Sorry this was late. It took time to recalculate my position in the line of succession to the throne of Great Britain. (sadly, I stopped counting when I hit one million)
Next up for the 2022 season is the Syracuse Orange in Purdue’s first road trip of the season.
Taking a look at the size and experience of the Syracuse Lines and LBs and seeing how they match up against Purdue's equivalents.
- Big and experienced. The Syracuse O-line will be the largest that Purdue will face in 2022 coming in at 330.0 lbs. In fact, they will be the third largest line Purdue has faced going back to 2018, bested only by a couple of Minnesota lines which featured a single 380lb tackle, which pushed the average up considerably. In addition to their size, they return 3 multi-year starters and the remaining two (both guard positions) each have a half year or so of starts under their respective belts. As a group, they have an average of 3.0 years even of experience. Collectively, they have a hefty 105 career starts. That compares favorably to what Minnesota’s line had last season (125 to start the season).
- This week’s Purdue’s projected D-Line (Sullivan, Johnson, Dean, Jenkins) averages about 285.0 lbs, up about 2.5lbs from last year’s. They will be outweighed by the Syracuse line by about 45.0 lbs per man on average. Purdue’s average experience is 3.5 years, up a full year from last year’s line. As a unit they have 61 collective starts with Sullivan the only one with single digit starts. (Boyd started at DT over Deen against ISU however I’ve left Deen in the projected starting lineup and the numbers reflect the same. We’ll see if it’s a one-game deal or if that is a trend before making a change).
- Purdue’s projected LBs (Kane, Douglas, Brothers) come in at 225.0 lbs, down slightly from last year and are at 3.33 years of experience, the same as last season. With Grahm being out and Kane taking his place, the number of starts drops dramatically and they now have a collective 19 starts between them.
- Purdue’s projected O-line (Miller, Holstege, Hartwig, Mbow, Craig) will average 308.0 lbs per man, up by 2.0 lbs from last year’s 306.0 lbs. They average 2.8 years of experience, down slightly from last season’s 3.0 years. Collectively, they have a decent number of starts with 61.
- Syracuse plays a non-traditional 3-3-5 scheme so adjustments are made for comparison sake. Here, the largest LB is listed as a DE. At 252.50 lbs, they will be the smallest D-Line that Purdue will face this season. Even backing out the adjustment for the LB to DE, they would still be the smallest. They also will be the youngest group Purdue will face with just a 2.00 year average. The only returning starter is the LB I’ve arbitrarily moved to DE. They’ll be outweighed by Purdue’s O-line by 53.50 lbs per man. As mentioned, they’re largely all new starters so they’ll have just 21 starts between them with the LB/DE accounting for 15 of those.
- The Syracuse LBs will be on the smaller side but not the smallest Purdue will face. Like the D-Line group, I’ve added in their largest DB as a LB. In actuality, there isn’t much difference in size and they will come in at 223.0 lbs. They, like the D-line are on the young side with 2.00 years at the position however the collective starts aren’t bad at 41. You may recall that one of their original starters was injured and OFS in their opener against Louisville.
Overall, the front seven (from a size standpoint) looks to be comprised of DE’s playing DTs; LB’s playing DE’s and Safeties playing the LB positions. Somewhat like a full-time “Posse” formation that Purdue has run in the past. So far this season, it’s been successful for the Orange.
Vegas opened up at Purdue -1. It’s now even with O/U at 59.5 (Note: I use VegasInsider for my line info. Other sites may vary)
MasseyRatings predicts a 28-24 Purdue win
Sagarin predicts a 0.73 point Purdue win using his “Golden Mean” rating (which is what I use) however his “Prediction” is a 0.38 Syracuse win.
CollegeFootballPoll predicts a 0.63 point Syracuse win.
Compughter Ratings predicts a 35-32 Purdue win. (This site didn’t allow a direct Syracuse rating so UCLA., a similar rated team per the site, was substituted.)
For those of you who care about recruiting ratings, here are the starter’s Rivals ratings:
Purdue……………………. Syracuse
QB O’Connell NR……….. Schrader 4* (Miss. State)
RB Dorue 3*...................... Tucker 3* (DB)
WR Thompson 2*.......... Alford 3*
WR Jones 2* (IA).......... C. Jackson 2*
WR Sheffield 3*.............. Cooper 3* (Arizona)
TE Durham 3*................. Gadsden 3* (WR)
LT Miller 3*.................… Bergeron 3* (he’s Canadian so more like 2.9*)
LG Holstege 2*................ Ellis 3*
C Hartwig 4*..................... Vettorello 3*
RG Mbow 3*.................... Bleich 3* (Florida)
RT Craig 3*...................... Dakota Davis 2* (Chattanooga)
DE Sullivan 3*................... Linton 3*
DT Johnson 3*…………… Lockett 3* (DE)
DT Dean 3*….................... Okechukwu 3*
DE/LB Jenkins 3*............... Wax 3* (ATH)
LB Brothers 3*....……...... Jones 4*
LB Douglas 3* ………..… McDonald 3* (TE)
LB/ROV Graham 3*...…... Barron 3* (ATH)
CB Trice 3*.........……...... G. Williams 3* (ATH)
CB Brown 3*.................... Chestnut 4*
FS Allen 3*......…….….......Clark 4* (Rutgers)
SS Jefferson NR...........…. Carter 2* (ATH)
Syracuse is coming off a win on the road against U-CONN following up on an opening week win against Louisville at home.
It’s safe to say that neither Syracuse or Purdue really learned much from their games last weekend against outmatched opponents. So, really, all we have to go on is from Syracuse’s game against Louisville, in which they won handily, and Purdue’s loss to Penn State, where Purdue could not hold on to the lead late in the game.
Having watched a bit of Syracuse this season, they are a vastly improved team over a year ago. Much of that improvement has come with the play of their QB, Shrader. Just over a 50% passer (52.6%) with a Passing Efficiency of 113.7 last year, he’s transformed so far this season to a 72% completion passer with a Passing Efficiency of 206.1 (4th Nationally) the same ranking as their Team Passing Efficiency.
Arguably, the improvement could be tied to Syracuse’s new OC, Robert Anae, who came in from Virginia where he directed Brennan Armstrong and a potent Cavalier offense. Anae also previously was the OC at BYU where, among others, coached QB Taysom Hill.
I mention Hill as, to my eyes, he looks like a good comparison to Shrader. If anything Shrader may be a better passer at this stage of their respective careers. Prior to coming to Syracuse, Shrader played at Mississippi State where they attempted to use him as a WR. Big (6’4”, 228lbs) he has deceptive speed and is a load to bring down when he runs the ball, which he does regularly.
Entering the season, their projected offensive star was running back, Sean Tucker. Coming off a season where he gained nearly 1,500 yards (1,496) and 12 touchdowns, the 3rd year running back is off to another good start averaging 106 yards per game and 4.4 ypc (down from the 6+ ypc last season).
In their opener, they handled Louisville pretty easily, winning 31-7. The jury is still out on just how good Louisville is, however they in turn won on the road last week against what is supposed to be a pretty good UCF team.
Opening games are always difficult to handicap with teams having to adjust to new players/schemes/coaching and one could make the argument that Louisville didn’t exactly know what to expect from Syracuse’s new offense, so had to play a bit more “vanilla” on defense. Purdue of course will have the benefit of that game tape on which to prepare so they shouldn’t be going into the game cold.
Defensively, their 3-3-5 scheme can cause problems for spread offenses as noted above, they tend to have smaller, quicker players on the field and hope to beat opposing offenses to the spot to make the play.
In two games, they have already forced 5 turnovers (2.5/game) and their offense has been perfect in not giving up the ball so, as a team, they have a stellar TO Margin of +2.5, good for 5th Nationally.
Their back seven appear to have the most talent and experience however as noted, they did lose one returning starter, Thompson, for the year in their opener.
As mentioned, it’s hard to garner much of anything from last week’s win for Purdue. The offense was okay against PSU but was still a bit rusty in spots which kept Purdue from scoring more (and winning the game). Last week, Purdue shows the ability to run the ball from a variety of spots but, again, how much of that was Purdue and how much of that was ISU?
Purdue is still dinged up a bit at the receiver position so it will be interesting to see who makes the trip and how much players like Thompson and Rice play. It would also be nice to see Durham and Sheffield get targeted for some easy receptions and picking up yards against a spread out defense.
Syracuse’s defense seemingly invites teams to run, however last season Syracuse’s Rushing Defense was very good, finishing ranked 26th Nationally to go along with the #19th Ranked Total Defense.
Two caveats to the above stats. First, Syracuse had all upperclassmen and returning starters along their D-Line and those all have now been replaced. Second, their Pass Efficiency Defense was only ranked 104th, meaning teams may not have needed to run the ball and just passed over the top.
So far this season, their Total Defense is again ranked high at 26th Nationally but their Rushing Defense has fallen off a bit and is ranked 55th. On the other hand, Pass Efficiency Defense has improved a bit to 88th.
Again, it’s early in the season and hard to make much sense from rankings but Purdue’s offense is ranked 35rd in Total Offense, 66th in Pass Efficiency, 82nd in Rushing Offense but a very good 25th in Scoring Offense.
Purdue fans (and probably coaches, too) would like to see Purdue be a bit more balanced when it comes to pass/run ratio. Against PSU, the rushing attempts probably weren’t enough (22) compared to pass attempts (59). Against ISU, it was probably more than you’d expect (45) compared to pass attempts (30). Not to sound like Goldilocks, but somewhere around 30 rushes and 45 pass attempts seems to be about “just right”. Obviously, game situations will ultimately dictate that ratio, but I think that’s where Brohm would ultimately like to be.
Last week Purdue was able to pick up good yardage from the five backs which carried the ball. (I’m sure some Syracuse fans will look at Purdue’s season stats and wonder why Mockobee isn’t starting, since he leads the team in rushing now. Vbg) If nothing else, it was good to have everyone get some touches and gain some confidence running the ball. Will be interested to see how Purdue uses Tracy going forward. He, and not Sheffield, may be getting those jet sweeps going forward.
Defensively, this seems to be a game where not having Graham is going to hurt. Purdue will need to get it’s most athletic players on the field and, while I like Kane, he’s more a safety (or CB) than a LB and with the combination of Shrader and Tucker, the extra size that Graham would provide will be missed.
I really have no idea on what scheme Purdue will use to slow down Syracuse. First and foremost, they need to stop Tucker and the run. However, bringing an extra man in the box and playing man-to-man coverage will open you up for large gains by Shrader should he get loose. Playing Zone coverage and Shrader has demonstrated he has the ability to hit open receivers when they find those soft spots that are available in zone coverage.
One thing for certain which will be key is when Syracuse does pass, Purdue needs to get to the QB (and take him down). Syracuse has given up a fair number of sacks (2.5/game). Part of that may be due to the size of their tackles. Unlike most teams Purdue plays where the tackles are in the low 300lb area, Syracuse has larger tackles (322lbs and 335lbs) who may not be as agile against quicker DEs. This may be a game where Jenkins and/or Humpich can use their quickness to rack up some sacks.
Honestly, Syracuse arguably may be playing better than Penn State on offense right now, so Purdue will certainly be challenged.
One area which plagued Purdue in their opener were penalties (8-92 yards). They were much better against ISU and are now ranked 51st Nationally in Penalties Per Game and 53rd in Penalty Yards Per Game. Syracuse also had a terrible first game (18-107 yards) but even with a better game against U-Conn, they are still ranked near the bottom of Division I at 126th in Penalties Per Game and 74th in Penalty Yards Per Game. Seeing as Syracuse played at home and then at U-Conn, I don’t think crowd noise was a factor.
With the win last week against the Sycamores, Purdue’s record is still an unblemished 6-0 against arbored named schools. Syracuse’s team name is the Orange and like with Ohio State, I’m discounting their inclusion into that record as it’s named after the fruit and not the tree. For the record, Purdue is 1-0 against Syracuse.
This will be Purdue’s first trip ever to Syracuse and the first road trip of the season. Typically, initial road trips are difficult for teams as their practice times and normal routines are disrupted. Fortunately, they will still be in the same time zone albeit in the (arguably) North East.
Syracuse’s coach Babers is familiar with Purdue having been a WR coach for the Boilers in the early 1990’s under Jim Colletto. More recently, he brought his Bowling Green team into Ross-Ade Stadium on a rainy Saturday in 2015 and beat the Boilers with nine seconds left on the clock.
While at Syracuse, Babers is 0-2 against the B10. In addition, Purdue is the only B10 team that Syracuse has not beaten in its history.
Weather looks to be good on Saturday will little to no wind. Of course, the game is being played inside the JMA Wireless Dome. Previously, Carrier Air Conditioning had the naming rights. Oddly enough, the dome wasn’t air conditioned. Now that a wireless company has the rights, I wonder if there’s wireless service? (tic) Also, the dome is now air conditioned. Go figure.
Syracuse’s coach Babers has a better home record when playing at night (.585%) versus day games (.518%). Good for Purdue that kickoff is at noon. The noon kickoff may also keep the crowd a bit subdued (as opposed to a night game). Their dome seats just over 50,000 but for their opener against Louisville (night game and conference foe), they drew just over 37K. Can’t believe Purdue will draw more. Also good for Purdue is Baber’s record when his game is broadcast by ESPN2 where he has a losing record (.437%). Call it the Mowins Factor.
Conversely, Brohm at Purdue is above .500 in day games (.553%), on artificial turf (all road games obviously) (.529%) and playing on ESPN2 (.545%).
Under Brohm, season openers at Purdue have resulted in 2 wins against 4 losses with four of those games being at home. On the other hand, Brohm has Purdue at 4-1 in road openers (the lone loss in 2019 against Nevada. If you’ll recall, the opener against Louisville in 2017 was at a neutral site).
Purdue has often had issues with their offense when playing in bad weather or when it’s windy. Saturday will be a dry, fast track and, unless they have the A/C cranked up, wind won’t be an issue.
Most people likely had this game circled as a “W” for Purdue prior to the season based on how poorly Syracuse had played recently. On the surface, it doesn’t appear that the Orange will be the pushover this season as they had been, or were expected to be.
We’ll see if Syracuse are the paper tigers the Boiler faithful want them to be or something more substantial. My guess, it will be somewhere in between and Purdue will have its hands full.
Let’s play football!
Next up for the 2022 season is the Syracuse Orange in Purdue’s first road trip of the season.
Taking a look at the size and experience of the Syracuse Lines and LBs and seeing how they match up against Purdue's equivalents.
- Big and experienced. The Syracuse O-line will be the largest that Purdue will face in 2022 coming in at 330.0 lbs. In fact, they will be the third largest line Purdue has faced going back to 2018, bested only by a couple of Minnesota lines which featured a single 380lb tackle, which pushed the average up considerably. In addition to their size, they return 3 multi-year starters and the remaining two (both guard positions) each have a half year or so of starts under their respective belts. As a group, they have an average of 3.0 years even of experience. Collectively, they have a hefty 105 career starts. That compares favorably to what Minnesota’s line had last season (125 to start the season).
- This week’s Purdue’s projected D-Line (Sullivan, Johnson, Dean, Jenkins) averages about 285.0 lbs, up about 2.5lbs from last year’s. They will be outweighed by the Syracuse line by about 45.0 lbs per man on average. Purdue’s average experience is 3.5 years, up a full year from last year’s line. As a unit they have 61 collective starts with Sullivan the only one with single digit starts. (Boyd started at DT over Deen against ISU however I’ve left Deen in the projected starting lineup and the numbers reflect the same. We’ll see if it’s a one-game deal or if that is a trend before making a change).
- Purdue’s projected LBs (Kane, Douglas, Brothers) come in at 225.0 lbs, down slightly from last year and are at 3.33 years of experience, the same as last season. With Grahm being out and Kane taking his place, the number of starts drops dramatically and they now have a collective 19 starts between them.
- Purdue’s projected O-line (Miller, Holstege, Hartwig, Mbow, Craig) will average 308.0 lbs per man, up by 2.0 lbs from last year’s 306.0 lbs. They average 2.8 years of experience, down slightly from last season’s 3.0 years. Collectively, they have a decent number of starts with 61.
- Syracuse plays a non-traditional 3-3-5 scheme so adjustments are made for comparison sake. Here, the largest LB is listed as a DE. At 252.50 lbs, they will be the smallest D-Line that Purdue will face this season. Even backing out the adjustment for the LB to DE, they would still be the smallest. They also will be the youngest group Purdue will face with just a 2.00 year average. The only returning starter is the LB I’ve arbitrarily moved to DE. They’ll be outweighed by Purdue’s O-line by 53.50 lbs per man. As mentioned, they’re largely all new starters so they’ll have just 21 starts between them with the LB/DE accounting for 15 of those.
- The Syracuse LBs will be on the smaller side but not the smallest Purdue will face. Like the D-Line group, I’ve added in their largest DB as a LB. In actuality, there isn’t much difference in size and they will come in at 223.0 lbs. They, like the D-line are on the young side with 2.00 years at the position however the collective starts aren’t bad at 41. You may recall that one of their original starters was injured and OFS in their opener against Louisville.
Overall, the front seven (from a size standpoint) looks to be comprised of DE’s playing DTs; LB’s playing DE’s and Safeties playing the LB positions. Somewhat like a full-time “Posse” formation that Purdue has run in the past. So far this season, it’s been successful for the Orange.
Vegas opened up at Purdue -1. It’s now even with O/U at 59.5 (Note: I use VegasInsider for my line info. Other sites may vary)
MasseyRatings predicts a 28-24 Purdue win
Sagarin predicts a 0.73 point Purdue win using his “Golden Mean” rating (which is what I use) however his “Prediction” is a 0.38 Syracuse win.
CollegeFootballPoll predicts a 0.63 point Syracuse win.
Compughter Ratings predicts a 35-32 Purdue win. (This site didn’t allow a direct Syracuse rating so UCLA., a similar rated team per the site, was substituted.)
For those of you who care about recruiting ratings, here are the starter’s Rivals ratings:
Purdue……………………. Syracuse
QB O’Connell NR……….. Schrader 4* (Miss. State)
RB Dorue 3*...................... Tucker 3* (DB)
WR Thompson 2*.......... Alford 3*
WR Jones 2* (IA).......... C. Jackson 2*
WR Sheffield 3*.............. Cooper 3* (Arizona)
TE Durham 3*................. Gadsden 3* (WR)
LT Miller 3*.................… Bergeron 3* (he’s Canadian so more like 2.9*)
LG Holstege 2*................ Ellis 3*
C Hartwig 4*..................... Vettorello 3*
RG Mbow 3*.................... Bleich 3* (Florida)
RT Craig 3*...................... Dakota Davis 2* (Chattanooga)
DE Sullivan 3*................... Linton 3*
DT Johnson 3*…………… Lockett 3* (DE)
DT Dean 3*….................... Okechukwu 3*
DE/LB Jenkins 3*............... Wax 3* (ATH)
LB Brothers 3*....……...... Jones 4*
LB Douglas 3* ………..… McDonald 3* (TE)
LB/ROV Graham 3*...…... Barron 3* (ATH)
CB Trice 3*.........……...... G. Williams 3* (ATH)
CB Brown 3*.................... Chestnut 4*
FS Allen 3*......…….….......Clark 4* (Rutgers)
SS Jefferson NR...........…. Carter 2* (ATH)
Syracuse is coming off a win on the road against U-CONN following up on an opening week win against Louisville at home.
It’s safe to say that neither Syracuse or Purdue really learned much from their games last weekend against outmatched opponents. So, really, all we have to go on is from Syracuse’s game against Louisville, in which they won handily, and Purdue’s loss to Penn State, where Purdue could not hold on to the lead late in the game.
Having watched a bit of Syracuse this season, they are a vastly improved team over a year ago. Much of that improvement has come with the play of their QB, Shrader. Just over a 50% passer (52.6%) with a Passing Efficiency of 113.7 last year, he’s transformed so far this season to a 72% completion passer with a Passing Efficiency of 206.1 (4th Nationally) the same ranking as their Team Passing Efficiency.
Arguably, the improvement could be tied to Syracuse’s new OC, Robert Anae, who came in from Virginia where he directed Brennan Armstrong and a potent Cavalier offense. Anae also previously was the OC at BYU where, among others, coached QB Taysom Hill.
I mention Hill as, to my eyes, he looks like a good comparison to Shrader. If anything Shrader may be a better passer at this stage of their respective careers. Prior to coming to Syracuse, Shrader played at Mississippi State where they attempted to use him as a WR. Big (6’4”, 228lbs) he has deceptive speed and is a load to bring down when he runs the ball, which he does regularly.
Entering the season, their projected offensive star was running back, Sean Tucker. Coming off a season where he gained nearly 1,500 yards (1,496) and 12 touchdowns, the 3rd year running back is off to another good start averaging 106 yards per game and 4.4 ypc (down from the 6+ ypc last season).
In their opener, they handled Louisville pretty easily, winning 31-7. The jury is still out on just how good Louisville is, however they in turn won on the road last week against what is supposed to be a pretty good UCF team.
Opening games are always difficult to handicap with teams having to adjust to new players/schemes/coaching and one could make the argument that Louisville didn’t exactly know what to expect from Syracuse’s new offense, so had to play a bit more “vanilla” on defense. Purdue of course will have the benefit of that game tape on which to prepare so they shouldn’t be going into the game cold.
Defensively, their 3-3-5 scheme can cause problems for spread offenses as noted above, they tend to have smaller, quicker players on the field and hope to beat opposing offenses to the spot to make the play.
In two games, they have already forced 5 turnovers (2.5/game) and their offense has been perfect in not giving up the ball so, as a team, they have a stellar TO Margin of +2.5, good for 5th Nationally.
Their back seven appear to have the most talent and experience however as noted, they did lose one returning starter, Thompson, for the year in their opener.
As mentioned, it’s hard to garner much of anything from last week’s win for Purdue. The offense was okay against PSU but was still a bit rusty in spots which kept Purdue from scoring more (and winning the game). Last week, Purdue shows the ability to run the ball from a variety of spots but, again, how much of that was Purdue and how much of that was ISU?
Purdue is still dinged up a bit at the receiver position so it will be interesting to see who makes the trip and how much players like Thompson and Rice play. It would also be nice to see Durham and Sheffield get targeted for some easy receptions and picking up yards against a spread out defense.
Syracuse’s defense seemingly invites teams to run, however last season Syracuse’s Rushing Defense was very good, finishing ranked 26th Nationally to go along with the #19th Ranked Total Defense.
Two caveats to the above stats. First, Syracuse had all upperclassmen and returning starters along their D-Line and those all have now been replaced. Second, their Pass Efficiency Defense was only ranked 104th, meaning teams may not have needed to run the ball and just passed over the top.
So far this season, their Total Defense is again ranked high at 26th Nationally but their Rushing Defense has fallen off a bit and is ranked 55th. On the other hand, Pass Efficiency Defense has improved a bit to 88th.
Again, it’s early in the season and hard to make much sense from rankings but Purdue’s offense is ranked 35rd in Total Offense, 66th in Pass Efficiency, 82nd in Rushing Offense but a very good 25th in Scoring Offense.
Purdue fans (and probably coaches, too) would like to see Purdue be a bit more balanced when it comes to pass/run ratio. Against PSU, the rushing attempts probably weren’t enough (22) compared to pass attempts (59). Against ISU, it was probably more than you’d expect (45) compared to pass attempts (30). Not to sound like Goldilocks, but somewhere around 30 rushes and 45 pass attempts seems to be about “just right”. Obviously, game situations will ultimately dictate that ratio, but I think that’s where Brohm would ultimately like to be.
Last week Purdue was able to pick up good yardage from the five backs which carried the ball. (I’m sure some Syracuse fans will look at Purdue’s season stats and wonder why Mockobee isn’t starting, since he leads the team in rushing now. Vbg) If nothing else, it was good to have everyone get some touches and gain some confidence running the ball. Will be interested to see how Purdue uses Tracy going forward. He, and not Sheffield, may be getting those jet sweeps going forward.
Defensively, this seems to be a game where not having Graham is going to hurt. Purdue will need to get it’s most athletic players on the field and, while I like Kane, he’s more a safety (or CB) than a LB and with the combination of Shrader and Tucker, the extra size that Graham would provide will be missed.
I really have no idea on what scheme Purdue will use to slow down Syracuse. First and foremost, they need to stop Tucker and the run. However, bringing an extra man in the box and playing man-to-man coverage will open you up for large gains by Shrader should he get loose. Playing Zone coverage and Shrader has demonstrated he has the ability to hit open receivers when they find those soft spots that are available in zone coverage.
One thing for certain which will be key is when Syracuse does pass, Purdue needs to get to the QB (and take him down). Syracuse has given up a fair number of sacks (2.5/game). Part of that may be due to the size of their tackles. Unlike most teams Purdue plays where the tackles are in the low 300lb area, Syracuse has larger tackles (322lbs and 335lbs) who may not be as agile against quicker DEs. This may be a game where Jenkins and/or Humpich can use their quickness to rack up some sacks.
Honestly, Syracuse arguably may be playing better than Penn State on offense right now, so Purdue will certainly be challenged.
One area which plagued Purdue in their opener were penalties (8-92 yards). They were much better against ISU and are now ranked 51st Nationally in Penalties Per Game and 53rd in Penalty Yards Per Game. Syracuse also had a terrible first game (18-107 yards) but even with a better game against U-Conn, they are still ranked near the bottom of Division I at 126th in Penalties Per Game and 74th in Penalty Yards Per Game. Seeing as Syracuse played at home and then at U-Conn, I don’t think crowd noise was a factor.
With the win last week against the Sycamores, Purdue’s record is still an unblemished 6-0 against arbored named schools. Syracuse’s team name is the Orange and like with Ohio State, I’m discounting their inclusion into that record as it’s named after the fruit and not the tree. For the record, Purdue is 1-0 against Syracuse.
This will be Purdue’s first trip ever to Syracuse and the first road trip of the season. Typically, initial road trips are difficult for teams as their practice times and normal routines are disrupted. Fortunately, they will still be in the same time zone albeit in the (arguably) North East.
Syracuse’s coach Babers is familiar with Purdue having been a WR coach for the Boilers in the early 1990’s under Jim Colletto. More recently, he brought his Bowling Green team into Ross-Ade Stadium on a rainy Saturday in 2015 and beat the Boilers with nine seconds left on the clock.
While at Syracuse, Babers is 0-2 against the B10. In addition, Purdue is the only B10 team that Syracuse has not beaten in its history.
Weather looks to be good on Saturday will little to no wind. Of course, the game is being played inside the JMA Wireless Dome. Previously, Carrier Air Conditioning had the naming rights. Oddly enough, the dome wasn’t air conditioned. Now that a wireless company has the rights, I wonder if there’s wireless service? (tic) Also, the dome is now air conditioned. Go figure.
Syracuse’s coach Babers has a better home record when playing at night (.585%) versus day games (.518%). Good for Purdue that kickoff is at noon. The noon kickoff may also keep the crowd a bit subdued (as opposed to a night game). Their dome seats just over 50,000 but for their opener against Louisville (night game and conference foe), they drew just over 37K. Can’t believe Purdue will draw more. Also good for Purdue is Baber’s record when his game is broadcast by ESPN2 where he has a losing record (.437%). Call it the Mowins Factor.
Conversely, Brohm at Purdue is above .500 in day games (.553%), on artificial turf (all road games obviously) (.529%) and playing on ESPN2 (.545%).
Under Brohm, season openers at Purdue have resulted in 2 wins against 4 losses with four of those games being at home. On the other hand, Brohm has Purdue at 4-1 in road openers (the lone loss in 2019 against Nevada. If you’ll recall, the opener against Louisville in 2017 was at a neutral site).
Purdue has often had issues with their offense when playing in bad weather or when it’s windy. Saturday will be a dry, fast track and, unless they have the A/C cranked up, wind won’t be an issue.
Most people likely had this game circled as a “W” for Purdue prior to the season based on how poorly Syracuse had played recently. On the surface, it doesn’t appear that the Orange will be the pushover this season as they had been, or were expected to be.
We’ll see if Syracuse are the paper tigers the Boiler faithful want them to be or something more substantial. My guess, it will be somewhere in between and Purdue will have its hands full.
Let’s play football!
