Purdue needed this, needed it so very badly.
In the wake of the Boilermakers' 38-27 win at Illinois - or as it may come to be known, the beginning of Tim Beckman's professional funeral procession - they freed themselves of a suffocating albatross. The victory was Purdue's first against a league opponent since 2012.
So that demon is exorcised.
And it's a dash of hope.
Look, in the aftermath of a significant win, perspective is a must.
Illinois is dreadful.
Purdue flipped the script on Beckman, who didn't get his first Big Ten win until a trip to West Lafayette last season, where Illinois won a pillow-fight that sent one team toward a 1-7 Big Ten season, the other toward 0-8.
This was a great win for Purdue in its execution.
My worst call of last week was this: Illinois is bad against the run, but Purdue can't possibly do to it what Nebraska did. Well, the number didn't quite line up but the domination quotient did.
Part of that was great execution by Purdue, part of it Illinois' hilariously bad second-level run defense.
Anyway, Akeem Hunt looked like a Heisman guy today. Please don't take that too literally.
And Raheem Mostert had a golden opportunity to flash his elite speed but hilariously didn't need it on his 44-yard touchdown run, because he was free to jog - maybe even barrel roll - for the final 20 yards of it.
Hunt and Mostert are one thing. But when you're allowing Keyante Green and Austin Appleby to run for 50, 60 yards, um
Look at the overhead shots of Austin Appleby's 62-yard run and you'll see several Illini defenders wandering around in Rantoul, a couple more in Danville and I think there might have even been one rogue up in LeRoy.
(Jokes aside: Great play-call there, a sucker punch Illinois wasn't ready for, and great effort by Appleby and wide receiver Gregory Phillips, who chugged downfield to cover up the QB's fumble in the end zone.)
Give the running game the lion's share of the credit.
And the defense, which looked so bad so often but never broke in the fourth quarter when it easily could have. The defense was let down by the offense against Iowa; against Illinois, the table was set for the defense to reciprocate, but in the end. It came big in the end.)
Special teams contributed to closing the game out, with Ryan Watson's blocked field goal and Thomas Meadows' brilliant situational punt.
Of all the factors that went into Purdue's win, Austin Appleby might have stood above all others.
Purdue got exactly what it wanted out of Appleby: A fork-in-the-toaster sort of jolt. The offense came alive under his direction and not just because of Illinois' turnstile defensive tendencies.
This is Appleby: A personality, a leader, a charismatic presence. It's real. People all across the field can respond to a quarterback, and I thought, watching from afar (but high-definition afar, mind you) that Purdue responded to him.
Congratulations to Appleby.
He bet on himself last year and again this one that he'd get his chance and make the most of it, and for one day at least, he came up a winner. His conviction through all this has been uncommon, but can be admired.
He could have left. He could have left as late as Purdue camp and still found a reasonable scenario in which he could have been starting for someone else this weekend. But he has been convinced he's Purdue's best quarterback and it sure looked indisputable in Champaign.
Look I don't know how this is all going to turn for Purdue at quarterback, but for one game anyway, it found its guy and offered up a legitimate question, one that's a credit to him and not a slam on Danny Etling.
Why did Purdue go with Etling in the first place? Not to start this season, or again Notre Dame week, but last year at this time. Seemed like a no-brainer for them to go from Rob Henry to Etling, by-passing Appleby altogether.
I'm sure Purdue's coaches had their reasons, and probably good ones at the time, but Saturday in Champaign illustrated just how much of an impact that one position can make, tangibly and intangibly, when you get the guy back there.
This was one game, one game against a team that likely won't win a game the rest of the season, so reserve judgment. I remember when Justin Siller beat Michigan. That was lightning in a bottle, nothing more, nothing less.
Appleby may turn out to be, too. You never know.
But on Saturday - all things taken into account - he looked like more, like substance where Purdue needed substance, like a playmaker where it's missed out on making so many plays, like stability at a position of tumult, like a missing piece for a team that had made progress this season just about everywhere but quarterback.
If nothing else, it looked like the starting position under center has changed hands yet again, this time indefinitely.
I would not write off Danny Etling by any stretch. Maybe Saturday was what he needed as much as his team did. The pressure is off him now. Maybe he can collect himself and make another run at this, whether it be this season or next.
The onus is now on Appleby, a guy who will welcome it and then some, a player who gives Purdue a different dimension with his ability to make plays in scramble mode and play outside both the pocket and the system, a player with a magnetic personality and certain it factor as a leader.
Appleby was just what Purdue needed on this day, a day in which Purdue got something it needed so very much: Some success.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2014. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited. E-mail GoldandBlack.com/Boilers, Inc.
In the wake of the Boilermakers' 38-27 win at Illinois - or as it may come to be known, the beginning of Tim Beckman's professional funeral procession - they freed themselves of a suffocating albatross. The victory was Purdue's first against a league opponent since 2012.
So that demon is exorcised.
And it's a dash of hope.
Look, in the aftermath of a significant win, perspective is a must.
Illinois is dreadful.
Purdue flipped the script on Beckman, who didn't get his first Big Ten win until a trip to West Lafayette last season, where Illinois won a pillow-fight that sent one team toward a 1-7 Big Ten season, the other toward 0-8.
This was a great win for Purdue in its execution.
My worst call of last week was this: Illinois is bad against the run, but Purdue can't possibly do to it what Nebraska did. Well, the number didn't quite line up but the domination quotient did.
Part of that was great execution by Purdue, part of it Illinois' hilariously bad second-level run defense.
Anyway, Akeem Hunt looked like a Heisman guy today. Please don't take that too literally.
And Raheem Mostert had a golden opportunity to flash his elite speed but hilariously didn't need it on his 44-yard touchdown run, because he was free to jog - maybe even barrel roll - for the final 20 yards of it.
Hunt and Mostert are one thing. But when you're allowing Keyante Green and Austin Appleby to run for 50, 60 yards, um
Look at the overhead shots of Austin Appleby's 62-yard run and you'll see several Illini defenders wandering around in Rantoul, a couple more in Danville and I think there might have even been one rogue up in LeRoy.
(Jokes aside: Great play-call there, a sucker punch Illinois wasn't ready for, and great effort by Appleby and wide receiver Gregory Phillips, who chugged downfield to cover up the QB's fumble in the end zone.)
Give the running game the lion's share of the credit.
And the defense, which looked so bad so often but never broke in the fourth quarter when it easily could have. The defense was let down by the offense against Iowa; against Illinois, the table was set for the defense to reciprocate, but in the end. It came big in the end.)
Special teams contributed to closing the game out, with Ryan Watson's blocked field goal and Thomas Meadows' brilliant situational punt.
Of all the factors that went into Purdue's win, Austin Appleby might have stood above all others.
Purdue got exactly what it wanted out of Appleby: A fork-in-the-toaster sort of jolt. The offense came alive under his direction and not just because of Illinois' turnstile defensive tendencies.
This is Appleby: A personality, a leader, a charismatic presence. It's real. People all across the field can respond to a quarterback, and I thought, watching from afar (but high-definition afar, mind you) that Purdue responded to him.
Congratulations to Appleby.
He bet on himself last year and again this one that he'd get his chance and make the most of it, and for one day at least, he came up a winner. His conviction through all this has been uncommon, but can be admired.
He could have left. He could have left as late as Purdue camp and still found a reasonable scenario in which he could have been starting for someone else this weekend. But he has been convinced he's Purdue's best quarterback and it sure looked indisputable in Champaign.
Look I don't know how this is all going to turn for Purdue at quarterback, but for one game anyway, it found its guy and offered up a legitimate question, one that's a credit to him and not a slam on Danny Etling.
Why did Purdue go with Etling in the first place? Not to start this season, or again Notre Dame week, but last year at this time. Seemed like a no-brainer for them to go from Rob Henry to Etling, by-passing Appleby altogether.
I'm sure Purdue's coaches had their reasons, and probably good ones at the time, but Saturday in Champaign illustrated just how much of an impact that one position can make, tangibly and intangibly, when you get the guy back there.
This was one game, one game against a team that likely won't win a game the rest of the season, so reserve judgment. I remember when Justin Siller beat Michigan. That was lightning in a bottle, nothing more, nothing less.
Appleby may turn out to be, too. You never know.
But on Saturday - all things taken into account - he looked like more, like substance where Purdue needed substance, like a playmaker where it's missed out on making so many plays, like stability at a position of tumult, like a missing piece for a team that had made progress this season just about everywhere but quarterback.
If nothing else, it looked like the starting position under center has changed hands yet again, this time indefinitely.
I would not write off Danny Etling by any stretch. Maybe Saturday was what he needed as much as his team did. The pressure is off him now. Maybe he can collect himself and make another run at this, whether it be this season or next.
The onus is now on Appleby, a guy who will welcome it and then some, a player who gives Purdue a different dimension with his ability to make plays in scramble mode and play outside both the pocket and the system, a player with a magnetic personality and certain it factor as a leader.
Appleby was just what Purdue needed on this day, a day in which Purdue got something it needed so very much: Some success.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2014. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited. E-mail GoldandBlack.com/Boilers, Inc.
