Purdue - What did we learn?

We continue to be our own worst enemy. Stupid penalties and untimely lapses in judgment cost this team too many points. In close games - like last week - that won't get it done.

We've beaten the teams we should have beaten so far, depending how you look at Illinois. 

We need upgrades at O Line, Special Teams (across the board) and game management/coaching. 

This is a bowl team, largely because of Raiola. If he goes down... we'll be lucky to get to six wins.

Big Ten refs are atrocious. If you don't believe me, go look at the offsides penalty against Minnesota on their onside kick attempt.

 
The Duke said:
  • Make EJ the new starting running back.
  • Stop rotating the RB's so much. Let the #1 guy get in a groove  
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Forgot this on my list. 

3-4 weeks ago I said EJ is my favorite running back (he was last season), but I don’t think I know better than the coaches. 

But I’m having an even harder time now believing he isn’t our best RB. I hate hearing Rhule say he is a good finisher. Just put him in to start the game. Give him a chance to show he should be the starter. Give him a chance to do it from the start. Maybe he can do those runs in the first half too. 

I’m tired of seeing DD run straight into defenders. Our blocking looked pretty bad at times so it wasn’t just him, but I feel EJ is the guy who can run best out of the 3 when the blocking isn’t good. We also don’t telegraph the type of play we’re doing when he’s in. 

 
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We beat another team we should beat. First half was ugly. But, the team did better as the game went on. They didn’t fold. Coaches kept working till they got it right. 

 
We almost held Purdue to fewer offensive yards than penalty yards (174-165).

Hopefully the "we're going to get Dowdell 20 carries" experiment is over.

Raiola is great short-to-medium.  Not driving the ball enough when throwing deep (though that worked out today).

A dedicated special teams coach doesn't fix anything.

Seven pass-catchers averaged over 10 ypc.  Impressive.

Buschini was our leading tackler at one point in the third quarter.

 
knapplc said:
We continue to be our own worst enemy. Stupid penalties and untimely lapses in judgment cost this team too many points. In close games - like last week - that won't get it done.

We've beaten the teams we should have beaten so far, depending how you look at Illinois. 

We need upgrades at O Line, Special Teams (across the board) and game management/coaching. 

This is a bowl team, largely because of Raiola. If he goes down... we'll be lucky to get to six wins.

Big Ten refs are atrocious. If you don't believe me, go look at the offsides penalty against Minnesota on their onside kick attempt.
Click to expand...
Big Ten refs are trained to call things in favor of Ohio state and Michigan. If a call can go either way, it always goes in favor of those two if you are playing against them. 

 
Crusader Husker said:
NO TO'S MF"ERS!!!!!!

Run game needs to get to average.

Our OL needs to be better at run blocking.

Our special teams is special ed.
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Eh ... we averaged 5.2 ypc when you take out the sack.  Granted, Barney helped that.  But Johnson averaged 6.3 ypc.  We just need to stop thinking pounding Dowdell into the middle is going to be successful.

 
Sloppy win.  Can’t have long term success playing like this.  
 

If we had made the gimme kicks a lot of the negatives get overlooked.  Sure up the kicking game before it costs us any more.  The punting was good but otherwise the ST are atrocious.  
 

Lack of run blocking and running game is of concern.  
 

And the defense just doesn’t have that killer instinct like we saw against CU.  Sure the pick 6 came in garbage time but the arm tackling and inability to make the first tackle is concerning.

We had to have this win and we got it but sloppy with lots to work to improve.  The next two games will tell me a lot.  We have two undefeated teams that have somewhat stole our mojo as upstarts in the B1G.  Play sloppy and we lose both.  The season will be defined by what we do in the next two games.  Win and we play with house money on the back side of the schedule.  Lose and we have to scrape to make a bowl.

 
• Quality rebound from our defense, who never blinked despite our weirdo sicko ball in the first half and a long opening 3rd quarter drive from Purdue that might have sunk us in the past. 4 or 5 sacks and a pick six and holding them to less than 300 yards of offense is a hell of a good job.

• Dylan, Barney and Neyor continue to shine

• Despite the above, this is the worst our receiver core has been at blocking in eons

• I thought Satt called a really good game overall, but the 2nd and 1 pass followed by 3rd and 1 Carter Nelson high jump was insane

• The staff committed to fixing turnovers in the offseason and through 5 games, have succeeded to the tune of us not once losing the turnover battle in a game

• Emmett clearly needs to be our #1 back with Rahmir as the main 3rd down/receiving/pass pro back. Dante is not him.

• We're a field goal away from being 5-0, and this is still year 2 of a rebuild. Despite problems that are real, I'm happy and excited.

 
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