Data Driven: Penn State

Each week after Purdue football games, we’ll take a closer look back at the game through PFF data and analytics. Today, Penn State 49, Purdue 10.

(Editor’s note: PFF data is just one organization’s interpretation of the happenings from Saturday’s game. It is not to be taken as gospel).

OFFENSE

Offensive snap counts:

Mahamane Moussa 55
Corey Stewart 55
DJ Wingfield 55
Max Klare 52
Gus Hartwig 50
Marcus Mbow 50
Hudson Card 43
Jaron Tibbs 42
Jahmal Edrine 41
Devin Mockobee 37
CJ Smith 24
Shamar Rigby 22
Kam Brown 22
Drew Biber 19
De’Nylon Morrissette 16
Bakyne Coly 15
Ryan Browne 15
Ethan Trent 14
Reggie Love III 14
Andrew Sowinski 12
Joey Tanona 10
Jaden Ball 9
Jaheim Merriweather 7
Aaron Roberts 6
Christian Gelov 6
Antonio Harris 5
Ben Furtney 4
Lule Griffin 3
Elijah Jackson 1

Grades and notes:

• Card graded out fine, a middle-of-the-road performance as compared to the rest of his Purdue career
• Top honors went to Max Klare, who left Saturday with an excellent grade. He’s emerged as one of the lone bright spots from a largely devastating season.
• Mixed bag on the offensive line. Nice grades for Gus Hartwig and Corey Stewart, but Marcus Mbow and Mahamane Moussa came back with rough numbers.
• Pass blocking numbers were all over the place, but run blocking was mediocre across the board.
• Not much going for Purdue on the outside. The lack of dynamic ability in the wide receiver room continues to show.
• Lots of players got some action towards the end on Senior Day, including quarterback Christian Gelov.
• De’Nylon Morrissette finished with the lowest grade, another rough mark on his tricky day.

Hudson Card’s passing chart:

• Clean: 8-11, 101 yards
• Under pressure: 3-10, 50 yards
• Not blitzed: 6-10, 71 yards
• Blitzed: 5-11, 80 yards
• Play action: 1-3, 39 yards
• No play action: 10-18, 122 yards
• Screen: 1-2, 11 yards
• No screen: 10-19, 140 yards

• Card’s average depth of target: 9.6 yards. Purdue continues to try to push the ball downfield with Card taking the snaps.
• Card’s best grade? He scored very nicely on medium passes (10-19 yards downfield), where he was 3-5 for 52 yards.
• Zero “big-time throws” with one “turnover-worthy throw”
• No drops by the wide receiving corps.

Running game:

• Adjusting for sack yardage, Purdue ran for a dismal 2.60 yards per carry/
• Purdue’s ball carriers forced eight missed tackles on the day, four of which came from Mockobee. The longest run of the day: 18 yards by Jaheim Merriweather
• 65 of Purdue’s 96 rushing yards came after contact.
• Merriweather graded as Purdue’s best runner, albeit on very limited snaps

DEFENSE

Defensive snap counts:

Dillon Thieneman all 61
Antonio Stevens 59
Hudson Miller 51
Kydran Jenkins 46
Will Heldt 44
Kyndrich Breedlove 39
Nyland Green 39
Jeffrey M’ba 38
Smiley Bradford 37
Joe Anderson 36
Cole Brevard 29
Tarrion Grant 28
Jireh Ojata 25
Jamarrion Harkless 23
Drake Carlson 23
Jamarius Dinkins 20
Joseph Jefferson II 18
Shittah Sillah 18
Yanni Karlaftis 17
Hudauri Hines 12
Demeco Kennedy 7
Trey Smith 1

Grades and notes:

• Top honors: Hudauri Hines in limited action. The true freshman made his debut on defense and looked the part in the fourth quarter.
• Right behind him? Kydran Jenkins, who turned in a nice performance in his final game at Ross-Ade Stadium.
• Missed tackles have plagued Purdue all season. It had 10 of them on Saturday. Green and Miller each had two.
• Purdue did record 12 pressures of Penn State quarterbacks, but the pass rush grades were mediocre across the board.
• The problems at linebacker continue to show up. Hudson Miller graded the lowest of any Boilermaker on defense, while Antonio Stevens, who plays a de-facto linebacker role at times, finished right next to him.
• Solid grades from Thieneman and Heldt, two of the “must-keep” players on this roster moving into 2025.
• No sacks from the Purdue pass rush.

Drew Allar’s passing chart

• Clean: 15-16. 230 yards, 3 TD (great grade)
• Under pressure: 2-3, 17 yards
• Not blitzed: 6-7, 98 yards, TD
• Blitzed: 11-12, 149 yards, 2 TD
• Play action: 4-5, 23 yards
• No play action: 13-14, 224 yards, 3 TD
• Screen: 7-7, 93 yards
• No screen: 10-12, 154 yards, 3 TD (great grade)