and dissention(see iu and ui basketball last year. ). The older players occasionally resent a young gunslinger coming in to save the day. If that was a problem last year and I think it was, then it will likely be solved this year. I think we will be less spectacular and more consistent. I'm sure there will be an anomaly or two but I think we'll have a chance in 10 games.(within a TD in 4th qtr)
How will our Quarterback position pan out, can we complete 10 yd out passes and move the chains consistently, that being said, let's see if we can touch 4 wins....but sure hoping for a bunch more!! Let's Go Boilers!!
I think that anyone who votes 6 wins or more are just hoping. Purdue played well in the middle of last season but then fizzled out. Yes, I know there were some injuries but we can take that as excuses. No way should we have lost to both Northwestern and IU. Until they consistently play well and win games I have to go with 4 wins this season.
Also, I like Hazell but think Purdue jumped on him a little too quickly. He had one good season at Kent State and Purdue looked at him as a upcoming coach. I don't think he proved too much and we should have gotten somebody else. I will be pulling for him and the team this season though. Hope they prove me wrong.
Also, I like Hazell but think Purdue jumped on him a little too quickly. He had one good season at Kent State and Purdue looked at him as a upcoming coach. I don't think he proved too much and we should have gotten somebody else. I will be pulling for him and the team this season though. Hope they prove me wrong.
Semantics. We should be in every game this year. We should win games that we lost in the past. I have a lot of confidence in the OL, and a good OL controls a game and leads to wins. I think we'll get an upset victory that shifts momentum our way.
Well, this is sort of a loaded question. As long as the team shows up (literally, they get off the bus with their equipment), they CAN win all their games next season. The likelihood of that happening is about as strong as IU's Engineering Program producing an astronaut but I do get what the intent of the post was.
Here is how I believe the season shakes out:
@ Marshall: PU 34 Marshall 31 (W)
Indiana State: PU 48 ISU 24 (W)
Virginia Tech: PU 16 VT 31 (L)
Bowling Green State: PU 38 BGSU 28 (W)
@ Michigan State: PU 10 MSU 24 (L)
Minnesota: PU 21 Minnesota 27 (L)
@ Wisconsin: PU 13 Wisc 35 (L)
@ Nebraska: PU 10 Neb 28 (L)
Illinois (HC): PU 38 Illini 24 (W)
@ Northwestern: PU 17 NU 14 (W)
@ Iowa: PU 17 Iowa 24 (L)
IU: PU 42 IU 34 (W)
6-6 (3-5)
Scores are totally made up and don't really reflect any sort of hard research done about the other teams other than a gut feeling...however, the W's and L's are truly how I feel the season plays out. I believe the Minnesota, Iowa, IU and NU games are really the three toss up games that can either make the season a rousing success (could lead to potentially an 8 win season) or could lead to a marginal W/L improvement to 4-8.
Here is how I believe the season shakes out:
@ Marshall: PU 34 Marshall 31 (W)
Indiana State: PU 48 ISU 24 (W)
Virginia Tech: PU 16 VT 31 (L)
Bowling Green State: PU 38 BGSU 28 (W)
@ Michigan State: PU 10 MSU 24 (L)
Minnesota: PU 21 Minnesota 27 (L)
@ Wisconsin: PU 13 Wisc 35 (L)
@ Nebraska: PU 10 Neb 28 (L)
Illinois (HC): PU 38 Illini 24 (W)
@ Northwestern: PU 17 NU 14 (W)
@ Iowa: PU 17 Iowa 24 (L)
IU: PU 42 IU 34 (W)
6-6 (3-5)
Scores are totally made up and don't really reflect any sort of hard research done about the other teams other than a gut feeling...however, the W's and L's are truly how I feel the season plays out. I believe the Minnesota, Iowa, IU and NU games are really the three toss up games that can either make the season a rousing success (could lead to potentially an 8 win season) or could lead to a marginal W/L improvement to 4-8.
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Ryan Grigson, Rick Smith (GM of Houston Texans). I believe Jim Tressel was at least consulted.
Tucsonboiler2 said...."I think we will be less spectacular "....
Less spectacular????...are you kidding? How could they possibly be "less spectacular"?? If they're "less spectacular"... hazell should be shown the door! Anything less than 6-6 and a crappy bowl win should be grounds for "see ya later darrell"
Less spectacular????...are you kidding? How could they possibly be "less spectacular"?? If they're "less spectacular"... hazell should be shown the door! Anything less than 6-6 and a crappy bowl win should be grounds for "see ya later darrell"
Since we won't have as much speed in the backfield, I assume we won't have as many long plays from that position, thus less spectacular. My guess is that one of the young pups can average 4 yds per carry, doesn't fumble and can protect the passer. I remember times last year where we would quickly get to midfield or further and stall, usually with a 4th and long out of fieldgoal range. I think this team is built for short yardage success.
I've got it like this:
09/06/15 at Marshall
09/12/15 Indiana State
09/19/15 Virginia Tech
09/26/15 Bowling Green
10/03/15 at Michigan State
10/10/15 Minnesota
10/17/15 at Wisconsin
10/24/15 Bye
10/31/15 Nebraska
11/07/15 Illinois
11/14/15 at Northwestern
11/21/15 at Iowa
11/28/15 Indiana
Green: We should win these. Good chance of a victory.
Orange: Could be a loss, but on any given day; who knows.
Red: Forget about it. We won't win. No chance.
An unknown commodity is Marshall. They've lost key players and and their 2014 record was a cupcake factory.
If we pick up one of the orange and drop a green, we are at 4 wins; which is where I see us ending up.
But, if we get all of the green, and pick up 1 or 2 of the orange, we are in fat city. I will be happy.
If we complete our non-conference schedule with 3 wins, the message boards will erupt with visions of bowl victory grandeur. But, even if we start 3-1, we could easily lose our next 4.
So, we shall see. Bare minimum for me is 4 wins with team improvements and losses by narrower margins. An increase in time of possession is key.
09/06/15 at Marshall
09/12/15 Indiana State
09/19/15 Virginia Tech
09/26/15 Bowling Green
10/03/15 at Michigan State
10/10/15 Minnesota
10/17/15 at Wisconsin
10/24/15 Bye
10/31/15 Nebraska
11/07/15 Illinois
11/14/15 at Northwestern
11/21/15 at Iowa
11/28/15 Indiana
Green: We should win these. Good chance of a victory.
Orange: Could be a loss, but on any given day; who knows.
Red: Forget about it. We won't win. No chance.
An unknown commodity is Marshall. They've lost key players and and their 2014 record was a cupcake factory.
If we pick up one of the orange and drop a green, we are at 4 wins; which is where I see us ending up.
But, if we get all of the green, and pick up 1 or 2 of the orange, we are in fat city. I will be happy.
If we complete our non-conference schedule with 3 wins, the message boards will erupt with visions of bowl victory grandeur. But, even if we start 3-1, we could easily lose our next 4.
So, we shall see. Bare minimum for me is 4 wins with team improvements and losses by narrower margins. An increase in time of possession is key.
Until they prove otherwise, 4 wins seems about right. Which if true, there needs to be a change. We hold the basketball program to higher standards and we should expect the same out of the football team.
A couple down seasons I can deal with, but this has gone on entirely too long (going back to the Hope era) and is even making me pause on to whether I will even bother going to a game this season.
As I have said before though, I would LOVE to be proven wrong. Football is hands down my favorite sport so the current state of things really grinds my gears and I hope it changes.
Half of it depends on the teams we play.
Marshall may be "good" for their level, but doesn't make them good against power conference teams, even bad ones. It's also the first game of the year - those are always a mystery.
Minnesota is a team that has improved, but still nothing to write home about and inconsistent - until proven otherwise.
Illinois is the same thing - there's no reason to believe they will be significantly better until proven otherwise.
@ Northwestern - similar. NW should be a tad better, but they lost some good players last year. Being later in the season, who knows how much they'll develop.
IU - they should be around what they have been, although with so many injuries last year, if they stay healthy, could turn out to be better than expected. But still an uphill climb.
These are 4 games that I could see going either way no matter what happens with Purdue - on top of the Bowling Green and Indiana State games. And quite frankly, we could win all 6 and not have an impressive win out of all of them.
Just a matter of who improves and who doesn't. Hopefully for the Big Ten's sake, at least 2 of those turn out to be relatively decent teams.
lbodel,
I think you're wrong about Marshall. Since Doc Halliday took over as their HC in 2010 he's beaten:
2011: Louisville 17-13 @Louisville
2013: Maryland 31-20 in Military Bowl (team went 10-4 overall)
2014: Northern Illinois 52-23 in Boca Raton Bowl (team went 13-1 overall)
So they were 23-5 the last two seasons with bowl wins, and Purdue was 4-20. They are a good team and a tough opening week matchup. Their conference is not the best, beat they have beaten (now ACC and now BIG teams) in the last 5 seasons. Northern Illinois has been a very bad matchup for Purdue the last couple of times we've played them.
Vegas has us at 4 wins, where you need to place 120 to win 100 if you take the under and last in the big ten to win the conference in a ESPN blog I read sometime last week.
Not sure whey it wasnt a half point like 3.5 or 4.5 wins, but I dont gamble beyond between friends now and again
Not sure whey it wasnt a half point like 3.5 or 4.5 wins, but I dont gamble beyond between friends now and again
I rewatched the Minny game last weekend a couple times. Amazing we lost that game, but Im glad I at least got to watch some boiler football on BTN.
That game seemed like a great example of the offense working well, but by the 4th quarter they adapted to Purdue's pretty repetitive play calling and the offense not having a wrinkle ready to get into the endzone that last time or two.
Its going to be interesting to see if the better oline can just bully those moments or if that added complexity is necessary.
That game seemed like a great example of the offense working well, but by the 4th quarter they adapted to Purdue's pretty repetitive play calling and the offense not having a wrinkle ready to get into the endzone that last time or two.
Its going to be interesting to see if the better oline can just bully those moments or if that added complexity is necessary.
Shoop made a bad adjustment at half. He started attacking their interior more. I have no idea why since they had the advantage between the tackles
Yeah, the play we scored most points on was a read option with a bubble screen on the outside if the opponent stacked the box too much. I love the play on its own since it has a read you can take no matter how the D lines up, but when that play dried up it seemed they were just hoping they could manage a few first dows and run the clock out.
Good game though
Good game though
I saw that game too, and it left me feeling angry. We had a couple of plays that really made a big difference in the game. One I remember is Taylor Richards getting called for personal foul right after we had stopped Minnesota and seemingly were going to force them to punt on like 4th and 8. Another one was when Gabe Holmes dropped a sure 1st down. Finally, and perhaps the hardest one to take was when Appleby scrambled off tackle on 4th down and seemed to have yardage to pick up a first down late in the game, and yet somehow a Minnesota defender knocked the ball backwards out of his (loose) grasp. Appleby recovered but had to jump backwards to do it, and ended up short of the first down marker.
How about the call on Anthrop, when he turned his back so not to hit the guy, and a player from Minnesota got in his face, I think from the sidelines, and the call went against Purdue, that game was a gift to Minnesota.
That play I remember. Anthrop chipped back on a DB and called for a personal foul. (He did not merely turn his back - he whacked the guy hard with his shoulder, knocking him clean off his feet.) It was a late, cheap shot if you ask me. Still, Minnesota had a player get in Anthrop's face and I don't believe he was penalized.
I wish I had that game recorded, cause they played that play over a few times,right after the call, and it wasn't a cheap shot at all from my memory.
I just watched it again the other day, and it sure looked to me like Anthrop jacked the Minnesota guy after the play was finished.
Well OK, I just remember Anthrop trying to stop and turned his back to the guy! I didn't see it until they put it in slow motion. I have been wrong before, thanks
Watching the replay now, I gotta be thinking of a different game, where it happened, yeah Anthrop gave him a shot
Indiana State and maybe.....Bowling Green. The O-line isn't that much better, and the backs aren't that good. Another long season brought to you by a terrible selection committee.
Since you're convinced we will be lucky to win 2 games this year, I assume you've bet the house on the under in Vegas?
Doesn't matter, the play was over and it looked like Anthrop "targeted" the defender anyway.
Targeting is taking your head and lunging at the head of another player. That clearly did not happen in this case. Play isn't over until the runner is OOB.
I have a pretty clear memory of the announcers saying it was a bad call, and believe you can hear the tail end of it since BTN chops the video so much. However, I don't mind refs calling plays like that for the sake of player safety. Man Anthrop blasted him.
Play is over when the whistle sounds OR the player runs OOB. In this play, Anthrop didn't need to do what he did - crack back on the DB after/right as the play was ending. He knocked the guy off his feet and knocked him out for a time. He deserved to get called for a PF on that. I said "targeted" because Anthrop seemed to go out of his way to hit the guy and he did hit him higher, whether on the helmet or on his shoulder/upper back.
Regardless, it was not a smart play by a player who seems to be smart in general.
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