Irish might have to score early, score often against Purdue with possible storms rolling in
‘Notre Dame’ may be heavy favorites against Purdue, yet, aside from sitting at 0-2, the Irish might literally have storms on the horizon when they take on the Boilermakers.
The Irish already have a need for faster starts and sustained momentum, and the prospect of lightning-related game stoppage should add to that urgency.
Winless ‘Notre Dame’ might be the first 0-2 team nationally ranked since 1988, but unranked Purdue has a better record at 2-1, with wins over Southern Illinois and Ball State, followed by a 16-point loss to now-#25 Southern Cal.
Last week against the Trojans, the Boilermakers gave up only one second-half touchdown. And after trailing 17-3 at the half, Purdue made it 20-10 late in the third quarter before finally losing 33-17.
Against a Purdue team with that kind of all-day tenacity against a ranked opponent, the Irish cannot afford to take their time with a slow start, and then get into a possible lightning delay with the score still close, emboldening Purdue visions of an upset.
Against Southern Cal, Purdue showed that they are capable of moving the ball early, even while also being prone to interceptions.
While passing for more than 300 yards against a now-ranked Southern Cal, Purdue also gave up three interceptions, including an early interception when they were third-and-goal on the Southern Cal 3-yard-line on just their second possession.
After a 72-yard-drive, a touchdown rather than an interception would have given the Boilermakers an early 7-3 lead. Either way, it sounds like Purdue is capable of a strong start.
Indeed, on their very next possession, they drove 56 yards to the Southern Call 22, only to settle for a field goal, making it 10-3 a third of the way into the second quarter.
Overall, outgained 460 yards to 357, Purdue still only gave up two touchdowns in the second quarter and another touchdown in the third quarter. While Southern Call had six scoring drives, only half managed to reach the end zone, with the other half limited to field goals.
On the ground Purdue allowed the Trojans a respectable 4.5 yards per carry for 178 yards total rushing, with no Southern Cal running back reaching 100 yards. But one Southern Cal running back averaged 7.5 yards per carry.
So if the Irish are at least competent with their blocking and running, they should be able to sustain drives and score efficiently, and the potentially electrifying Irish running backs might be able to gash the Boilermaker defense here and there.
Both Southern Cal touchdowns were on the ground. While the Trojans threw for 282 yards on 17/28 (61%) passing, the Purdue passing defense did not gave up a touchdown through the air. But neither did they snag an interception.
Hopefully that will not change against an Irish quarterback still learning “on the job,” who has had at least one jaw-dropping bad decision and bad throw in each game thus far.
Yet, with the passing game should be there for the Irish, to whatever extent, with some decent play-calling and competent execution, opened up by some steady success with the running game.
The Purdue rushing attack was fairly weak against Southern Cal, totaling only 52 yards at an anemic 1.9 yards per carry.
However their leading rusher, senior Devin Mockobee, did roll up 45 yards at 3.8 yards per carry, which might be enough to plug into the overall flow of a drive here and there, especially with a potent passing attack.
In Purdue’s second drive that went to the Southern Cal 3-yard-line, Mockobee had a 17-yard run and a 2-yard run, with a 4-yard run added by back-up quarterback Malachi Singleton, a transfer from Arkansas with running ability. Singleton apparently made a very brief appearance in a drive led mostly by Purdue’s 6-4 junior quarterback Ryan Browne, listed as a sophomore despite three years of stats.
Against a now-ranked Southern Cal, Browner threw for 305 yards on 24/39 (62%) passing. However, Browne also threw 3 interceptions to only 1 passing touchdown.
The Irish defensive secondary was highly touted coming into the season. But after two games, their passing defense is 114th out of 136 teams in Div. I-A/FBS in terms of passing yards surrendered, giving up 283 yards per game.
As with some of the other units, the secondary has had some uneven play, including periodic issues with coverage or tackling. That included a long touchdown run-after-catch by Texas A&M that featured non-tackles by a cluster of two Irish defenders, along with a baffling half-hearted “tackle” by yet a third defender that was more of a light torso tap with a shoulder pad. (As an aside, that tackle stood in stark contrast to a later, massive, full textbook-tackle takedown by Irish linebacker Drayk Bowen. So the Irish do have some defenders who know how to tackle.)
Even worse for the Irish secondary, their injury report lists their best defensive back, preseason All-American cornerback Leonard Moore, as questionable for Purdue after an ankle injury against Texas A&M.
