UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Very rarely, I know, do people want to read anything positive after a game like Saturday's.
But that's the feeling I kind of take away from the Penn State game, that the Boilermakers represented themselves well and played well enough to compete in a game no one thought they could win.
No one thought this game would be close enough for the special teams to blow it as they did. That Purdue was in a position where it came down to just a couple of plays was, in a backward kind of way, encouraging for a team that at times in non-conference play looked like a group that might just get its doors blown off by the Big Ten.
Purdue's offense moved the ball on a Penn State defense that ranks as one of the country's best. It ran the ball very effectively, racking up 162 yards, and made some very good plays in the passing game, though maybe not quite enough of them.
This will run counter to what seems like general consensus today on the Internet, but I thought Caleb TerBush separated himself. A couple tipped-ball interceptions aside. He's not Purdue's problem and he was solid enough today to put Purdue in a position to compete to win the game.
Robert Marve didn't get much of a chance, but when he was in there, I think you saw the dark side of the Marve Factor. Kid can make some unbelievable plays outside the system, but he can just as soon throw the ball across his body on the run right to the other team. Purdue can trust TerBush. Not sure it can trust Marve quite as much. Wild stallions will kick you in the face every now and again.
I understand Marve may be more fun to watch and had all those stars next to his name a couple years ago, but none of that stuff matters until he does something at Purdue to distinguish himself.
(And yes, I know I'm flip-flopping here because I said after the Notre Dame game I thought Marve gave Purdue more of a chance to win.)
Now, I'll hang up and listen to your response. Keep it clean, though, please.
But I digress.
The defense was outstanding today. Penn State's offense will make you want to stick in your head in the oven watching it, but regardless, Purdue was outstanding today in responding when it had to.
In any number of the compromising situations the defense was put in, a touchdown might have cut the Boilermakers' collective throat.
But the defense made Penn State kick field goals all day and came up with the turnover that gave it a chance at the end, Albert Evans' interception and 55-yard return.
The play came after the Nittany Lions got greedy in the passing game when they should have run the ball a couple times in the red zone, run some clock, then happily settled for a field goal if they couldn't score a touchdown.
Purdue was disruptive at the line of scrimmage. Penn State got its yards in the running game, but on just a modest average of 3.8 yards per carry. The Boilermakers actually generated some pass rush today, too, led by an outstanding effort from Ryan Russell, the redshirt freshman who showed some signs today that he has a chance.
Jalani Phillips made a play, too.
The offense and defense did their parts. Maybe not enough to win, but at least to put Purdue in position to win.
But while those two units were finding ways to win the game, the special teams were finding ways to lose it.
It's one thing for Carson Wiggs to have missed another field goal from a distance he's historically been automatic from, but for him to have missed the PAT that snowballed on Purdue, that's disconcerting. He makes extra-point kicks like that from a stand-still during warm-ups.
Wiggs is a great kicker, no doubt, but something is awry this season and that's a problem for a Purdue team that needs him to live up. It's not all on him.
In his defense, he has had to adjust to a new snapper/holder combo, as we told you ad nausea throughout the off-season, and the wind seemed brutal today.
It was fitting that Wiggs, after the missed PAT, booted the ensuing kickoff out of bounds, giving Penn State the ball at the 40.
But, as costly as botched kicks were, it was Purdue's coverage that was just as harmful, the timing of its blunders as much as the blunders themselves.
After Purdue scored a touchdown, then missed the two-point conversion, to trail only 20-18 with nearly eight minutes to play, Penn State returned the ensuing kickoff 92 yards, giving it points and for all intents and purposes the game.
Yeah, Purdue had its chances after that point, but its defense was playing well at the time the Boilermakers kicked off down just two. A stop there would have given the visitors the ball back with a chance to go ahead on just a field goal.
Instead, Penn State pushed it back to five without having to earn it.
Earlier, a 30-some-yard punt return set up a field goal, too.
The defense has been a huge question mark for this team this season, and it's unfortunate that a performance like today's was marginalized by other phases of the game not holding down their end.
But as anyone will say, you win as a team and lose as a team.
In some ways, Purdue did a little of both today.
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Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2011. 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.
Check out GoldandBlack.com on
This post was edited on 10/15 11:43 PM by Alan_GoldandBlack.com
