It feels like it's all over.
Not the season, not with a couple friendlier games lying ahead.
But the momentum, that previously unseen level of play sustained by Purdue in back-to-back-to-back weeks.
It's gone.
That much was apparent last week at Nebraska and more so Saturday in the Boilermakers' annual suffocation under the big, red pillow known as Wisconsin.
There were a few intriguing moments against the Badgers Saturday in a series where moments of intrigue have been rare for Purdue.
Purdue scored on its opening drive for just the second time all season and closed within eight points in the third quarter after a 24-6 first half that felt more one-sided than that.
But at the end of the day, it was more of the same against Wisconsin or actually not.
It was another Badger stampede, with Melvin Gordon running for the quietest 205 yards you may see and adding on to the astronomical rushing total Purdue's allowed to Wisconsin the past few years. I don't know if this is compliment or not, but in "holding" Wisconsin to "just" 264 rushing yards today, Purdue fared better than it normally has in this game.
In the past four meetings between these schools, Wisconsin has now rushed for 1,483 yards, or less than 300 shy of a mile.
It's what the Badgers do, and they do it particularly well against Purdue, a program that hasn't fielded a physical equivalent on defense in years.
But what was maddening, you'd have to think, is that Wisconsin didn't win this game with the run. It did so with its supposedly stunted and limited passing game. Joel Stave overcame the yips to give Purdue fits.
Purdue didn't expect Wisconsin to come out throwing, nor should anyone have. But an opponent playing to its weakness turned its weakness into a strength against a tattered Boilermaker defense missing a bunch of key pieces.
On the other side of the ball, the offense that produced so much of that juice when Purdue was playing well, it looks just figured out, quite honestly.
The big-play running game that drove Purdue during that Illinois-Michigan State-Minnesota stretch now saw its longest run Saturday come on a play in which a lateral pass was dropped, picked up, then advanced for all of 16 yards against a snoozing defense. Purdue's biggest play in the running game today was a fumble recovery.
Danny Anthrop's loss is crushing. We figured that'd be the case. And no one filled the void.
Even if they had, Appleby might not have been vertical long enough to find them, the pass protection that had peaked in October having now turned into a pumpkin at Halloween apparently.
Yeah, the momentum is gone. The progress is still very real and there's no taking that away from Purdue, but the momentum, well, that caught the last train for the coast.
Doesn't mean it can't be recaptured in some form or another. It's a good time for a bye week now. Sean Robinson and Danny Anthrop ain't comin' back, but Frankie Williams and Ra'Zahn Howard presumably here. The week away gives an offense that had it figured out a few weeks ago to figure some things out.
And the opponents Northwestern's a crapshoot in terms of which one's going to show up and Indiana can't score.
There will be no 13th game this season, but there are still an 11th and 12th to come and both of them can be won.
There's plenty to play for. Purdue just has to play better.
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.
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Not the season, not with a couple friendlier games lying ahead.
But the momentum, that previously unseen level of play sustained by Purdue in back-to-back-to-back weeks.
It's gone.
That much was apparent last week at Nebraska and more so Saturday in the Boilermakers' annual suffocation under the big, red pillow known as Wisconsin.
There were a few intriguing moments against the Badgers Saturday in a series where moments of intrigue have been rare for Purdue.
But at the end of the day, it was more of the same against Wisconsin or actually not.
It was another Badger stampede, with Melvin Gordon running for the quietest 205 yards you may see and adding on to the astronomical rushing total Purdue's allowed to Wisconsin the past few years. I don't know if this is compliment or not, but in "holding" Wisconsin to "just" 264 rushing yards today, Purdue fared better than it normally has in this game.
In the past four meetings between these schools, Wisconsin has now rushed for 1,483 yards, or less than 300 shy of a mile.
It's what the Badgers do, and they do it particularly well against Purdue, a program that hasn't fielded a physical equivalent on defense in years.
But what was maddening, you'd have to think, is that Wisconsin didn't win this game with the run. It did so with its supposedly stunted and limited passing game. Joel Stave overcame the yips to give Purdue fits.
Purdue didn't expect Wisconsin to come out throwing, nor should anyone have. But an opponent playing to its weakness turned its weakness into a strength against a tattered Boilermaker defense missing a bunch of key pieces.
On the other side of the ball, the offense that produced so much of that juice when Purdue was playing well, it looks just figured out, quite honestly.
The big-play running game that drove Purdue during that Illinois-Michigan State-Minnesota stretch now saw its longest run Saturday come on a play in which a lateral pass was dropped, picked up, then advanced for all of 16 yards against a snoozing defense. Purdue's biggest play in the running game today was a fumble recovery.
Danny Anthrop's loss is crushing. We figured that'd be the case. And no one filled the void.
Even if they had, Appleby might not have been vertical long enough to find them, the pass protection that had peaked in October having now turned into a pumpkin at Halloween apparently.
Yeah, the momentum is gone. The progress is still very real and there's no taking that away from Purdue, but the momentum, well, that caught the last train for the coast.
Doesn't mean it can't be recaptured in some form or another. It's a good time for a bye week now. Sean Robinson and Danny Anthrop ain't comin' back, but Frankie Williams and Ra'Zahn Howard presumably here. The week away gives an offense that had it figured out a few weeks ago to figure some things out.
And the opponents Northwestern's a crapshoot in terms of which one's going to show up and Indiana can't score.
There will be no 13th game this season, but there are still an 11th and 12th to come and both of them can be won.
There's plenty to play for. Purdue just has to play better.
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.
