Ad Disclosure
The Purdue Boilermakers played from behind for much of the evening Saturday, with the defensive effort giving the offense a couple of chances to tie the score late.
But Aidan O’Connell and Co. couldn’t come through, as the Boilermakers absorbed their first loss of the season, 27-20 against visiting Northwestern.
Let’s hand out some grades.
Passing offense: D+
Aside from one drive in the fourth quarter, O’Connell failed to find much consistency and rhythm. On Purdue’s final scoring drive, the quarterback was 8-of-11 for 78 yards, hitting Milton Wright for a touchdown on a beauty of a toss. O’Connell was on point, hitting Milton in the back left of the end zone for the score.
But Purdue didn’t have enough of it.
O’Connell finished with 263 yards on 28-of-51 passing with two touchdowns. He didn’t throw any picks, but he did have a crucial second-half fumble on a third-down scramble — it helped NU gain a two-possession lead on the ensuing score — and he was sacked three times. None hurt more than on the third down on the Boilermakers’ final possession, setting up a difficult fourth-and-14.
O’Connell zeroed in on David Bell too often — and perhaps that was a play-calling issue — when the receiver was blanketed frequently by Northwestern cornerback Greg Newsome II. Bell finished with nine receptions for 78 yards.
Purdue’s best offense proved to be screen passes to Zander Horvath, who caught nine passes for 100 yards. His 25-yard screen kept Purdue alive in the fourth quarter.
O’Connell’s first touchdown was a beautiful play call, when tight end Garrett Miller snuck in the back side on a fourth down and went 40 yards for the score.
Yet, it wasn’t enough. When O’Connell needed to get rolling on the last two possessions, he was only 3-of-8 and was sacked.
Rushing offense: F
Purdue netted 2 yards rushing.
Two.
Even take out the lost sack yardage and it’s not good. Horvath had a 14-yarder, but his other nine carries went for a total of 7 yards. Purdue was poor in short yardage, again. King Doerue got his first carry of the season, and it was — inexplicably — on a third-and-short. It failed.
Overall Offense: D
Purdue scored 20, but it had only 265 yards and all but 2 of those came through the air. The turnovers hurt, as did being 4-of-17 on third down.
But most important, the Boilermaker defense twice gave the offense a chance late and Purdue couldn’t take advantage.
Pass defense: B
Cam Allen picked off Peyton Ramsey in the first half, one of the big plays by the Boilermaker defense.
But Ramsey finished with 212 yards on 23-of-36 passing with three touchdowns. He was efficient, hitting on a high percentage and moving the chains, but without a big play. The longest pass by the Wildcats covered only 18 yards.
But Ramsey had far, far too much time in the pocket because Purdue got very little pass rush and recorded zero sacks. Jack Sullivan, in for the idle George Karlaftis, got a pressure that led to an incomplete pass out of the end zone, but that kind of play was way too infrequent.
Wide receiver Ramaud Chiaokhiao-Bowman collected all three of NU’s touchdowns.
Rush defense: A-
Northwestern averaged only 2 yards on its 40 rushing attempts, with only one run for double-digit yards. Usually a very good rushing team, the Wildcats weren’t very productive. That’s a credit to Purdue.
Boilermakers defensive tackle Lorenzo Neal was a stud.
Overall Defense: B+
Shoutout to a few individual efforts:
• Derrick Barnes was all over the place, with the middle linebacker collecting 14 tackles, including 2.5 for loss. He was awesome.
• End/linebacker DaMarcus Mitchell battled through a couple of leg injuries to be a fierce contributor on Saturday. He had three tackles for loss among his seven tackles.
• Neal almost single-handedly kept Purdue in the game in the fourth quarter, when he had two tackles for loss and a pass breakup to help get the ball back to the offense. But he also jumped offsides in the first quarter, helping NU to convert a fourth down on a drive when the Wildcats scored.
The defense gave up 292 yards and only 27 points, good enough to win on a lot of days.
Special teams: C
Purdue needs punting help.
Brooks Cormier has a big leg, but his inconsistency is hurting the Boilermakers. He had one punt of 51 yards but the other two combined for only 62. Zac Collins, who subbed in, wasn’t much better.
J.D. Dellinger made both of his field goals, but they were chippies, of 30 and 23 yards.
Coaching: C-
The indecisiveness on whether to go for it on fourth down on the second-to-last possession or punt was frustrating.
The right choice was made — Jeff Brohm decided to punt — but only after Purdue had taken a delay of game penalty.
Brohm could have been more aggressive at the end of the first half too, but chose a more conservative approach. He could have taken a timeout to give Purdue’s offense more time, with the Boilermakers trailing by seven, but didn’t. Why not?
Under Brohm, Purdue has not shown to be a good team in inclement weather. Saturday only added to that, with rain, cold and wind affecting the Boilermakers. And why did Purdue have so much trouble with its own slick turf?
Overall: C-
In its biggest Big Ten game in years, Purdue lost and was beaten soundly in almost every category.
It was a disappointment, yet the Boilermakers still had a chance late, if only the offense could have moved into position. It didn’t.
Kyle Charters, a familiar face at Gold & Black, covers Purdue, Indiana and college basketball for Saturday Tradition.