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Purdue has already beaten expectations.
Before the season, Vegas put the Boilermakers’ anticipated win total at 5, meaning Purdue — if it hit only that total — would be left home from a bowl game for the third consecutive year. Should have bet on the Boilermakers.
Purdue has already hit the 6-win threshold, doing so in only 9 games, so it’ll be bowling … somewhere. One of those destinations might be Vegas at the SRS Las Vegas Bowl. Or maybe the Boilermakers travel to Nashville or New York City or Tampa Bay.
The destination will be determined by the next 2 weeks, whether the Boilermakers can pad their résumé vs. Northwestern in Wrigley Field Saturday, then Indiana in Ross-Ade Stadium 2 days after Thanksgiving. Whether Purdue ends up with 6, 7 or 8 regular-season wins — and there’s still a very narrow path to the Big Ten West title — it will have exceeded expectations.
How?
Well, let’s take a look:
The defense steps up
Taking the Ohio State debacle as an outlier, Purdue’s new defense has been the biggest difference for the Boilermakers from 2020 to 2021.
Gone is the nonsensical sit-back, bend (but also break) defense of Bob Diaco, who was fired after only 6 games in West Lafayette, and in is a more aggressive approach that matches what Purdue wants to be — and often is — in all 3 phases. Co-defensive coordinator Brad Lambert, who came over from Marshall, is the architect of the scheme, a more traditional 4-man front that puts a premium on creating chaos in the backfield while also putting stress on its own secondary. But the Boilermakers, under the directive of Jeff Brohm, have taken a more collaborative approach this season. It’s why Brohm named 3 of his new defensive coaches — Lambert, along with D-line coach Mark Hagen and secondary coach Ron English — as “co” coordinators.
They’ve all bought in. As have Purdue’s defensive players, who embraced the new style. None more so than George Karlaftis, who was seeking something new after being marginalized in the 3-4 front utilized most frequently by Diaco. Once Karlaftis was a buyer in what Lambert was selling, the rest of his teammates jumped on board.
Purdue’s scoring defense took a hit in giving up 59 points vs. Ohio State (although it should recover in taking on offensively-challenge Northwestern and IU), as the Boilermakers are giving up 22.5 points per game, tied for 9th in the B1G. Purdue has the 5th-best passing defense. But beyond the numbers, Purdue’s defense has frequently carried the Boilermakers, maybe never more so than during the 4-game stretch in which it turned Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Michigan State over 12 times. No wonder Purdue won 3 of those.
O’Connell rises
Brohm inserted Aidan O’Connell in as Purdue’s starting quarterback at a moment when the Boilermakers offense seemed stuck in neutral.
In the senior’s first start, he led the Boilermakers to only 13 points in a loss to Minnesota. The offense had just enough a week later to help Purdue to an upset of then-No. 2 Iowa, but a dud followed, as the Boilermakers scored only 13 again — for the 4th time in a 5-week span — in a home loss to Wisconsin.
But since then, as O’Connell has settled in as the starter, the offense has started to click. In the last 3 games, the Boilermakers have scored 28, 40 and 31 points, while averaging 475 yards per outing. O’Connell is playing at least as good as, if not better, than every signal-caller for the Boilermakers in the last decade, maybe longer.
If O’Connell stays locked in, Purdue has an excellent chance at picking up victories in the last 2 weeks of the season.
Brohm rediscovers his groove
Although there’s been a couple missteps along the way — the fifth-year coach might have gone to the bag of tricks earlier than necessary vs. Ohio State, for instance — Brohm has rediscovered his play-calling mojo, finding a balance between a ball-control offense and the aggressiveness that had been a hallmark of his first couple seasons in West Lafayette.
After last season, when Purdue lost 4 straight games to end the year with a 2-4 record, Brohm vowed he’d get back to his old self, after playing a little too conservative at times.
He’s kept to his word. Against Iowa, he employed a 3-quarterback rotation that helped Purdue temporarily solve its running problems and gave the Hawkeyes a different look. Against Michigan State, he ran a beautifully designed gadget play that resulted in a touchdown and early momentum.
The big names play big
To have success this season, Purdue needed its stars to come through big.
And wide receiver David Bell and defensive end George Karlaftis certainly have, putting together All-America-level seasons. Bell, a Biletnikoff Award semifinalist, leads the Big Ten in receiving yardage (despite missing 1.5 games with a concussion) at 1,106 yards on 75 receptions (second-best in the B1G) with 5 touchdowns.
Karlaftis has been more influential than even the numbers suggest, although the numbers are good: He has 3 sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss, with 3 forced fumbles and 2 recoveries, one that he took for a touchdown.
Kyle Charters, a familiar face at Gold & Black, covers Purdue, Indiana and college basketball for Saturday Tradition.