Big Picture: ND loss too early to define Purdue
Big Picture is GoldandBlack.com’s healf-heartedly named post-game opinion/analysis piece, written by Brian Neubert after most Purdue football games.
So, it’s understatement to note that Purdue was overmatched Saturday afternoon by 18th-ranked Notre Dame in a shocking 66-7 blood-letting. Shocking, yes, not just because Purdue couldn’t, or didn’t, compete, but because ND scored five dozen points on offense without trying all that hard with its game plan.
A colleague — I’d credit them if I could remember who the hell it was — noted the the gulf between Notre Dame and Purdue was the same as it was between Purdue and Indiana State two weeks ago.
The Boilermakers were just flat-out overmatched. They couldn’t block, tackle, protect, separate or out-run Notre Dame, and that’s a bad combination. The Irish are better than Purdue; that’s not news, but is anyone at this level ever eight touchdowns better than anyone?
In a funny sort of way, Notre Dame’s leather-helmet-era offensive plan — designed to protect Riley Leonard from both injury and his own above-averageness as a passer — was perfect for this game, because Purdue’s defensive philosophy is geared toward pressuring quarterbacks, disrupting receivers and swarming to the ball against the run. Saturday there was nothing to blitz, the quarterback was more a runner than passer, receivers were purely ornamental. The front seven got worked over by the run and the second levels manipulated by pre-snap motion and the threat of the quarterback run. Purdue did get out-schemed today in addition to being run roughshod over physically. Again, bad combination.
Notre Dame made it a blocking-and-tackling game, and wasn’t just better, but Purdue was bad. That’s putting it nicely. The Boilermakers’ inability to contain the edge — sometimes a physical issue, sometimes seemingly a discipline issue — was ghastly and put the pressure on open-field tackling, an abject failure. Dillon Thieneman showed last year he’s too good a player for things like today to happen and the Kydran Jenkins-to-linebacker move hit some real snags today. He may be fine between the tackles, but pursuit …
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Anyway, this was no one player’s fault. A lot of guys on that field today were made to look slow, small and more than a few times, silly. It’s no secret Notre Dame has better players. It has for generations.
But this was shocking.
Purdue’s win over Indiana State — a whole different species from Notre Dame, mind you — was the fool’s gold of warped reality. But so too was Notre Dame’s loss to Northern Illinois. Remember that.
Judging people — and teams — by their worst moments is bad business.
Keep that in mind, because as Purdue keeps getting chances to show what it is this season, chances are somewhere in the middle the truth is going to lie. Things are rarely as good as they seem and just as rarely as bad as they seem.
MORE: 10 observations | Points After: Purdue’s blowout loss to Notre Dame | PDF: Purdue-Notre Dame statistics
