Offense:
The offense seemed, okay. 35 points is a great number to score in the first game of the year, but far too often in the run game was Purdue outnumbered, where there were not enough blockers to squirt Mockobee through, that is a schematic issue.
Card did wonders scrambling while his offensive line struggled, something I have been worried about for the entire off-season. It does not help that the starting center and his backup were out today. But I had hoped the Portal guards would hold their own, they looked outmanned today against... Fresno State.
Deion Burks is obviously a star and will be the focal point of the offense. He needs to be force-fed each week. I don't think that will be hard to do.
Purdue did not convert on 3rd downs at a high enough clip today though. Far too often was the defense trotting back out after Purdue would need to punt, that is something that also needs to be corrected.
Defense:
Purdue's defensive backs struggled most of the day, and as a result, Purdue could not get off the field. Fresno State converted 10 of its first 15 third down attempts, and there were missed assignments on the first two Bulldog touchdowns. The lack of pass rush from the front 6 or 7 was a primary reason for the secondary being picked apart in the heavy man-to-man coverage.
Fresno State also dominated time of possession as a result. The Fresno drive that gave the Bulldogs was 14 plays 85 yards and Purdue wilted in the heat as it went on.
Purdue lacks star power on the defensive side of the ball and needs that unit to work cohesively, while they look good on the field, the lack of hits and hurries on the quarterback allowed the Bulldogs to destroy the secondary.
Dillon Thieneman was easily the best player on defense today.
Coaching:
There were evident lumps to the rookie head coach's first game leading the program. The most mind-boggling decision came at the end of the first half, where Purdue was blessed with Fresno missing a field goal, only to give Fresno a 52-yard field goal just moments later. Instead of kneeing the ball out to end the half, Purdue would try and throw the ball downfield, giving the Bulldogs the ball back with timeouts. Purdue received the ball to start the third quarter, making the decision all that much stranger.
In the 4th quarter, 3rd and 1 from the 1, Purdue chose to throw the ball only to then run it on 4th down, in that situation, you would like to see two runs in a row ti plunge in from the one, a strange sequence of play calling there. Lastly, the defense simply never changed what they were doing. We knew coming it would be a man heavy scheme, but maybe, just maybe mixing it up some would have been beneficial, as the Boilermakers gave up 490 yards of offense to a team that graduated their star offensive players from a year ago.
The offense seemed, okay. 35 points is a great number to score in the first game of the year, but far too often in the run game was Purdue outnumbered, where there were not enough blockers to squirt Mockobee through, that is a schematic issue.
Card did wonders scrambling while his offensive line struggled, something I have been worried about for the entire off-season. It does not help that the starting center and his backup were out today. But I had hoped the Portal guards would hold their own, they looked outmanned today against... Fresno State.
Deion Burks is obviously a star and will be the focal point of the offense. He needs to be force-fed each week. I don't think that will be hard to do.
Purdue did not convert on 3rd downs at a high enough clip today though. Far too often was the defense trotting back out after Purdue would need to punt, that is something that also needs to be corrected.
Defense:
Purdue's defensive backs struggled most of the day, and as a result, Purdue could not get off the field. Fresno State converted 10 of its first 15 third down attempts, and there were missed assignments on the first two Bulldog touchdowns. The lack of pass rush from the front 6 or 7 was a primary reason for the secondary being picked apart in the heavy man-to-man coverage.
Fresno State also dominated time of possession as a result. The Fresno drive that gave the Bulldogs was 14 plays 85 yards and Purdue wilted in the heat as it went on.
Purdue lacks star power on the defensive side of the ball and needs that unit to work cohesively, while they look good on the field, the lack of hits and hurries on the quarterback allowed the Bulldogs to destroy the secondary.
Dillon Thieneman was easily the best player on defense today.
Coaching:
There were evident lumps to the rookie head coach's first game leading the program. The most mind-boggling decision came at the end of the first half, where Purdue was blessed with Fresno missing a field goal, only to give Fresno a 52-yard field goal just moments later. Instead of kneeing the ball out to end the half, Purdue would try and throw the ball downfield, giving the Bulldogs the ball back with timeouts. Purdue received the ball to start the third quarter, making the decision all that much stranger.
In the 4th quarter, 3rd and 1 from the 1, Purdue chose to throw the ball only to then run it on 4th down, in that situation, you would like to see two runs in a row ti plunge in from the one, a strange sequence of play calling there. Lastly, the defense simply never changed what they were doing. We knew coming it would be a man heavy scheme, but maybe, just maybe mixing it up some would have been beneficial, as the Boilermakers gave up 490 yards of offense to a team that graduated their star offensive players from a year ago.
