Haven't seen much written about the extent to which wind was a factor Saturday.
I'm not an Appleby fan, particularly on the intermediate stuff and some of the run/pass decisions, but when he sets and throws a long ball he has done a really masterful job.
The stiff north wind played heavily into his results Saturday. The southbound ball to Yancey along the left sideline was a magnificent pass. Yancey hesitated then couldn't reach it -- that's the wind being a factor, even though the ball was thrown low on a line. Also Appleby was running for his life before he threw that. It was a nice pass.
The ball to Burgess -- different type of play but same result -- the receiver paused to shield the defender, then couldn't reach the ball. Perfect pass but affected by the wind which the receiver didn't account for.
Of course the Hail Mary would not have succeeded without the wind, although that's just an accident. I didn't hear Monteroso talk about playing the wind (wonder if he is a golfer?) but the other clump of players in white and black shirts gathered about 5 yards short of where they should have been, and Dan M snuck in behind them.
The last point about the wind is not Appleby related. Elsewhere I've seen critiques of Purdue players not fielding punts. But a lot of those punts were into the wind and nearly unreachably short. Maybe that is the fault of the coaches for not positioning the return men in the right place -- I don't know.
I'm not an Appleby fan, particularly on the intermediate stuff and some of the run/pass decisions, but when he sets and throws a long ball he has done a really masterful job.
The stiff north wind played heavily into his results Saturday. The southbound ball to Yancey along the left sideline was a magnificent pass. Yancey hesitated then couldn't reach it -- that's the wind being a factor, even though the ball was thrown low on a line. Also Appleby was running for his life before he threw that. It was a nice pass.
The ball to Burgess -- different type of play but same result -- the receiver paused to shield the defender, then couldn't reach the ball. Perfect pass but affected by the wind which the receiver didn't account for.
Of course the Hail Mary would not have succeeded without the wind, although that's just an accident. I didn't hear Monteroso talk about playing the wind (wonder if he is a golfer?) but the other clump of players in white and black shirts gathered about 5 yards short of where they should have been, and Dan M snuck in behind them.
The last point about the wind is not Appleby related. Elsewhere I've seen critiques of Purdue players not fielding punts. But a lot of those punts were into the wind and nearly unreachably short. Maybe that is the fault of the coaches for not positioning the return men in the right place -- I don't know.
