Remember when you were 7, maybe 8, and didn't want to eat your vegetables? You'd spread 'em around all over your plate, trying to give the illusion they'd been eaten.
The past two weeks, Purdue's coaches have been spreading their vegetables all over their plates hoping the result would look like something entirely different.
Instead, the Boilermakers' 44-0-through-the-game's-first-59:21 loss to Nebraska revealed nothing more than the same peas and carrots we'd seen during Weeks 1-5.
It was harsh, man, watching Purdue's offense just overwhelmed by a Nebraska defense that's been very average, watching a freshman quarterback treated like a bloodied tuna dropped into a shark tank time and again, and watching a defense that, believe it or not, didn't play that bad - at least on first and second downs - get piled on in the second half en route to another blowout loss.
I thought Purdue would score, the element of surprise being its ally. I was dead wrong, at least until the final minute when Danny Etling hit DeAngelo Yancey for a long TD that served little purpose but to spoil a shutout and make a bunch of sportswriters tweak their first drafts.
But in hindsight, what happened to Purdue's offense was entirely possible, considering it was asking a group that struggled to function in the system it had been operating in for eight months to click immediately in a system implemented during a mere bye week, all after infusing even more inexperience.
What Saturday showed is that Darrell Hazell and staff were willing to try anything, whether it was five-wide sets, stand-up defensive ends, ill-fated fake punts or littering the field with redshirts while Nebraska fans filled the stands with, um, red shirts.
It didn't work, hardly any of it.
Etling might have had a chance had Purdue protected him. He was sacked five times officially. In practical terms, it may have been nearly twice that number.
The freshman quarterback is going to make mistakes, but for him to have a chance, his supporting cast must afford him the comfort to make those mistakes on his terms, not the defense's.
What Saturday also underscored was that quarterback was far from the Boilermakers' greatest issue prior to this weekend, though always the most visible, most-debated one. You can change a quarterback from one week to the next. You can't change a roster, offensive line or defense.
Be reminded, this has been a very average Nebraska defense, a very young group that's given up big plays and yards in bunches. And Purdue never really had a chance.
The running game was its usual non-factor self and Etling may as well have been sitting in an oven for all the heat coming down on him. It's odd that with Purdue's offensive tweaks, all those easy completions to running backs and tight ends from the "old" offense, the sort of throws maybe a first-game starter could have benefited from, were gone.
On defense, again, Purdue was OK on first and second down, only for Nebraska to seemingly hit for half of its yardage on third. In this case, two out of three is bad, very bad.
Good for Purdue for trying new things on defense, too, but its Jimmies and Joes - to use that adorable old Lou Holtzism - are static, the same no matter where they line up.
It's been much-discussed (here, at least) about Purdue's need for a talent upgrade on defense.
It needs guys like No. 44 on Nebraska. Wait, what?
That will not happen overnight; it's just a matter of making the best of things in the meantime, which is what Purdue spent the past two weeks trying to do.
So here's Purdue, loser of four of its five setbacks by 30 or more points with the schedule getting no fluffier moving forward, with one of college football's best defenses next week at Michigan State followed by one of its best teams the next against Ohio State.
Yikes.
Purdue emptied its chambers in advance of Nebraska. It changed quarterbacks. It overhauled its offense and its defense. It threw four new freshmen on the field Saturday.
And 44-7 happened.
All those changes and Purdue still couldn't run the ball, still couldn't pressure the quarterback and keep pressure off its own, could neither convert nor stand firm on third down.
I repeat, yikes.
What can be done, though, is hope, hope that things improve one way or another. Purdue did have a hell of a lot of young players on the field Saturday and young players improve with experience.
Etling, when vertical, will be able to improve. And he has some pieces are him. DeAngelo Yancey, people how about that DeAngelo Yancey? Soon we might be saying the same about Dan Monteroso, and B.J. Knauf will be back before long.
Purdue's defense hasn't struggled this season because it's young, but it is getting younger, with five true freshman playing together on more than one occasion Saturday.
So there's some reason for hope. Whether it's short-term hope or long-term hope lies in the eye of the beholder.
On Saturday, though, Purdue had little hope. That much was clear from the outset, when it was lucky to be down just 21-0 at the half after Nebraska dropped a touchdown and threw a bad scoring-zone pick.
What Purdue did have on Saturday was those same peas and carrots.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2013. 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.
The past two weeks, Purdue's coaches have been spreading their vegetables all over their plates hoping the result would look like something entirely different.
Instead, the Boilermakers' 44-0-through-the-game's-first-59:21 loss to Nebraska revealed nothing more than the same peas and carrots we'd seen during Weeks 1-5.
It was harsh, man, watching Purdue's offense just overwhelmed by a Nebraska defense that's been very average, watching a freshman quarterback treated like a bloodied tuna dropped into a shark tank time and again, and watching a defense that, believe it or not, didn't play that bad - at least on first and second downs - get piled on in the second half en route to another blowout loss.
I thought Purdue would score, the element of surprise being its ally. I was dead wrong, at least until the final minute when Danny Etling hit DeAngelo Yancey for a long TD that served little purpose but to spoil a shutout and make a bunch of sportswriters tweak their first drafts.
But in hindsight, what happened to Purdue's offense was entirely possible, considering it was asking a group that struggled to function in the system it had been operating in for eight months to click immediately in a system implemented during a mere bye week, all after infusing even more inexperience.
What Saturday showed is that Darrell Hazell and staff were willing to try anything, whether it was five-wide sets, stand-up defensive ends, ill-fated fake punts or littering the field with redshirts while Nebraska fans filled the stands with, um, red shirts.
It didn't work, hardly any of it.
Etling might have had a chance had Purdue protected him. He was sacked five times officially. In practical terms, it may have been nearly twice that number.
The freshman quarterback is going to make mistakes, but for him to have a chance, his supporting cast must afford him the comfort to make those mistakes on his terms, not the defense's.
What Saturday also underscored was that quarterback was far from the Boilermakers' greatest issue prior to this weekend, though always the most visible, most-debated one. You can change a quarterback from one week to the next. You can't change a roster, offensive line or defense.
Be reminded, this has been a very average Nebraska defense, a very young group that's given up big plays and yards in bunches. And Purdue never really had a chance.
The running game was its usual non-factor self and Etling may as well have been sitting in an oven for all the heat coming down on him. It's odd that with Purdue's offensive tweaks, all those easy completions to running backs and tight ends from the "old" offense, the sort of throws maybe a first-game starter could have benefited from, were gone.
On defense, again, Purdue was OK on first and second down, only for Nebraska to seemingly hit for half of its yardage on third. In this case, two out of three is bad, very bad.
Good for Purdue for trying new things on defense, too, but its Jimmies and Joes - to use that adorable old Lou Holtzism - are static, the same no matter where they line up.
It's been much-discussed (here, at least) about Purdue's need for a talent upgrade on defense.
It needs guys like No. 44 on Nebraska. Wait, what?
That will not happen overnight; it's just a matter of making the best of things in the meantime, which is what Purdue spent the past two weeks trying to do.
So here's Purdue, loser of four of its five setbacks by 30 or more points with the schedule getting no fluffier moving forward, with one of college football's best defenses next week at Michigan State followed by one of its best teams the next against Ohio State.
Yikes.
Purdue emptied its chambers in advance of Nebraska. It changed quarterbacks. It overhauled its offense and its defense. It threw four new freshmen on the field Saturday.
And 44-7 happened.
All those changes and Purdue still couldn't run the ball, still couldn't pressure the quarterback and keep pressure off its own, could neither convert nor stand firm on third down.
I repeat, yikes.
What can be done, though, is hope, hope that things improve one way or another. Purdue did have a hell of a lot of young players on the field Saturday and young players improve with experience.
Etling, when vertical, will be able to improve. And he has some pieces are him. DeAngelo Yancey, people how about that DeAngelo Yancey? Soon we might be saying the same about Dan Monteroso, and B.J. Knauf will be back before long.
Purdue's defense hasn't struggled this season because it's young, but it is getting younger, with five true freshman playing together on more than one occasion Saturday.
So there's some reason for hope. Whether it's short-term hope or long-term hope lies in the eye of the beholder.
On Saturday, though, Purdue had little hope. That much was clear from the outset, when it was lucky to be down just 21-0 at the half after Nebraska dropped a touchdown and threw a bad scoring-zone pick.
What Purdue did have on Saturday was those same peas and carrots.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2013. 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.
