Purdue Football: A Week of Opportunity

Sep 27, 2022 - 2:22 PM

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Purdue was hired in December in 2016 for our Purdue Boilermakers.

PJ Fleck was hired in January of 2017 for the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Aside from the 2017 and 2018 games, each game has been decided by 1 score, but, the only victory for Jeff Brohm came in 2017, where we won 31 to 17.

Then in 2018, PJ Fleck blew out Purdue in Minnesota, 41 to 10.

The last 3 matchups have been decided by a total of 17 points, all going in Minnesota’s favor.

As it stands now, this week appears it may be an uphill climb against the Gophers again. Aidan O’Connell appears to still be dealing with an “undisclosed injury”, Broc Thompson is still out and King Doerue appears to injured for the long term as well.

The real game changer, in my opinion, is obviously if AOC remains sidelined. Austin Burton did fine, but after seeing him for one week, it appears that he may not be able to stretch the field the same wat that AOC can.

Not only that, AOC gets Purdue in the right situations and allows for more of the typical Jeff Brohm offense we are used to seeing over the last few years.

Not only that, but there are holes on the defense that need figured out as well. Last week, FAU, a team that does not hang their hat on passing the ball, exposed the defense, with having 6 passing plays of over 20+ yards. Purdue was caught in Cover 1 and the man corners were exposed.

Purdue used cover 1 to try and get more bodies in the box and stop the run, but, it appears the corners may not be up for it.

Jalen Graham is still sidelined and will not play this week. Purdue may roll out a similar game plan this week though to try and stop the ultra talented Mohamed Ibrahim, who is as good as it gets as a running back in the B1G.

Not only that, Tanner Morgan is back again and has as much experience at QB as anyone in the conference. In 2021, he did not play great against us, but was very good in 2020 and 2019.

Usually the overwhelming size of Minnesota is the detriment to Purdue, that is no different in 2022, as the Gophers average 6-5, 320 pounds on their offensive line.

This is a big week for coach Jeff Brohm and Purdue. An upset here can fix the losses against Syracuse and Penn State where victory slipped from their hands in the final minute of play. A loss here puts us at 0-2 in conference play and reduces the chances of winning the west to almost 0.