Purdue's 51-41 pinball game against Marshall Saturday was one of two things:
1. A game in which the Boilermakers dominated the first half, then weathered the run a Marshall team with a dynamic, explosive offense was sure to make sooner or later.
? Or ?
2. A game in which two Marshall mistakes in the first half allowed Purdue to Forrest Gump its way into a huge halftime lead that it couldn't possibly blow, try as it might.
I guess your feelings on the matter would depend on your sensibilities, whether you choose to look for the positive first or whether you're prone toward the negative.
Me, I think it's the former.
Yes, it was two passes that were probably the difference between Purdue leading 42-14 at the half and Purdue leading 28-21 or something like that heading into the third quarter, where we all know the Boilermakers typically do not fare well.
But those passes weren't any more mistakes by Marshall as they were plays by Purdue.
The first was Ricardo Allen's interception, on which he showed the skills of a New York City pickpocket in prying the ball away from the receiver, then the presence of mind to get up and ? instead of running around like a chicken with his head cut and crashing right into the first dude in his way ? gather himself, reverse field and follow blocks into the end zone.
Experience matters, whether you're passing the ball, catching the ball, kicking the ball, or housing interceptions, which Allen has now done more than anyone in Big Ten history, save for former Boilermakers arch-nemesis Jamar Fletcher, or you may also remember him as, "Drew Brees Kryptonite."
Allen has gotten a lot of attention at Purdue and he's earned every bit of it. But because of it, the understated Josh Johnson has been overshadowed some. When one corner has a knack for scoring, that'll happen.
So it was so fitting when Johnson's turn finally came, as Rakeem Cato tractor-beamed onto a Herd receiver and threw it in Johnson's direction. The ball must have looked as big as the sun coming at Johnson, serving up as routine a pick-six and will ever come his way. And he'll be playing football for a while still.
So there it was: At the end of the day, it was those two plays that made all the difference, as some of us (wink, wink) suggested might be the case.
We knew Marshall would get its yards and its points. But the ball was going to be in the air so much it would give Purdue a chance to make big plays itself.
The offense did its share, too.
What Purdue needed more than anything was better quarterback play.
Was Caleb TerBush perfect today? No. Was he very good, and exponentially better than he's been thus far this season? Yes. Maybe "exponentially" is a strong term. I'm just writing here. Streaming flow of consciousness.
This was a career day for TerBush, throwing for 294 yards and four touchdowns. It helps that Marshall's defense is wet, cheap paper towel, a group that somehow forgets to cover Antavian Edison of all people on third down.
Led by TerBush and Edison, Purdue was able to keep up with a Marshall offense that Joe Tiller, in town for the game, probably appreciated. Fitting that a team coached by a guy named Doc Holliday is so quick with the trigger in the passing game.
And when it mattered most, when the Boilermakers needed to go to play keep-away, milk the clock and extend the lead all in one fell swoop, the offense got it done. Between the end of the third and start of the fourth quarters, Purdue engineered back-to-back scoring drives that totaled 29 plays, nearly 12 minutes sucked off the clock and 10 critical points.
Marshall didn't go away, though.
And that's what I'd chalk the tense moments of the second half to: Marshall.
Look, that team ? or I should say, that offense - is good. I think so anyway.
Yes, the blocked punt was embarrassing. It's not embarrassing that it happened. It's embarrassing that it looked like any one of about a half dozen guys would have blocked it, had the guy who actually blocked it not blocked it. Wow, that was a hell of a sentence.
And the missed PATs … enough already.
Purdue was fortunate Saturday to have enough wiggle room on the scoreboard for that botched point-after to just get lost into irrelevance just like the first three of the season did.
(Had Marshall made that two-point conversion, though …)
The special teams blunders were on Purdue. Those were its sins during the Thundering Herd's quasi-comeback that made for some anxious moments before the Boilermakers held on that big two-point conversion and Kawann Short herded Marshall off the field with a bat-down and a forced fumble on its final possession. He's good at football.
Otherwise, that offense is good.
You know what this was for Marshall? It was one of those classic 1998 Purdue losses, you know the ones where Drew Brees took a Sharpie to the record books, put up a million yards and a bunch of points and lost 'cause of turnovers. There's Jamar Fletcher again.
That's what Saturday was for the Herd. Rakeem Cato is legit. He threw three picks. Brees might have thrown five at that same stage of his career.
I am not comparing to Rakeem Cato to Drew Brees, so just stop it, please.
I am just saying Marshall's offense is legitimate and should be credited for this game being what this game was early in the fourth quarter.
But again what matters was the win and the fact that Purdue got out of the minefield that's been its non-conference seasons unscathed. There was no crushing loss in a game Purdue was supposed to win.
Everything has been so positive for Purdue lately, as it's garnered some modest national attention heading into a Big Ten that's just sitting there like a hundred-dollar bill in the street, waiting to be snatched up.
A loss Saturday would have been the college football equivalent of getting landed on in "Sorry!" Right back to Square 1.
I understand it's a bit of a back-handed compliment here to commend for Purdue for not losing as much as for winning, but it is what it is. Taking care of business against inferior teams is an important barometer for a team this year that should be expected to win more this year than it has the past few years. There was no Rice, Northern Illinois or Toledo this year.
Saturday wasn't perfection, but it was just another step forward, pretty or not.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2012. 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.
This post was edited on 9/29 10:12 PM by Brian_GoldandBlack.com
This post was edited on 9/29 10:47 PM by Brian_GoldandBlack.com
1. A game in which the Boilermakers dominated the first half, then weathered the run a Marshall team with a dynamic, explosive offense was sure to make sooner or later.
? Or ?
2. A game in which two Marshall mistakes in the first half allowed Purdue to Forrest Gump its way into a huge halftime lead that it couldn't possibly blow, try as it might.
I guess your feelings on the matter would depend on your sensibilities, whether you choose to look for the positive first or whether you're prone toward the negative.
Me, I think it's the former.
Yes, it was two passes that were probably the difference between Purdue leading 42-14 at the half and Purdue leading 28-21 or something like that heading into the third quarter, where we all know the Boilermakers typically do not fare well.
But those passes weren't any more mistakes by Marshall as they were plays by Purdue.
The first was Ricardo Allen's interception, on which he showed the skills of a New York City pickpocket in prying the ball away from the receiver, then the presence of mind to get up and ? instead of running around like a chicken with his head cut and crashing right into the first dude in his way ? gather himself, reverse field and follow blocks into the end zone.
Experience matters, whether you're passing the ball, catching the ball, kicking the ball, or housing interceptions, which Allen has now done more than anyone in Big Ten history, save for former Boilermakers arch-nemesis Jamar Fletcher, or you may also remember him as, "Drew Brees Kryptonite."
Allen has gotten a lot of attention at Purdue and he's earned every bit of it. But because of it, the understated Josh Johnson has been overshadowed some. When one corner has a knack for scoring, that'll happen.
So it was so fitting when Johnson's turn finally came, as Rakeem Cato tractor-beamed onto a Herd receiver and threw it in Johnson's direction. The ball must have looked as big as the sun coming at Johnson, serving up as routine a pick-six and will ever come his way. And he'll be playing football for a while still.
So there it was: At the end of the day, it was those two plays that made all the difference, as some of us (wink, wink) suggested might be the case.
We knew Marshall would get its yards and its points. But the ball was going to be in the air so much it would give Purdue a chance to make big plays itself.
The offense did its share, too.
What Purdue needed more than anything was better quarterback play.
Was Caleb TerBush perfect today? No. Was he very good, and exponentially better than he's been thus far this season? Yes. Maybe "exponentially" is a strong term. I'm just writing here. Streaming flow of consciousness.
This was a career day for TerBush, throwing for 294 yards and four touchdowns. It helps that Marshall's defense is wet, cheap paper towel, a group that somehow forgets to cover Antavian Edison of all people on third down.
Led by TerBush and Edison, Purdue was able to keep up with a Marshall offense that Joe Tiller, in town for the game, probably appreciated. Fitting that a team coached by a guy named Doc Holliday is so quick with the trigger in the passing game.
And when it mattered most, when the Boilermakers needed to go to play keep-away, milk the clock and extend the lead all in one fell swoop, the offense got it done. Between the end of the third and start of the fourth quarters, Purdue engineered back-to-back scoring drives that totaled 29 plays, nearly 12 minutes sucked off the clock and 10 critical points.
Marshall didn't go away, though.
And that's what I'd chalk the tense moments of the second half to: Marshall.
Look, that team ? or I should say, that offense - is good. I think so anyway.
Yes, the blocked punt was embarrassing. It's not embarrassing that it happened. It's embarrassing that it looked like any one of about a half dozen guys would have blocked it, had the guy who actually blocked it not blocked it. Wow, that was a hell of a sentence.
And the missed PATs … enough already.
Purdue was fortunate Saturday to have enough wiggle room on the scoreboard for that botched point-after to just get lost into irrelevance just like the first three of the season did.
(Had Marshall made that two-point conversion, though …)
The special teams blunders were on Purdue. Those were its sins during the Thundering Herd's quasi-comeback that made for some anxious moments before the Boilermakers held on that big two-point conversion and Kawann Short herded Marshall off the field with a bat-down and a forced fumble on its final possession. He's good at football.
Otherwise, that offense is good.
You know what this was for Marshall? It was one of those classic 1998 Purdue losses, you know the ones where Drew Brees took a Sharpie to the record books, put up a million yards and a bunch of points and lost 'cause of turnovers. There's Jamar Fletcher again.
That's what Saturday was for the Herd. Rakeem Cato is legit. He threw three picks. Brees might have thrown five at that same stage of his career.
I am not comparing to Rakeem Cato to Drew Brees, so just stop it, please.
I am just saying Marshall's offense is legitimate and should be credited for this game being what this game was early in the fourth quarter.
But again what matters was the win and the fact that Purdue got out of the minefield that's been its non-conference seasons unscathed. There was no crushing loss in a game Purdue was supposed to win.
Everything has been so positive for Purdue lately, as it's garnered some modest national attention heading into a Big Ten that's just sitting there like a hundred-dollar bill in the street, waiting to be snatched up.
A loss Saturday would have been the college football equivalent of getting landed on in "Sorry!" Right back to Square 1.
I understand it's a bit of a back-handed compliment here to commend for Purdue for not losing as much as for winning, but it is what it is. Taking care of business against inferior teams is an important barometer for a team this year that should be expected to win more this year than it has the past few years. There was no Rice, Northern Illinois or Toledo this year.
Saturday wasn't perfection, but it was just another step forward, pretty or not.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2012. 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.
This post was edited on 9/29 10:12 PM by Brian_GoldandBlack.com
This post was edited on 9/29 10:47 PM by Brian_GoldandBlack.com
