I was shocked by this sentence in GBI's article charting offense/defense, speaking of AA's passes during the game:
"He largely avoided throwing down the middle of the field past five yards: Only two of his 49 attempts were directed there."
How in the world can Purdue attempt 49 passes yet only 2 of them are in the middle of the field five yards or more past the line of scrimmage? This is a spot in the field where Purdue's defense historically gets abused by slot receivers, TEs, and RBs slipping through the O-line. It's a spot in the field where under Tiller Purdue was extremely successful, whether it was a TE like Stratton or a slot receiver like Stubblefield. Purdue's got to start taking advantage of that area of the field. The horizontal passing game won't work very well against faster Big Ten defenses (especially when the WRs on the perimeter whiff on blocks), and the power running game won't work all the time against bigger and more physical Big Ten defenses (we can't expect Knox to get 4-5 yards after contact every carry in the Big Ten like he did against Marshall).
"He largely avoided throwing down the middle of the field past five yards: Only two of his 49 attempts were directed there."
How in the world can Purdue attempt 49 passes yet only 2 of them are in the middle of the field five yards or more past the line of scrimmage? This is a spot in the field where Purdue's defense historically gets abused by slot receivers, TEs, and RBs slipping through the O-line. It's a spot in the field where under Tiller Purdue was extremely successful, whether it was a TE like Stratton or a slot receiver like Stubblefield. Purdue's got to start taking advantage of that area of the field. The horizontal passing game won't work very well against faster Big Ten defenses (especially when the WRs on the perimeter whiff on blocks), and the power running game won't work all the time against bigger and more physical Big Ten defenses (we can't expect Knox to get 4-5 yards after contact every carry in the Big Ten like he did against Marshall).
