The immediate reaction here to Purdue's 59-0 there's-no-word-to-describe-that-beating over Southeast Missouri is an obvious one: Be wary of fool's gold here.
Standing on the sideline after the game, SEMO's players trotted by, seemingly unfazed by the humiliation the economics of college football had just subjected them to.
What I saw were doughy linemen, sawed-off linebackers and skill players and simply a misshapen group that might bow down to an athlete like Kawann Short or Nick Mondek and make him their king.
During the game you saw much the same, including an all-conference quarterback who couldn't complete passes Notre Dame's third-stringer could with his eyes closed.
No, this wasn't reality. This was a college football horse and pony show.
Sure, every now and then a team like Southeast Missouri wins a game like this; but with that said, every now and then, Halley's Comet zips by.
There was not a credible matchup in this game, allowing Purdue's offense to simply run the same plays over and over again and succeed just about every time and its defense to basically just show up, be physical and come away with its first shutout in seven years. SEMO never threatened to score, not even when the Boilermaker J.V. was in the game at the end.
So what did Saturday's bloodbath reveal about Purdue?
Well, probably very little.
You have to give the Boilermakers credit for dominating the game and never letting up, with a businesslike manner and merciless efficiency. You have to give Purdue credit for not running up the score, which Danny Hope was oddly asked about after his team handed the ball to 18-year-olds over and over and over again in the fourth quarter.
You can only play who the schedule tells you to, and Purdue's execution all across the board was almost picture-perfect, from the unopposed running game to the flawless quarterback play.
But the Boilermakers will never again play a game with as wide a margin for error as they did today, so they could afford to fumble away a probable scoring drive early on and not have it matter. They could miss a routine field goal at the end of the second quarter and probably not even remember it by the start of the third.
Now, Purdue gets two weeks to prepare for big-boy football, with Notre Dame coming in Oct. 1, then the Big Ten. That margin for error will be gone.
From here on out come opponents who'll capitalize on Purdue's errors and missed chances.
SEMO had no chance.
The most interesting item coming out of Saturday's scrimmage is the quarterback situation.
Caleb TerBush has done some really good things to this point and is trending upward; but Robert Marve sure looked good Saturday, the level of competition being taken into account.
Marve, for being day-to-day health-wise for weeks now, was dead on against Southeast Missouri. His passes were picturesque and the energy he brought to the offense almost tangible. He brings an excitement to the field I'm not sure I've seen at Purdue, at least not since Brandon Kirsch was a brash and fearless freshman.
Danny Hope is proud to announce his team has two quarterbacks. There are people who'll tell you that if you have two quarterbacks, that means you don't have one. This situation is the counter-argument to that notion. Purdue does have two quarterbacks it can win with.
On the field, they're relatively similar as QBs, with Marve probably the better athlete and TerBush being a towering 6-foot-6.
Off the field, not so much. TerBush is the one who shows up to post-game press conferences and says all the things a quarterback should; Marve skips out, not wanting to be bothered with questions about how well he played.
But what matters is how they play. And from here on out, how they're used.
Purdue does have two quarterbacks it can win with. It makes perfect sense when Hope says this is not a "two-quarterback system," because the term "system" would imply strategic angles like when Marve and Rob Henry were each used to start last season. Their contrasting talents made that a strategic deal.
But TerBush and Marve do the same things, with some nuances of course.
So with that said, inherently this is now a competition.
Whoever plays better has to get more playing time. Right? Coaches would be negligent if they didn't play the hot hand, wouldn't they?
TerBush is trending upward. Does conceding playing time to Marve curb that progress?
Marve is rounding back into form. Does sharing snaps with TerBush restrict how quickly he can peak?
Given the chaos Purdue's weathered behind center, though, I'd imagine the comfort of having two able-bodied - and capable - quarterbacks would trump any such curiosities.
Both QBs looked great today, as their entire team did.
But I'll repeat: Be wary of fool's gold here. The Notre Dame game is going to be a tell-all on the Boilermakers.
Some random emptying the notebook/brain items here ...
I guess it was a good idea for SEMO to use its first snap of the game to try to beat the best corner they'll see all year for a 75-yard touchdown.
I guess ...
Anyway, as iffy as Purdue's pass defense was in Weeks 1 and 2, Allen and Josh Johnson have lived up. Those guys have been good, to the point they're barely even being thrown at. That'll change against Notre Dame, but to date, the two haven't been tested much.
Today, after SEMO's first pass got lost on Ricardo Island, you'd barely have known they were out there. That's a good thing for corners.
Allen and Johnson had just as many tackles as kicker Carson Wiggs did: One.
It's not like they weren't trying. The ball just never got to them. The D-line and linebackers made sure the adorable Redhawks never got that far.
On a sidenote, you saw history today, folks. There's just no way that at any point in time in college football history prior to today, one team had two different dudes named "Akeem" score two touchdowns.
Remember where you were the day it happened, 'cause you're gonna want to tell your children and your children's children about that one.
That catch he made just before getting smashed in the face, getting Purdue out of a third-and-long and setting up a TD, was unreal, as he brought in Marve's pin-point pass just before getting trucked, absorbing a hit that led to a roughness flag.
There seems to be toughness to Edison now that we didn't see in years past.
The opponent taken into account, Edison led a great day of blocking from Purdue's wide receivers today.
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This post was edited on 9/17 10:39 PM by Brian_GoldandBlack.com
