Prior to Saturday afternoon, one of the primary cases for Caleb TerBush to be Purdue's starting quarterback this season seemed to be the simple fact that he hadn't done anything to lose the job.
Well, now he has.
Whatever the Boilermakers' returning starter did - whether it be academic slippage or some other transgression - to get himself suspended for the 2012 opener, it gave Purdue all the reason it needed to make a change on that depth chart.
The door is now open for the superiorly talented Robert Marve to move up to a position only injury kept him from this time a year ago.
Marve lost the job by attrition; now maybe he gets it back the same way.
Look, I get it: The quarterbacks are going to rotate.
They're all in this together, as was underscored by Marve and fellow QB Rob Henry standing side-by-side for media interviews Saturday evening, a joint quarterback interview that represented one of many firsts for me today.
(In case you're wondering: The first was being instructed to flip on four-wheel drive to get into the media lot before the game; another was interviewing an NFL player, Cliff Avril, after the game with the song "Girls, Girls, Girls" blaring from a tailgater's speakers in the background.)
But I digress …
Yeah, I know, all the quarterbacks can play and they all presumably will.
But it is important who starts whether anyone will ever admit it or not.
Marve showed Saturday it should be him.
Yeah, I know it was just Eastern Kentucky, Super Macho Man, for all you old-school Nintendo geeks out there.
But Marve looked great, looking like the talent he's been billed to be this whole time.
Now healthy, he looked fast. He was patient, at least more patient than the hyper-activity he's shown in the past. His passes were accurate. He made people miss in the backfield, helping an offensive line in transition get through the game without yielding a legitimate sack. He throws on the run better than any quarterback Purdue's had since Drew Brees. Back in those days, simple little six-yard completions were so easy they were almost a last resort. Marve's arm strength and the effortlessness with which he wields it makes those throws - provided they're open, obviously - almost routine once again, as does his field awareness.
Maybe I'm exaggerating here in the immediate wake of the game, but the fact remains that the one guy on this offense who has the ability to make it something more than the sum of its parts is Robert Marve, and at some point in time, you had to expect him to get his chance to be its leading man. TerBush just made it easy.
In the offseason, Danny Hope touted Marve as an "NFL talent"; Saturday evening, he termed TerBush's suspension an "inconvenience."
He wasn't as dismissive of TerBush as that might make it sound, but you see what I'm getting at.
Marve has to start next week. That's not even a question, if for no other reason than the fact that TerBush would be coming in cold. Purdue's been touting the advantage of experience at quarterback; now it has to go with the guy who's experienced this season.
Is TerBush done? Probably not. He's shown he can win games for Purdue.
But I will say that Rob Henry is a lot better than he showed on Saturday after a year on the sideline. And if there is going to be an an odd man out here, TerBush has done himself no favors, by doing whatever it is he did, if it even matters.
And never mind the fact that TerBush, after being ineligible as a sophomore, allowed himself to be in this position again, just months after being named a team captain.
Coaches want quarterbacks they can trust. Can they trust TerBush now? Talk about Bizzarro World: Has Robert Marve really become the trustworthy one?
TerBush has shown he can play. This isn't one of those situations where one quarterback can play and the other can't. This isn't the New York Jets.
But this quarterback controversy, which is such a stupid term, isn't one. Not anymore. It's Marve's job now, at least the starting portion of it.
Clearly this was the biggest take-away of Purdue's trashing of Eastern Kentucky, a team that had no chance to even compete, not with a backup I-AA quarterback and backup I-AA center against Kawann Short and a Boilermaker defensive front that made like Godzilla through Tokyo.
So this game, from a competitive standpoint, tells us nothing, but regardless, here are a series of "I know it was only Eastern Kentucky, buts …" That's an awesome new noun!
I know it was only Eastern Kentucky, but … the middle of Purdue's defensive line can be dominant. Kawann Short is one thing. Bruce Gaston is another. He looked great today, at least to the naked eye in real time, without the benefit of replay. And there's depth. Those guys better be good, because behind them, at linebacker, things are a little dicey. Fortunately Saturday, nobody was getting behind them.
I know it was only Eastern Kentucky, but … Short looked dominant today in more phases of the game than one. Just stop kicking the ball around him. Just. Stop. It.
I know it was only Eastern Kentucky, but … Gabe Holmes looks like a player. Just keep him healthy and keep the tight end involved.
I know it was only Eastern Kentucky, but … not giving up a real sack is a very, very good thing.
I know it was only Eastern Kentucky, but … going three full quarters without a penalty from scrimmage was a marked and much-needed reversal from last year's flag-fest. It wasn't 'til the backups came in on the offensive line that the yellow flew.
Yeah, there were positives for Purdue Saturday in a game that was only slightly more challenging than the morning walk-through.
But anybody who saw this game knows damn well the Boilermakers committed transgressions Saturday that if re-committed next Saturday will flip this score in a heartbeat. In that sense, today's performance hardly told us much about how ready this team is to play big-boy football.
Purdue turned the ball over five times against an Eastern Kentucky team that had no business forcing any. Can't happen again. Any one turnover a week from now could open the floodgates.
And the special teams were a trainwreck, flirting with the rare Special Teams Cycle of Shame.
Blocked punt … check. Fumbled punt … check. Missed PAT … check.
Fortunately for Purdue, for every kick it has blocked, Kawann Short takes one back.
Yeah, I know there were a lot of new players out there, but isn't that true for every team every year on special teams?
Sam McCartney apparently won the No. 1 kicking job - at least for the time being - in a game-time decision, after pre-game warmups.
This phase of the game has to be considered a cause for great worry until proven otherwise. What can screw up a season faster than a couple of two-point losses that should have been wins?
The final score looked pretty, but truth be told, it was cosmetic.
Purdue won big but didn't necessarily play winning football, to use Danny Hope's term.
But the Boilermakers have the whole week to worry about the ugliness.
Saturday night, it can revel in a convincing ? if not all that significant ? victory.
And come Monday, when Purdue practices next, it can call Robert Marve its starting quarterback.
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This post was edited on 9/1 10:30 PM by Brian_GoldandBlack.com
