Obviously a tough game for the Boiler offense. As I said in my 'initial thoughts' post, this Northwestern defense was extremely good. They gave Purdue nothing easy aside from the occasional 5-10 yard hitch routes. Any 10+ yard play Purdue either had to earn through play calling or by physical Horvath running. Let's dive straight into the positions.
QBs - O'Connell has obviously been under heavy scrutiny this week. The reason why Brohm went with O'Connell in the first place was due to his poise which at some points in this game seemed to crack under pressure. Below is this week's breakdown of the 57 total pass attempts he made. (I include throws negated by penalty in this count).
Accurate: 32 total passes. 24 passes were caught, 1 fell incomplete because Anthrop was bumped off balance, 2 were dropped, 3 were negated due to penalty and 1 was incomplete because Yaseen slipped running the route.
Inaccurate: 6 passes
Deflected: 8 total passes. 2 were caught by Horvath, 2 were negated by penalty, and 4 were incomplete
Affected: 4 total passes. 2 were O'Connell trying to avoid the INT and only giving his guy any shot, 2 were him getting hit as he threw
Catchable: 4 total passes. 1 was caught by Anthrop, 1 was negated due to PI, the other 2 fell incomplete
Throw Away: 1 pass
Into Coverage: 1 was an impressive catch by Bell, the other fell incomplete
Overall the numbers above surprised me a little. I thought I would find a lot more than just 6 inaccurate passes. It does show what Aidan was up against. 8 of his incomplete passes were either deflected by NW, heavily affected by a man in good coverage or thrown while he was getting hit. Of the 57 total passes he threw (again that includes passes negated by penalty) 30 of them were into tight windows or were contested throws. NW simply gave him few easy passes. I do think O'Connell did a good job balancing being safe but not throwing everything away. Despite the tight coverage O'Connell only threw one pass into the seats. Instead keeping the ball in play and giving his receivers some kind of shot at the ball without throwing a dangerous pass. There were no uncontested passes of more than 10 yards in the air which is insane. Another thing about NW's coverage. In the first 2 games there were several times O'Connell missed wide open guys. That rarely happened in this one. I only counted one really. Last possession in the game Bell and Miller ran crossing routes. O'Connell wanted Bell almost immediately and tried the pass. Bell saw the LB and was afraid of getting killed. The pass was overthrown even if Bell didn't get spooked. If he looked to Miller he would have seen him wide open with a great shot at the first down.
After watching again I can see why Brohm ultimately didn't pull O'Connell. This would have been a brutal first game of 2020 for Plummer or Burton. I don't think there was any way we were seeing Burton in this game. While watching live I was hoping we would see Plummer after the fumble. To credit O'Connell he put together 2 solid scoring drives immediately after the fumble. 12 of his 28 completions came on those 2 drives and Brohm made some nice adjustments to help O'Connell settle down as he was looking a little rattled prior. O'Connell had arguably his two best passes on this drive as well. The TD pass to Wright was a thing of beauty and the pump fake helped get Wright free. The other great pass was to Anderson in the end zone but the NW defender made a crazy good play to deflect it away. If Brohm pulled O'Connell for one of the other two I think there was a good chance Purdue's offense would have just stalled with a QB trying to find his feet.
HBs - I think most people are starting to get over the fact we are starting a former walk on at RB. Horvath had himself a great game. I know his rushing statistics weren't anything spectacular but that had more to do with the OL (more on that in a bit). Despite those issues Horvath still had a few nice runs. You can tell that Purdue is starting to lean on his ability to break tackles a little. At one point Purdue called an off tackle run left. Durham was pull blocking and ran past a LB looking for another player to block. It was the right choice as Horvath evaded the LB and utilized Durham and Wright's blocking to get his longest run of 14 on the day. His physically running is also preceding him. On that 25 yard screen scamper a CB should have tackled him after 13 or so yards but clearly wanted nothing to do with a Horvath with a full head of steam. He basically just got out of the way haha.
In this game Horvath made his day in the passing game. He obviously led the team in receiving yards. I have mentioned this a few times so apologies if I sound like a broken record, but it became clear to Brohm that a traditional running game wasn't going to work. The 2 scoring drives included 3 passes to Horvath for a total of 52 yards. This included a 21 yard 3rd down conversion, that 6 yard Herculean 4th down conversion effort by Horvath, and a 25 yard screen pass to convert a 2nd & 20. It was pretty clear this adjustment was absolutely critical for Purdue and a great move by Brohm. Horvath also had a good day blocking in the passing game. I counted 3 blocks that gave O'Connell extra time, 2 of which were him cleaning up missed OL blocks.
Obviously not much from Doerue his first day back. I only saw him on 2 plays and he ran once but didn't get much help from the OL on that sole carry.
WRs - Tough day for the receivers. NW's coverage was like a blanket and they made many catches difficult. I do think that the receivers could have helped O'Connell out a little more. I didn't see many receivers coming back to help O'Connell present easier targets. Granted that is something hard to see on TV so it may have happened and I couldn't see it. The other thing is something I learned in my brief and uneventful stint as a WR on my freshman football team. My coach told us 60% of good route running is the effort you put in when you look back for the ball. Every receiver will naturally slow down once they look back so they can locate the ball and focus on the catch. It seems like an obvious mistake to fix or me stating the obvious, but I tell you it is a hard subconscious thing to catch and avoid. It happens at every level too. Heck I saw DeAndre Hopkins do it a couple times last night and he might be one of the top 5 receivers in the NFL right now. Running through the route makes a lot of these post and crossing routes easier for the QB to complete and avoid any undercutting picks or deflections by the DBs. It's not something I am seeing the Purdue receivers constantly do but it happened at least a few times against NW and would have helped O'Connell out. Anyway individual efforts:
Bell - David was blanketed all day. It was rather frustrating to watch Newsome basically mug him every time. He got flagged twice and I think he should have been flagged at least twice more including the last play where he simply grabbed ahold of Bell's jersey. Despite this Bell still had a productive day. At least 4 of his catches were actually through progression and not first looks from O'Connell. He did have one remarkable interception saving play that he turned into a 4 yard catch. Turned out to be a critical play because Purdue scored its first TD on that drive.
Wright - Milton only had 3 catches but O'Connell tried to get this quickly developing weapon the ball several other times. I think he was targeted an additional 4 or 5 times but the throw was either deflected or inaccurate. One mistake I saw from Wright was on the last possession. Wright's defender was lined up deep off the LOS almost to the yard to gain. Purdue called a 9 yard hitch route to try and convert the first. It was a long pass and Wright should have come back to it but he waited and the NW CB was able to make a play and deflect it. His TD catch was a great play between him and O'Connell he sold the hitch nicely and paired with O'Connell's pump fake gave Milton a step on the DB for the TD.
Anderson - Amad hasn't been terribly productive but it hasn't been due to him being ignored. He almost had himself a TD. On one of the couple free plays after NW jumped offsides Amad got a step on the CB and found himself in the near corner of the end zone. O'Connell threw the perfect ball and Anderson had it. The NW defender made an incredible play though and knocked it out of his hands.
Anthrop - First action we see from Anthrop and he got several targets. His second catch was a nice one. O'Connell quickly checked down to him after not seeing anything downfield. He was hurried so the ball wasn't super accurate and a little high but Anthrop went up and got it. He might have gotten a few other catches but NW defenders made nice plays all 3 times. One was deflected at the LOS near the goal line on a swing pass. O'Connell threw to him in progression on the very next play but the NW safety had good coverage and heavily contested it. The last Anthrop target Gallagher bumped Anthrop as he was breaking his route. He was off balance briefly and by the time he was able to recover and look up the ball was on top of him. Would have been a tough catch.
Sheffield - Only one catch and he was expressing some frustration in this game. On a 1st down during the last possession O'Connell checked down to Horvath for 3 yards. Purdue called a timeout and you could see O'Connell and Sheffield having a discussion with Sheffield clearly saying he wanted the ball. I understand where Sheffield is coming from because it looks like he beat his defender pretty bad. To be fair to O'Connell though he looked that direction initially but there wasn't anything there yet. Durham and Sheffield were running upfield but neither had separation. O'Connell went through his progression which took him to the other side of the field just as Sheffield pulled away. His second target was Anderson but he was clearly covered. He had already spent a good amount of time at this point and Long's guy started to descend upon O'Connell from the right so he had to dump it off to Horvath. Again I get where Sheffield is coming from but I don't blame O'Connell for not seeing that one.
Sparks - Had a couple targets in this game. The first was a drop on a nice play action pass play. Looks like Sparks might have slowed down a little to locate the ball like I mentioned above. The pass was in front of him and he only got on hand on it. It was an accurate pass and Sparks should have had it. I don't pile on any player for one mistake, but this is his second drop. If he continues like this he will lose playing time despite his great blocking. The second target was one of the offsides free plays. O'Connell gave it a shot despite good coverage and it was deflected away.
TEs - A rare tough day for Durham. He missed a block on Milton Wright's jet sweep. Not sure that made a big difference though because the safety had also descended upon the play. Durham had the first what I would call accurate pass drops this season. He let it get to his shoulder pads and it bounced away. Might actually be his first drop at Purdue, he is normally that reliable. You could tell NW game planned for him as well as Bell because O'Connell looked to him often but had to check down frequently. He will have better days. He still had a decent day blocking. He sprung Horvath free on a couple runs later including his longest, a 14 yarder. And no he shouldn't be replaced by Miller for one bad day. Get over yourself.
Miller - Garrett certainly showed off his speed on his first catch taking it to the house. Loved the play call. 4th and short, Durham and Miller are lined up on the right side of the line. O'Connell runs a play action. NW actually didn't bite too hard and covered Durham like a blanket who ran a fade route immediately. The clever aspect was that Miller initially held a block and released running a crossing route left. That moment of blocking gave the defense time to see the play fake and bite right where Durham and another receiver were going. You can tell O'Connell was looking for it because he turned his head left just as Miller ran into the open field. Seriously an incredible play call on 4th and short and Brohm isn't getting enough credit for it. Miller got open on a similar route in the last possession as I mentioned but O'Connell missed him. Shame because seeing his speed I think he might have converted the 3rd down.
OL - OK, gotta crack my knuckles for this one. Lot of notes on the OL.
Hermanns - Let's start with the positive though. Hermanns recovered from a bad game at Illinois with a good one here. I only counted two pressures allowed and they were both only light and inconsequential. Both times O'Connell had already picked a receiver and completed short hitch routes before Hermanns was beat. There were several times where Hermanns exhibited great one on one blocking when O'Connell held onto the ball looking for a receiver. On one such play O'Connell ran play action. Hermanns showed some great blocking to give O'Connell time to look downfield. O'Connell ultimately checked down to Horvath for a nice 15 yard gain but due to pressure from someone else.
Holstege - Overall a rough day for Spencer. Early in the 2nd quarter Purdue tried a nifty little counter run play. Horvath faked right then followed Jornigan and Durham pull blocks left. The field was wide open for it too because NW bit on the fake right. Problem was Holstege was pushed far into the backfield. Both Jornigan and Durham tripped over him and Horvath bumped into Durham fumbling. Horvath did fall onto it though preventing catastrophe. He blew a block later on the big TD pass to Miller. Obviously the play worked out but yeesh. On one of the plays NW was called for pass interference Holstege was completely run over. Fortunately for Purdue Horvath made a great block on the DE to prevent the sack and gave time for O'Connell to throw. On a Horvath run later Holstege was pull blocking and ran past a LB that hit Horvath in the backfield. Horvath shed that tackle and got a yard. That might have been what I was referring to earlier about Purdue leaning on Horvath to break a tackle but there really wasn't anyone closer for Holstege to block unlike the situation I mentioned earlier with Durham so I think Holstege should have just blocked the LB.
Garvin - Sam started and got most of the center snaps. He had mostly a good day but had two errors. On 3rd & 8 early in the second quarter he and Miller got beat allowing half a sack each. O'Connell certainly didn't hold onto it too long either. Garvin was replaced at this point by Hartwig. In the second possession in the second half Horvath ran off tackle and Garvin got beat. His guy made the tackle at the LOS. After that though Garvin played a clean game. I had him for no other mistakes.
Hartwig - Largely uneventful game for Hartwig. Not a bad thing by any means. He replaced Garvin after the allowed sack and play 3 straight possessions. His first resulted in the Miller TD but the following two were 3-and-outs so maybe the coaches saw something I didn't and pulled him. Could also simply be Hartwig not calling out the defense as well as Garvin can pre-play.
Jornigan - Mostly went under the radar. Actually had some great blocking on that crazy rollout right pass to Bell over Horvath's head. On the 2nd to last possession in the 1st half which went 3-and-out, Jornigan and Miller were pushed back into O'Connell as he was throwing. His pass was clearly affected by it and was overthrown. His big mistake was on the O'Connell fumble. O'Connell was forced up into the pocket because Jornigan had missed his block pretty bad. Garvin tried to clean it up but couldn't get over there fast enough.
Washington - Interesting day for Washington. On one hand he had some missed blocks. One he got pushed into backfield along with Long making Horvath earn his 2 yards. On a later run play by Horvath we saw Washington attempt his first pull block of the season. He showed good athleticism but decided to help Garvin with his block instead of getting to the 2nd level. I think Garvin had his guy under control and Horvath could have used Washington's help at the 2nd level. Horvath did get 4 yards so it wasn't the end of the world. On the other hand Washington was on the field for Purdue's two sustained 2nd half drives that garnered 10 points. His missed pull block was on the FG drive and he did get a false start on that drive too though. The TD drive he and Miller got blown up resulting in a no gain on 2nd & 1. So a few errors but to be on the field for your team's two longest drives means something.
Long - It's pretty clear Long is having a hard time with some of the more complex blocking schemes. The last couple weeks he was pulled for Bramel due to missed run blocking assignments on crash blocks. Against NW he gave up pressure on 3rd & 5 that resulted in a hurried O'Connell incompletion and punt. His first play on the next possession he and Washington miss blocks and nearly got Horvath tackled behind the LOS. Horvath somehow evaded that and gained 2 yards. He and Eric Miller trade possessions for a little while after. In second possession of the second half Long commits a costly penalty. It was the flee flicker to Bell. Newsome was called for interference which should have been a 1st down but Long had started running upfield drawing a flag. He was immediately replaced. The coaches had been leaving one OL unit on the field for entire possessions before that. You could also see Long and a coach having a back and forth. He would ultimately get another shot because...
Miller - ...Eric also had himself a rough day at RT. He gave up half a sack along with Garvin that ended his first possession. Long played RT for the following possession. He played both 3-and-outs before halftime and got replaced afterwards. Miller then came back in after that mistake by Long. He played a little better for a while aside from a missed block that Horvath cleaned up. He played well in the FG drive in the second half and showed some good pass blocking throughout. He had a rough go on the following TD drive though. His man hit O'Connell after a pump fake and forced an incompletion overthrow to Bell. His guy also forced O'Connell up into the pocket two plays later. That play worked out because O'Connell threw that lob to Horvath for 17 yards and a 3rd down conversion. He then went most of the rest of the possession clean until two back to back misses. The first was a run play to Horvath that Washington and Miller couldn't get any push on and Horvath couldn't get past the LOS on 2nd & 1. The very next play they tried another Horvath dive and Miller got destroyed. His guy hit Horvath in the backfield but Horvath somehow fell forward for the 3rd down conversion. Miller was immediately replaced during the official timeout for measurement and Long played the rest of the game.
So as you can see most of the issues in the running game had to do with OL play. I am not going to rail on these guys too hard though. Miller is only a RS So and Holstege is only a RS Fr so expecting them to dominate a full senior front 7 is ridiculous. Washington is a RS Jr but let's not forget he was a tag along commit from WKU in Brohm's first class. He's doing pretty well for a tag along if you ask me and I think has out-performed his expectations.
Play calling - A bunch of people were complaining about play calling but I really think Brohm called a good one. The run game was stalling so Brohm switched to a short passing game to Horvath that got them 10 points and kept Purdue in the game. I also don't think Brohm is getting enough credit for play call that Miller scored on. There have been several people asking why we didn't utilize Sheffield, Anderson, or Marcellus laterally. They actually tried that in the first possession. Anderson ran a motion screen left but NW's DL read it and took away any throwing lanes that might have been had. O'Connell was forced to check down to Horvath and may have actually just thrown it away.
They didn't call much else like that but I don't think it mattered. NW's safeties and LBs were very quick to react to plays in the flat. Twice Purdue threw quick screen passes to Horvath in the flat. The first got blown up because the safety read it perfectly and hit Horvath in the backfield. Horvath did shed that tackle somehow and get 2 yards on the play. Would having Sheffield run that play instead worked? I doubt it. Horvath barely had time to react after the catch and had to physically break the tackle. A smaller player like Sheffield probably doesn't have time to evade a tackle in that situation.
The second play was that ridiculous effort play by Horvath. Bell and Durham were lined up on the right side. Bell took off upfield to pull away the CB and Durham went up to block the safety opposite of him. The LB read the play extremely well though forcing Durham to make a decision. Block the LB or the safety? He definitely wasn't getting both. He went after the LB which was the right decision because Horvath shed the safety rather easily. The CB Bell was supposed take upfield read it well too and tried to bring down Horvath as well. This gave the LB time to shed Durham's block so he also got added to the mix. Through sheer will and determination Horvath dragged the CB, LB, and 3 other players for 6 yards and a first. It was completely insane and something a smaller player certainly couldn't have converted.
Defense/ST review to come.
QBs - O'Connell has obviously been under heavy scrutiny this week. The reason why Brohm went with O'Connell in the first place was due to his poise which at some points in this game seemed to crack under pressure. Below is this week's breakdown of the 57 total pass attempts he made. (I include throws negated by penalty in this count).
Accurate: 32 total passes. 24 passes were caught, 1 fell incomplete because Anthrop was bumped off balance, 2 were dropped, 3 were negated due to penalty and 1 was incomplete because Yaseen slipped running the route.
Inaccurate: 6 passes
Deflected: 8 total passes. 2 were caught by Horvath, 2 were negated by penalty, and 4 were incomplete
Affected: 4 total passes. 2 were O'Connell trying to avoid the INT and only giving his guy any shot, 2 were him getting hit as he threw
Catchable: 4 total passes. 1 was caught by Anthrop, 1 was negated due to PI, the other 2 fell incomplete
Throw Away: 1 pass
Into Coverage: 1 was an impressive catch by Bell, the other fell incomplete
Overall the numbers above surprised me a little. I thought I would find a lot more than just 6 inaccurate passes. It does show what Aidan was up against. 8 of his incomplete passes were either deflected by NW, heavily affected by a man in good coverage or thrown while he was getting hit. Of the 57 total passes he threw (again that includes passes negated by penalty) 30 of them were into tight windows or were contested throws. NW simply gave him few easy passes. I do think O'Connell did a good job balancing being safe but not throwing everything away. Despite the tight coverage O'Connell only threw one pass into the seats. Instead keeping the ball in play and giving his receivers some kind of shot at the ball without throwing a dangerous pass. There were no uncontested passes of more than 10 yards in the air which is insane. Another thing about NW's coverage. In the first 2 games there were several times O'Connell missed wide open guys. That rarely happened in this one. I only counted one really. Last possession in the game Bell and Miller ran crossing routes. O'Connell wanted Bell almost immediately and tried the pass. Bell saw the LB and was afraid of getting killed. The pass was overthrown even if Bell didn't get spooked. If he looked to Miller he would have seen him wide open with a great shot at the first down.
After watching again I can see why Brohm ultimately didn't pull O'Connell. This would have been a brutal first game of 2020 for Plummer or Burton. I don't think there was any way we were seeing Burton in this game. While watching live I was hoping we would see Plummer after the fumble. To credit O'Connell he put together 2 solid scoring drives immediately after the fumble. 12 of his 28 completions came on those 2 drives and Brohm made some nice adjustments to help O'Connell settle down as he was looking a little rattled prior. O'Connell had arguably his two best passes on this drive as well. The TD pass to Wright was a thing of beauty and the pump fake helped get Wright free. The other great pass was to Anderson in the end zone but the NW defender made a crazy good play to deflect it away. If Brohm pulled O'Connell for one of the other two I think there was a good chance Purdue's offense would have just stalled with a QB trying to find his feet.
HBs - I think most people are starting to get over the fact we are starting a former walk on at RB. Horvath had himself a great game. I know his rushing statistics weren't anything spectacular but that had more to do with the OL (more on that in a bit). Despite those issues Horvath still had a few nice runs. You can tell that Purdue is starting to lean on his ability to break tackles a little. At one point Purdue called an off tackle run left. Durham was pull blocking and ran past a LB looking for another player to block. It was the right choice as Horvath evaded the LB and utilized Durham and Wright's blocking to get his longest run of 14 on the day. His physically running is also preceding him. On that 25 yard screen scamper a CB should have tackled him after 13 or so yards but clearly wanted nothing to do with a Horvath with a full head of steam. He basically just got out of the way haha.
In this game Horvath made his day in the passing game. He obviously led the team in receiving yards. I have mentioned this a few times so apologies if I sound like a broken record, but it became clear to Brohm that a traditional running game wasn't going to work. The 2 scoring drives included 3 passes to Horvath for a total of 52 yards. This included a 21 yard 3rd down conversion, that 6 yard Herculean 4th down conversion effort by Horvath, and a 25 yard screen pass to convert a 2nd & 20. It was pretty clear this adjustment was absolutely critical for Purdue and a great move by Brohm. Horvath also had a good day blocking in the passing game. I counted 3 blocks that gave O'Connell extra time, 2 of which were him cleaning up missed OL blocks.
Obviously not much from Doerue his first day back. I only saw him on 2 plays and he ran once but didn't get much help from the OL on that sole carry.
WRs - Tough day for the receivers. NW's coverage was like a blanket and they made many catches difficult. I do think that the receivers could have helped O'Connell out a little more. I didn't see many receivers coming back to help O'Connell present easier targets. Granted that is something hard to see on TV so it may have happened and I couldn't see it. The other thing is something I learned in my brief and uneventful stint as a WR on my freshman football team. My coach told us 60% of good route running is the effort you put in when you look back for the ball. Every receiver will naturally slow down once they look back so they can locate the ball and focus on the catch. It seems like an obvious mistake to fix or me stating the obvious, but I tell you it is a hard subconscious thing to catch and avoid. It happens at every level too. Heck I saw DeAndre Hopkins do it a couple times last night and he might be one of the top 5 receivers in the NFL right now. Running through the route makes a lot of these post and crossing routes easier for the QB to complete and avoid any undercutting picks or deflections by the DBs. It's not something I am seeing the Purdue receivers constantly do but it happened at least a few times against NW and would have helped O'Connell out. Anyway individual efforts:
Bell - David was blanketed all day. It was rather frustrating to watch Newsome basically mug him every time. He got flagged twice and I think he should have been flagged at least twice more including the last play where he simply grabbed ahold of Bell's jersey. Despite this Bell still had a productive day. At least 4 of his catches were actually through progression and not first looks from O'Connell. He did have one remarkable interception saving play that he turned into a 4 yard catch. Turned out to be a critical play because Purdue scored its first TD on that drive.
Wright - Milton only had 3 catches but O'Connell tried to get this quickly developing weapon the ball several other times. I think he was targeted an additional 4 or 5 times but the throw was either deflected or inaccurate. One mistake I saw from Wright was on the last possession. Wright's defender was lined up deep off the LOS almost to the yard to gain. Purdue called a 9 yard hitch route to try and convert the first. It was a long pass and Wright should have come back to it but he waited and the NW CB was able to make a play and deflect it. His TD catch was a great play between him and O'Connell he sold the hitch nicely and paired with O'Connell's pump fake gave Milton a step on the DB for the TD.
Anderson - Amad hasn't been terribly productive but it hasn't been due to him being ignored. He almost had himself a TD. On one of the couple free plays after NW jumped offsides Amad got a step on the CB and found himself in the near corner of the end zone. O'Connell threw the perfect ball and Anderson had it. The NW defender made an incredible play though and knocked it out of his hands.
Anthrop - First action we see from Anthrop and he got several targets. His second catch was a nice one. O'Connell quickly checked down to him after not seeing anything downfield. He was hurried so the ball wasn't super accurate and a little high but Anthrop went up and got it. He might have gotten a few other catches but NW defenders made nice plays all 3 times. One was deflected at the LOS near the goal line on a swing pass. O'Connell threw to him in progression on the very next play but the NW safety had good coverage and heavily contested it. The last Anthrop target Gallagher bumped Anthrop as he was breaking his route. He was off balance briefly and by the time he was able to recover and look up the ball was on top of him. Would have been a tough catch.
Sheffield - Only one catch and he was expressing some frustration in this game. On a 1st down during the last possession O'Connell checked down to Horvath for 3 yards. Purdue called a timeout and you could see O'Connell and Sheffield having a discussion with Sheffield clearly saying he wanted the ball. I understand where Sheffield is coming from because it looks like he beat his defender pretty bad. To be fair to O'Connell though he looked that direction initially but there wasn't anything there yet. Durham and Sheffield were running upfield but neither had separation. O'Connell went through his progression which took him to the other side of the field just as Sheffield pulled away. His second target was Anderson but he was clearly covered. He had already spent a good amount of time at this point and Long's guy started to descend upon O'Connell from the right so he had to dump it off to Horvath. Again I get where Sheffield is coming from but I don't blame O'Connell for not seeing that one.
Sparks - Had a couple targets in this game. The first was a drop on a nice play action pass play. Looks like Sparks might have slowed down a little to locate the ball like I mentioned above. The pass was in front of him and he only got on hand on it. It was an accurate pass and Sparks should have had it. I don't pile on any player for one mistake, but this is his second drop. If he continues like this he will lose playing time despite his great blocking. The second target was one of the offsides free plays. O'Connell gave it a shot despite good coverage and it was deflected away.
TEs - A rare tough day for Durham. He missed a block on Milton Wright's jet sweep. Not sure that made a big difference though because the safety had also descended upon the play. Durham had the first what I would call accurate pass drops this season. He let it get to his shoulder pads and it bounced away. Might actually be his first drop at Purdue, he is normally that reliable. You could tell NW game planned for him as well as Bell because O'Connell looked to him often but had to check down frequently. He will have better days. He still had a decent day blocking. He sprung Horvath free on a couple runs later including his longest, a 14 yarder. And no he shouldn't be replaced by Miller for one bad day. Get over yourself.
Miller - Garrett certainly showed off his speed on his first catch taking it to the house. Loved the play call. 4th and short, Durham and Miller are lined up on the right side of the line. O'Connell runs a play action. NW actually didn't bite too hard and covered Durham like a blanket who ran a fade route immediately. The clever aspect was that Miller initially held a block and released running a crossing route left. That moment of blocking gave the defense time to see the play fake and bite right where Durham and another receiver were going. You can tell O'Connell was looking for it because he turned his head left just as Miller ran into the open field. Seriously an incredible play call on 4th and short and Brohm isn't getting enough credit for it. Miller got open on a similar route in the last possession as I mentioned but O'Connell missed him. Shame because seeing his speed I think he might have converted the 3rd down.
OL - OK, gotta crack my knuckles for this one. Lot of notes on the OL.
Hermanns - Let's start with the positive though. Hermanns recovered from a bad game at Illinois with a good one here. I only counted two pressures allowed and they were both only light and inconsequential. Both times O'Connell had already picked a receiver and completed short hitch routes before Hermanns was beat. There were several times where Hermanns exhibited great one on one blocking when O'Connell held onto the ball looking for a receiver. On one such play O'Connell ran play action. Hermanns showed some great blocking to give O'Connell time to look downfield. O'Connell ultimately checked down to Horvath for a nice 15 yard gain but due to pressure from someone else.
Holstege - Overall a rough day for Spencer. Early in the 2nd quarter Purdue tried a nifty little counter run play. Horvath faked right then followed Jornigan and Durham pull blocks left. The field was wide open for it too because NW bit on the fake right. Problem was Holstege was pushed far into the backfield. Both Jornigan and Durham tripped over him and Horvath bumped into Durham fumbling. Horvath did fall onto it though preventing catastrophe. He blew a block later on the big TD pass to Miller. Obviously the play worked out but yeesh. On one of the plays NW was called for pass interference Holstege was completely run over. Fortunately for Purdue Horvath made a great block on the DE to prevent the sack and gave time for O'Connell to throw. On a Horvath run later Holstege was pull blocking and ran past a LB that hit Horvath in the backfield. Horvath shed that tackle and got a yard. That might have been what I was referring to earlier about Purdue leaning on Horvath to break a tackle but there really wasn't anyone closer for Holstege to block unlike the situation I mentioned earlier with Durham so I think Holstege should have just blocked the LB.
Garvin - Sam started and got most of the center snaps. He had mostly a good day but had two errors. On 3rd & 8 early in the second quarter he and Miller got beat allowing half a sack each. O'Connell certainly didn't hold onto it too long either. Garvin was replaced at this point by Hartwig. In the second possession in the second half Horvath ran off tackle and Garvin got beat. His guy made the tackle at the LOS. After that though Garvin played a clean game. I had him for no other mistakes.
Hartwig - Largely uneventful game for Hartwig. Not a bad thing by any means. He replaced Garvin after the allowed sack and play 3 straight possessions. His first resulted in the Miller TD but the following two were 3-and-outs so maybe the coaches saw something I didn't and pulled him. Could also simply be Hartwig not calling out the defense as well as Garvin can pre-play.
Jornigan - Mostly went under the radar. Actually had some great blocking on that crazy rollout right pass to Bell over Horvath's head. On the 2nd to last possession in the 1st half which went 3-and-out, Jornigan and Miller were pushed back into O'Connell as he was throwing. His pass was clearly affected by it and was overthrown. His big mistake was on the O'Connell fumble. O'Connell was forced up into the pocket because Jornigan had missed his block pretty bad. Garvin tried to clean it up but couldn't get over there fast enough.
Washington - Interesting day for Washington. On one hand he had some missed blocks. One he got pushed into backfield along with Long making Horvath earn his 2 yards. On a later run play by Horvath we saw Washington attempt his first pull block of the season. He showed good athleticism but decided to help Garvin with his block instead of getting to the 2nd level. I think Garvin had his guy under control and Horvath could have used Washington's help at the 2nd level. Horvath did get 4 yards so it wasn't the end of the world. On the other hand Washington was on the field for Purdue's two sustained 2nd half drives that garnered 10 points. His missed pull block was on the FG drive and he did get a false start on that drive too though. The TD drive he and Miller got blown up resulting in a no gain on 2nd & 1. So a few errors but to be on the field for your team's two longest drives means something.
Long - It's pretty clear Long is having a hard time with some of the more complex blocking schemes. The last couple weeks he was pulled for Bramel due to missed run blocking assignments on crash blocks. Against NW he gave up pressure on 3rd & 5 that resulted in a hurried O'Connell incompletion and punt. His first play on the next possession he and Washington miss blocks and nearly got Horvath tackled behind the LOS. Horvath somehow evaded that and gained 2 yards. He and Eric Miller trade possessions for a little while after. In second possession of the second half Long commits a costly penalty. It was the flee flicker to Bell. Newsome was called for interference which should have been a 1st down but Long had started running upfield drawing a flag. He was immediately replaced. The coaches had been leaving one OL unit on the field for entire possessions before that. You could also see Long and a coach having a back and forth. He would ultimately get another shot because...
Miller - ...Eric also had himself a rough day at RT. He gave up half a sack along with Garvin that ended his first possession. Long played RT for the following possession. He played both 3-and-outs before halftime and got replaced afterwards. Miller then came back in after that mistake by Long. He played a little better for a while aside from a missed block that Horvath cleaned up. He played well in the FG drive in the second half and showed some good pass blocking throughout. He had a rough go on the following TD drive though. His man hit O'Connell after a pump fake and forced an incompletion overthrow to Bell. His guy also forced O'Connell up into the pocket two plays later. That play worked out because O'Connell threw that lob to Horvath for 17 yards and a 3rd down conversion. He then went most of the rest of the possession clean until two back to back misses. The first was a run play to Horvath that Washington and Miller couldn't get any push on and Horvath couldn't get past the LOS on 2nd & 1. The very next play they tried another Horvath dive and Miller got destroyed. His guy hit Horvath in the backfield but Horvath somehow fell forward for the 3rd down conversion. Miller was immediately replaced during the official timeout for measurement and Long played the rest of the game.
So as you can see most of the issues in the running game had to do with OL play. I am not going to rail on these guys too hard though. Miller is only a RS So and Holstege is only a RS Fr so expecting them to dominate a full senior front 7 is ridiculous. Washington is a RS Jr but let's not forget he was a tag along commit from WKU in Brohm's first class. He's doing pretty well for a tag along if you ask me and I think has out-performed his expectations.
Play calling - A bunch of people were complaining about play calling but I really think Brohm called a good one. The run game was stalling so Brohm switched to a short passing game to Horvath that got them 10 points and kept Purdue in the game. I also don't think Brohm is getting enough credit for play call that Miller scored on. There have been several people asking why we didn't utilize Sheffield, Anderson, or Marcellus laterally. They actually tried that in the first possession. Anderson ran a motion screen left but NW's DL read it and took away any throwing lanes that might have been had. O'Connell was forced to check down to Horvath and may have actually just thrown it away.
They didn't call much else like that but I don't think it mattered. NW's safeties and LBs were very quick to react to plays in the flat. Twice Purdue threw quick screen passes to Horvath in the flat. The first got blown up because the safety read it perfectly and hit Horvath in the backfield. Horvath did shed that tackle somehow and get 2 yards on the play. Would having Sheffield run that play instead worked? I doubt it. Horvath barely had time to react after the catch and had to physically break the tackle. A smaller player like Sheffield probably doesn't have time to evade a tackle in that situation.
The second play was that ridiculous effort play by Horvath. Bell and Durham were lined up on the right side. Bell took off upfield to pull away the CB and Durham went up to block the safety opposite of him. The LB read the play extremely well though forcing Durham to make a decision. Block the LB or the safety? He definitely wasn't getting both. He went after the LB which was the right decision because Horvath shed the safety rather easily. The CB Bell was supposed take upfield read it well too and tried to bring down Horvath as well. This gave the LB time to shed Durham's block so he also got added to the mix. Through sheer will and determination Horvath dragged the CB, LB, and 3 other players for 6 yards and a first. It was completely insane and something a smaller player certainly couldn't have converted.
Defense/ST review to come.
