Brohm has not brought in one high caliber running back since he arrived at Purdue.He has had no running attach in any year. Wisconsin figured how to stop Purdues passing and thats the game.One-dimentional attacks seldom get you winning football.The teams remaining on the schedule now know what to do.Purdue has no option but to try to win with passing alone.
One-Dimentional
- Thread starter jageh345
- Start date
While the running backs are not great, this is much more on the OL than the RBs.
This is what you're gonna get for the rest of Brohm's run at Purdue. And, there's enough Purdue fans that are OK with this that Brohm will be here a few more years. The days of the half empty stadium are on their way back. Go Boilers!
There sure are a vocal minority who come out of the woodwork at any sign of adversity...
I'd say a one dimensional attack fared pretty well today.
Wisconsin's rushing attack
Wisconsin's rushing attack
I, too, am losing confidence. I don't think this is the first sign of adversity.
Happened in basketball too. Remember all the "fire Painter" threads? And now look at how things are.
Nobody likes to lose, but things are never as bad, or good, as we internet forum ADs make it out to be. It's part of being a fan and is never going to change. We all have this internal timetable we think we are entitled to but as long as Brohm is making progress (and the defensive turnaround and first time being ranked, even for a moment, shows he is) he will be retained.
This offseason he needs to shore up the offensive line and get a mobile QB that can throw. He's got talent at wideout, he just needs someone that can the ball to them. Plummer could have been that QB but he's got some kind of mental block going on that he just can't seem to shake.
For me I just choose to support the team and even with being critical of areas and players, it doesn't mean I don't support them and the coaching staff. But there needs to be changes as I said in the off season to make the offense be an asset and not it's current liability.
When you waste...literally waste...downs, it put the QBs in a position where they in turn had to throw and where the defense knows that and can bring in an extra DB as well as just drop in coverage or blitz if they would like (albeit unnecessary with how bad the OL is).
Two of the INTs followed runs directly up the middle for no gain or a loss on a second down that were completely wasted plays.
For that matter...almost any running play by Purdue is a completely wasted play...it serves virtually no purpose at all...it does not even keep the defense honest because they do not need to make any adjustment for it in that their DL can essentially stop it because the OL is so overmatched.
When your "best" QB is turnover prone, the options on what you can call is very limited. Couple that with a rather poor o line and again you're limited. You also have to run every once in a while to try and keep the defense honest.
and you waited for a loss. If you were here last week that’s consistency. You were not
I’m sorry Oconnell is not the problem. Get an offensive line. Once you do that, the idea that a running QB is going to be able to go through his reads cleanly and accurately WITH a good pocket is a pipe dream. We are in year 3 of plummer and he’s had to be pulled out every year. And he’s not even a “running QB”
I don't post after fool's gold wins. I didn't post after beating OSU in 2018. I'm commenting on his body of work which isn't great and nowhere near what it should be in year 5. If you're satisfied with Brohm's progress, so be it. I'm not.
Clearly you were taking a nap during the Hazell years.... This program had no depth whatsoever. Brohm had to put multiple band aids in to win 6 games the first two years. We are finally getting some depth. Still think we can win 7 games this year before the bowl game. I'd love to hear you then if we finish 7-5. Or is 7-5 not good enough
I’m just even keeled and not predisposed to be dogmatic on one side like you …
I’m not satisfied that he hired Diaco and remained loyal to Williams as long as he did. He fixed the former And this off-season he needs to fix the latter …
on the other side the defensive linemen that were supposed to replace outgoing guys in 2018.. didn’t exist. Neither did the receivers. The offensive linemen that were supposed to replace outgoing guys in 2019 didn’t exist. Our commitment to football pro brohm as a school was a joke. In light of that he’s been a C+ coach ..
want better? We haven’t done enough as a school to demand better. If we were Ohio state and fickell would bang our door down to be here I’d fire brohm right now.
blame all the people over the years who made a meh commitment to football.. this is what you get. Me telling you that brohm has done an ok job for being at one of the worst programs in the league .. and me asking who you think we are gonna get if we fire him?
do this .. go to the coaches convention and see if you can befriend some coaches. If you can ask them to rank programs 1-14 in the big ten based on where they’d like to be. When they say oh Ohio state Michigan etc interject with “Purdue? What about Purdue” and see how many people laugh in your face
Purdue running is not keeping anybody honest in any form or fashion...they have no threat at the position, the OL is awful, and, Purdue trying to run between the tackles is a complete waste of a play any/every time.
The "best QB" is indeed turnover prone...but, that is in part a product of CONSTANTLY being in the position of having to throw the ball down the field BECAUSE they waste plays (legitimately waste plays) by running the ball between the tackles.
Purdue can't run the football...to pretend otherwise is just dumb...own up to it, accept it and FIND A WAY to account for it.
The poor OL is the biggest culprit of problems, but, QBs holding the ball opposed to throwing the ball away compounds it...wasting plays as mentioned compounds the problem(s)...throwing the ball to the other team compounds it as well.
Purdue does not have a difference-maker at the QB position...historically, unless it has, it has not fared very well...as such, it is imperative to have (or find) one...even at that...it has to have an OL that is at least functional (and it does not)...and, it has to have some guys at the RB position that can keep a defense honest (and it does not)...those are ALL recruiting and development issues...and, all things that in light of, the coaching needs to account for, adjust and address (and it has not).
This Purdue offense is not going to be proficient in running the ball, but being able to run the ball even just a little makes a huge difference. The games with the highest rushing yardage and yards per carry (UConn, OSU, Iowa) are the games where the offense scored the most points. The games with the lowest rushing yardage and ypc (Wisconsin, Illinois, ND, Minnesota) are the 13 pointers. And the Wisconsin game with negative rushing yards, a defensive TD was required to get there.
Oregon St 88 yd (2.7 ypc) = 30 points
UConn 187 yd (4.5 ypc) = 49 points
Notre Dame 57 yd (2.3 ypc) = 13 points
Illinois 38 yd (1.5 ypc) = 13 points
Minnesota 77 yd (2.3 ypc) = 13 points
Iowa 86 yd (2.6 ypc) = 24 points
Wisconsin -13 yd (-0.5 ypc) = 13 points
A lot of this is on the O line. All that is needed from them is just to be serviceable in the run game. And they've been serviceable 3 times and good exactly once, not coincidentally against an over-matched UConn team. Horvath is maybe the most important player on the offense because he can grind out yards on his own. He isn't a home run threat, but he does enough to open up the field for passing. His loss has been huge.
People like to talk about Tiller, Brees, air raid, etc. But the run game was never this poor. Any Big Ten DC worth his salt will figure out how to shut you down if he can stop the run without even trying.
The good news is the bar is not that high. Like, not high at all. If I told you all we need to do is figure out how to get 80 yards of rushing against Nebraska and we'll be in pretty good shape, that sounds like a pretty good proposition, right?
Oregon St 88 yd (2.7 ypc) = 30 points
UConn 187 yd (4.5 ypc) = 49 points
Notre Dame 57 yd (2.3 ypc) = 13 points
Illinois 38 yd (1.5 ypc) = 13 points
Minnesota 77 yd (2.3 ypc) = 13 points
Iowa 86 yd (2.6 ypc) = 24 points
Wisconsin -13 yd (-0.5 ypc) = 13 points
A lot of this is on the O line. All that is needed from them is just to be serviceable in the run game. And they've been serviceable 3 times and good exactly once, not coincidentally against an over-matched UConn team. Horvath is maybe the most important player on the offense because he can grind out yards on his own. He isn't a home run threat, but he does enough to open up the field for passing. His loss has been huge.
People like to talk about Tiller, Brees, air raid, etc. But the run game was never this poor. Any Big Ten DC worth his salt will figure out how to shut you down if he can stop the run without even trying.
The good news is the bar is not that high. Like, not high at all. If I told you all we need to do is figure out how to get 80 yards of rushing against Nebraska and we'll be in pretty good shape, that sounds like a pretty good proposition, right?
Very good response. You have to run even just a little to keep things in check and your data proves it.
I just ran some quick numbers and Purdue offense through 7 games is rushing for an average of 42.5 yards LESS than the opponent defense is allowing on average. Best net performance was Iowa, in which we rushed for 86 yards, which is 3.7 yards less than what Iowa gives up on average. Worst net performance was Illinois, in which we rushed for 38 yards, which is 112.5 yards less than what Illinois gives up on average.
Nebraska gives up an average of 139.9 rushing yards per game. If you subtract 42.5 one might expect Purdue to rush for 97.4 yards on Saturday, plus or minus. That is somewhat encouraging.
| Avg rush yards against | Purdue rush yards | Net yards | |
| Oregon St | 116.6 | 88 | -28.6 |
| UConn | 197.6 | 187 | -10.6 |
| Notre Dame | 124.4 | 57 | -67.4 |
| Illinois | 150.5 | 38 | -112.5 |
| Minnesota | 85.7 | 77 | -8.7 |
| Iowa | 89.7 | 86 | -3.7 |
| Wisconsin | 53.3 | -13 | -66.3 |
| Nebraska | 139.9 | tbd [97.4 calculated] | tbd [-42.5 average] |
I guess another question would be why did we struggle so badly running the ball against Illinois. We didn't have Horvath or Doerue in that game, which was a big part of it. Downing got a decent ypc in that game - no doubt Doerue could have done more damage.
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The answer might be who was hurt for that game. If anyone was anyway. We aren't very deep on the o line so that could be the limiting factor.
Nebraska did a decent job of slowing our run game last year, but the line I think was pretty decimated, which also limits our depth because those players then fall behind being developed.
What this all shows me is we are really missing Horvath. He is strong enough to make up for a bad o line and blocks better than Doerue.
Wisconsin sucked before Alvarez. Iowa sucked before Frye. Northwestern sucked before Barnett. There's no reason Purdue can't be as good as those three programs. You have to start somewhere. We can't be better because we've never been good gets you nowhere.
What? I'd say we were pretty good under Tiller. And Brohm had us ranked for the first time in quite a while. Limited or not, it still shows things are heading in the right direction.
Step away from the ledge. You are not entitled to anything and your timetable on how things should be happening is irrelevant. Brohm isn't going anywhere unless he tanks the next few seasons and since he isn't Les Miles, it isn't likely to happen.
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Wow, Purdue has faced some really good run defenses this year. Thanks for posting this data. It doesn't completely absolve the offense, but it does provide important factual context.
