Gopher Football
Purdue comes into this game with some concerns. Yes, they are 3-0, but none of their three games were against very good teams (Miami-OH, Ball State & Indiana State [1-aa]). The biggest question for Purdue heading into this game is with their defense. In their three games they’ve allowed 35 (Indiana St), 31 (Miami-OH) and 28 (Ball State). A few of those points came in garbage time, but most of them were not. To know just how bad their defense has been, all you have to do is look at the Big Ten rankings. Despite having played one of the easiest non conference schedules thus far, the Boilermakers are last in Big Ten in 3 of the 4 major categories in the Big Ten (points allowed, total defense, passing defense). Rushing defense is only one where they’re not last, and in that one they’re 6th. So with Minnesota coming to down this week, Purdue needs to improve their defense in a hurry if they’re to keep the Gophers from lighting up the scoreboard.
One has to guess that the Minnesota is licking their chops. Not surprisingly, the Gopher offense rolled against both Kent State and Temple. The biggest test obviously then was against California. Despite some frustrating struggles in that game, the offense was not totally inept. They did gain 352 yards and had a few good drives. If you view that game as a benchmark to the Purdue game, one would figure that the Gophers should have more success than what they had against Cal.
Gophers on offense
“¦ passing
Even though the Gophers have had success through the air this year, the big surprise is that Ernie Wheelwright has not been part of it. Logan Payne has far and away been the most productive Gopher wideout. Logan has 13 receptions for 207 yards and 4 TD’s, while Mike Chambers is second with 4 catches for 56 yards. Wheelwright has only 3 receptions so far, and Eric Decker has 2 catches with a touchdown. Tight End Matt Spaeth has gotten off to a good start this fall with 10 catches for 154 yards. The big mystery though is Wheelwright. How can a guy with his talent only have 3 catches through 3 games? I really hope there is nothing to this, and he’s primed for a breakout game. Against this inexperience Boiler secondary, the Gophers need all five of these guys to step up and exploit this.
Purdue’s defense suffered a huge blow in the first game of the year when strong safety Torri Williams suffered a season ending knee injury. The next week against Miami-OH, cornerback Aaron Lane also suffered a serious injury, this one to his shoulder. Neither will play against the Gophers this week. After Lane got injured in the Miami game true freshman Royce Adams replaced him and in turn got beat on a couple of TD passes. So at this point, Purdue is starting two true freshmen and two junior college transfers. It certainly looks like a vulnerable unit, and the 11th place ranking for Big Ten passing defense proves that. Since Purdue’s secondary is young, one big key will be to pressure the quarterback. The most likely person to apply pressure will be senior defensive end Anthony Spencer; he leads the team with 3 sacks. But as Gopher fans know, protecting the quarterback has been a big strength of the team over the past few years. If Purdue can get to Cupito I think they can keep the Gophers from having a lot of success through the air, but I think that the recent history of the Gophers suggests that won’t happen.
“¦rushing
Coming into the year it was assumed that the Gopher ground game would struggle, and to a point that is happening so far. It’s not been nearly as effective as it’s been the past three years, and perhaps most worrisome is that things do not appear to be getting significantly better. True Freshman E.J. Jones had a good fall camp and opened the Kent State game as a starter, but he has not played since suffering an ankle injury early in that game. It’s hoped he can return this week, but as is always the case Coach Mason will not discuss injuries. If Jones is able to return, that should really help to boost the Gopher running game. After Jones went down, sophomore Alex Daniels took over as the starter; a job he has held on to ever since. Even though Daniels has shown himself to be a decent runner, he’s far from the polished back the Gophers are used to. He is a good prospect though and should improve throughout the year as he gains experience. Still a mystery is Amir Pinnix. Mason made no secret in fall practice that Pinnix was not doing a good enough job to be the starter, and that continues now. Jay Thomas should continue to see an increased role in the offense as the season goes on and will start to give the Gopher offense different types of looks. All in all there are three guys (four if you count Jones) who seem to be on the level of “œdecent”, but none of them has really put an explanation mark on the spot and shown themselves to be the man. I still think that man has to be Pinnix, but until it happens I don’t expect the Gopher rushing attack to be anything better than slightly above normal.
Purdue’s defense has been better against the run than the pass, but the bad news is that even the rush defense hasn’t been that great. Against Indiana State, Purdue allowed 152 on 32 carries, and against Ball State allowed 94 yards on 22 carries. They did a better job against Miami-OH though, holding them to just 2.6 yards per carry. Purdue’s linebackers are in a bit of flux right now, as Joe Tiller has been moving people around trying to find a good combination. Junior Dan Bick leads the team in tackles with 33 despite being undersized at 6’1″ 218 pounds. On the line, Purdue is young and a little small at tackle. Junior Ryan Baker is in his first year as a starter and weighs in at 282, and Alex Magee is a first year starting sophomore who weights 275. Defensive End Anthony Spencer looks like he’s been the best guy on Purdue’s defense so far. The senior has been their best pass rusher and is tied for the team lead with 6 tackles for loss.
If it were just straight up Minnesota run against the Purdue run defense, I might call this a draw, but I think that the Gopher threat to throw the ball will keep the Boiler defense off balance and will allow the Gophers to run for some positive yards. It doesn’t have to be the 300 that it’s been in the past, but if the Gophers can get up there in the 150-200 yard range I think just about everyone would be happy.
Purdue on Offense
“¦passing
One thing has changed this year, one has not. Let’s start with what has changed. During most of the past few seasons, the Gophers would run up huge point totals against a cream puff non conference schedule. By the end of the non conference schedule Gopher fans would be wondering just how good their offense really was, since scoring 48 points against a bottom 10 team doesn’t really tell you much. This year Purdue fans are in the same boat the Gophers usually are in. The Boiler offense has been impressive to be sure, having scored 60, 38 and 38 so far. But like the Gophers in past years, all three point totals came against lower conference teams. So this battle against Minnesota should be Purdue’s toughest test to date, and should give them a better idea how good their offense is before the big game next week against Notre Dame.
What has not changed for Purdue is they have offensive talent, and in all likelihood will continue to move the ball on Minnesota. After watching what’s Cal’s receivers did to the Gophers, the area I’m most concerned about with Purdue is their wide receivers. Junior Dorien Bryant is the best of the bunch. He leads Purdue with nearly 300 yards receiving already and two touchdowns. He’s not the biggest guy on the field, but he’s fast and knows how to get open. He will be priority number one for the Gopher defense this week. Another guy the Gophers will have to watch is Selwyn Lymon. The big 6’4″ sophomore made his college debut last week and had 90 yards receiving on 8 catches. Another good receiver to watch is sophomore Greg Orton. He also has good size and has 175 receiving on the year. If those three weren’t enough, the Gophers will also have to keep an eye on the Boiler’s tight end, Dustin Keller. With 240 yards receiving already, he is also a threat to catch the ball. Throwing all these passes is junior quarterback Curtis Painter. Even though he didn’t face Minnesota last year, Painter eventually won the starting job from Brandon Kirsch and gained some valuable experience that is allowing him to do well so far this year. With all of these dangerous weapons it could be a long day for the Gopher back seven. They’ll have to eliminate the mistakes made in the Cal game if they are to have any shot to slow down Purdue.
“¦rushing
Not to be forgotten is Kory Sheets at running back. Gopher fan remember him from the 93 yard touchdown run he had against us last year at the dome. Sheets is just a sophomore this year and has future star written all over him (or maybe he’s already a star). Sheets is a threat to catch or run the ball, and is far and away the Big Ten scoring leader with 10 touchdowns already. What makes Sheets even better is the offensive line he has in front of him. Purdue’s line is big, experienced, and talented. Senior Mike Otto and junior Jordan Grimes lead the way. I think that this is a game where the Gopher linebackers are going to have to step up huge to stop Purdue’s run, because I’m not sure that our front four is going to fare so well against what could be the best offensive line in the Big Ten.
Special Teams
A positive for the Gophers this year has been the huge improvement in special teams play to date. Joel Monroe is one of the big stories of the year so far, having already recorded 9 touchbacks on the season (the team had only 10 all of last year). Minnesota will need those touchbacks on the kickoffs this week because Dorien Bryant and Kory Sheets make for a dangerous Boiler return duo. The other pleasant surprise has been the consistency of Jason Giannini at kicker. He’s missed just one extra point so far and is a perfect 4-4 on field goals. If the Gophers can keep this kicking up it could make the difference if this is a close game.
Bottom Line
Well, here we go again”¦. another Gopher – Boilermaker shootout. Would we want it any other way? Both teams have suspect defenses, and both teams have weapons on offense. Translation: POINTS. I think this game will be very similar to last years, where the game was tied 28-28 at the end of regulation and the Gophers won 42-35 in 2 OT’s. This year though, since Purdue is at home I believe they will be the one with the advantage. Every time the Gophers go up against a good offense, I pray that Please, PLEASE may this be the game where the defense turns it around, but so far I’ve been shut out on those prayers. I want to be surprised and see the Gopher defense come up big, but history tells us that’s not going to happen. The early weather forecasts says that rain / thunderstorms are likely, so who knows what kind of elements that could add into the mix. But weather aside, I’ll say:
Prediction: Purdue 38 ““ Gophers 31
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