Data Driven: Purdue's loss to Ohio State

Each week after Purdue football games, we’ll take a closer look back at the game through PFF data and analytics. Today, Ohio State 45, Purdue 0.

(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:

Gus Hartwig all 60
Marcus Mbow all 60
Corey Stewart all 60
DJ Wingfield all 60
Mahamane Moussa 54
Hudson Card 51
Max Klare 50
Jahmal Edrine 50
Jaron Tibbs 30
CJ Smith 28
Devin Mockobee 28
Reggie Love III 26
Shamar Rigby 24
Drew Biber 20
De’Nylon Morrissette 19
Ryan Browne 9
Leland Smith 6
Jaheim Merriweather 6
Joey Tanona 6
Andrew Sowinski 5
Kam Brown 5
Bakyne Coly 3

Grades and notes:

• This came as Card’s lowest-graded performance of the season and the second-lowest of his Purdue career. Conveniently, the lowest of his time at Purdue came last year against Ohio State.
• Some decent grades for Purdue’s offensive line, as Hartwig came back with the top grade on the offense. Also a good day for DJ Wingfield at the right guard spot.
• The ugliest numbers came in pass-blocking. Biber, Moussa and Mockobee had rough scores in this department.
• On the other hand, the run-blocking grades came back as pedestrian across the board. No good grades, no bad grades.
• Ryan Browne was the lowest-graded player on Purdue’s offense, but he only saw nine snaps.
• Nice scores for Tibbs and Morissette in fairly limited action. Lots of middling grades for the rest of the receiving corps, representative of Purdue’s struggles there all season.

Hudson Card’s passing chart:

• Clean: 7-11, 97 yards
• Under pressure: 2-8, 11 yards, INT (poor grade)
• Not blitzed: 4-7, 29 yards, INT (poor grade)
• Blitzed: 5-12, 79 yards
• Play action: 1-5, 2 yards
• No play action: 8-14, 106 yards, INT
• Screen: 3-3, 14 yards
• No screen: 6-16, 94 yards, INT

• Card’s average depth of target: 9.2 yards, down significantly from last week.
• A really rough day all around for the Boilermakers, but the passing numbers weren’t pretty.
• Zero “big-time throws” with one “turnover-worthy throw”
• Card did complete two of his four attempts of 20+ yards downfield, but he got picked off there, too. He missed both intermediate passes.
• No drops by the wide receiving corps.

Running game:

• Adjusting for sack yardage, Purdue did average four yards per carry. Mockobee averaged 5.6 by himself.
• Purdue’s ball carriers forced 16 missed tackles on the day, nine of which came from Mockobee. Purdue forced several while establishing the run early.
• Nearly all of Purdue’s rushing yards came after contact.
• Devin Mockobee graded as Purdue’s best runner

DEFENSE

Defensive snap counts:

Dillon Thieneman all 66
Hudson Miller 59
Antonio Stevens 56
Will Heldt 54
Smiley Bradford 52
Kydran Jenkins 49
Jeffrey M’ba 43
Kyndrich Breedlove 41
Joe Anderson 39
Nyland Green 34
Tarrion Grant 33
Cole Brevard 33
Jireh Ojata 32
Botros Alisandro 26
Mo Omonode 22
Drake Carlson 18
Jamarrion Harkless 16
Shitta Sillah 16
Demeco Kennedy 14
Yanni Karlaftis 11
Joseph Jefferson II 5
Owen Davis 4
Trey Smith 3

Grades and notes:

• Top honors: Joe Anderson, who put together his best performance on the defensive line since arriving a few years back from South Carolina. Great run defense score for him.
• Right behind him? Dillon Thieneman, who needed a good grade after a disappointing couple of months.
• Missed tackles have plagued Purdue all season, but only six of them on Saturday. Stevens (2) the only Boilermaker with multiple.
• Purdue did record 10 pressures of Ohio State quarterbacks, but the pass rush grades were mediocre across the board.
• Kydran Jenkins’ grades haven’t been great against the better opponents on Purdue’s schedule. He was the lowest-graded Purdue defender in this one and struggled against Notre Dame and Oregon, too.
• Jenkins isn’t alone, though. Hudson Miller and Yanni Karlaftis were toward the bottom of the leader board. The linebacker play continues to be an issue.
• All-in-all, better grades than may have been expected for the defensive backfield. Only Green finished toward the bottom of Purdue’s contributors on Saturday.

Will Howard’s passing chart

• Clean: 13-17, 169 yards, TD (great grade)
• Under pressure: 8-9. 91 yards, 2 TD
• Not blitzed: 8-9, 77 yards
• Blitzed: 13-17, 183 yards, 3 TD (great grade)
• Play action: 10-13, 103 yards, 2 TD
• No play action: 11-13, 157 yards, TD
• Screen: 1-2, 1 yard
• No screen: 20-24, 259 yards, 3 TD (great grade)