Purdue - What did we learn?

[Fru]

17 hours ago, Mavric said:

 

Maybe I'm just too much of a track guy, but I loved that.  I'm sure Carter isn't a 7-foot high jumper anymore, but he can fly.  Giving that a try was pretty creative.  Only a heads-up play from a Purdue LB kept it from working.  Although he did not really get loaded up to jump like he probably could have.

Purdue has one of the worst Rushing Defenses in FBS and we have 4 seemingly capable RB’s.
 

So a True Freshman WR getting his first carry at RB during a conference road game when it’s 7-3 in the 4th quarter on 3rd and Goal is the Frostian type of stuff I was hoping we were done with. 

[Mavric]

20 minutes ago, Fru said:

Purdue has one of the worst Rushing Defenses in FBS and we have 4 seemingly capable RB’s.

 

Against Illinois, we ran Dowdell on a 2nd & 1 and got stopped, the ensuing 3rd & 1 and got 1, a 3rd & 1 and got 1, a 1st & goal from the 2 and got 1.

Earlier in the Purdue game, we ran Dowdell on 3rd & 3 and got 0, Johnson on 2nd & 3 and got 2, Dowdell on goal-to-go and got 1.

 

We were not running at will.  We were rarely or barely getting the yards we needed.  And it's worse at the goal line, where the defense doesn't have to defend much territory.  Trying something they probably weren't expecting seems like a good change-up.

[Husker in WI]

19 minutes ago, Fru said:

So a True Freshman WR getting his first carry at RB during a conference road game when it’s 7-3 in the 4th quarter on 3rd and Goal is the Frostian type of stuff I was hoping we were done with. 

 

I don't think it's that big of a deal - leaping over the pile at the goal line is a reasonably effective short yardage play, and a high jumper is better equipped to get up over the pile than the RBs we have. My bigger issue is Rhule pretty much telegraphed the playcall a year ago, and there's really nothing else Nelson would be doing in the game. He tweeted this right before early signing day, then clarified in his press conference that it was in reference to Nelson and one of the roles they envisioned was a goal line I-Back, diving over the pile like Walter Payton.

 

Even without that context, any team that puts a tiny bit of effort into scouting knows that Nelson is a really good athlete with a currently limited package of plays. He's still a string bean, so we're probably not just having him run into the line. You're watching for a leap over or a play fake with him sprinting to the flat, and it was obvious from his first step that he wasn't going out for a pass. In hindsight a case where using him as a decoy and having Raiola bootleg out, or have a quick handoff to the FB while Nelson leaping over top would be better. But I don't have a problem in general with using him in a critical goal line package - if they're selling out on defense, get the ball to your athletes.

[Mavric]

 

[Mavric]

 

[MyBloodIsRed16]

38 minutes ago, Husker in WI said:

 

I don't think it's that big of a deal - leaping over the pile at the goal line is a reasonably effective short yardage play, and a high jumper is better equipped to get up over the pile than the RBs we have. My bigger issue is Rhule pretty much telegraphed the playcall a year ago, and there's really nothing else Nelson would be doing in the game. He tweeted this right before early signing day, then clarified in his press conference that it was in reference to Nelson and one of the roles they envisioned was a goal line I-Back, diving over the pile like Walter Payton.

 

Even without that context, any team that puts a tiny bit of effort into scouting knows that Nelson is a really good athlete with a currently limited package of plays. He's still a string bean, so we're probably not just having him run into the line. You're watching for a leap over or a play fake with him sprinting to the flat, and it was obvious from his first step that he wasn't going out for a pass. In hindsight a case where using him as a decoy and having Raiola bootleg out, or have a quick handoff to the FB while Nelson leaping over top would be better. But I don't have a problem in general with using him in a critical goal line package - if they're selling out on defense, get the ball to your athletes.

I used to have a frame by frame shot of Walter doing this on my bedroom door that I cut out of a Newspaper.  

[Red Five]

1 hour ago, Mavric said:

 

I mean, I doubt you watched enough - let alone graded - to really know.  So this is mostly confirmation bias.

 

But he really did have a very good game. Pretty much every throw was where it needed to be.  Several while avoiding the rush.  And even a decent amount of his incompletions where on-target throws.  

 

He obviously made one terrible throw.  But it's not really easy to find fault with much else he did.

 

 

 

 

ESPN QBR has him at a 33.9 for week 5, 14th out of 16th B1G QBs and 79th in the country.  (Also, that 33.9 is miles ahead of his prior 2 games, a 15.3 vs Oregon St and a 11.0 vs Notre Dame.)

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

20 hours ago, Savage Husker said:

I’m a Seahawks fan, I get terrible goal-line play calls. 

 

I hear you. That one will sting forever. Someone came to Pete Carrol's defense afterwards with the stat that Marshawn Lynch had 5 carries from inside the two yard line that season and only came away with one touchdown. Also something about they could afford to let the clock run on one unsuccessful rush, but not two, and a pass would either be a touchdown or an incompletion. I think they forgot about the third option, which to be fair is the same as a rushing fumble.  

[Guy Chamberlin]

19 hours ago, Mavric said:

 

Maybe I'm just too much of a track guy, but I loved that.  I'm sure Carter isn't a 7-foot high jumper anymore, but he can fly.  Giving that a try was pretty creative.  Only a heads-up play from a Purdue LB kept it from working.  Although he did not really get loaded up to jump like he probably could have.

 

Honestly? I kinda liked the call myself. 

[Mavric]

52 minutes ago, Red Five said:

ESPN QBR has him at a 33.9 for week 5, 14th out of 16th B1G QBs and 79th in the country.  (Also, that 33.9 is miles ahead of his prior 2 games, a 15.3 vs Oregon St and a 11.0 vs Notre Dame.)

 

QBR puts more weight on "important" plays.  So I'm sure he took a big hit for throwing the pick 6.  And that was obviously very detrimental to his team.  

 

But what other plays would you say he did a poor job on?

 

And PFF's grade for this week wasn't based on what he had done previously, so what his QBR was against Oregon State and Notre Dame has no bearing.

[Mavric]

 

[admo]

2 hours ago, Mavric said:

 

But, But, But.... 

How many flags were clearly missed and NOT called ?!! 

 

 

 

I'll see myself out

[Moiraine]

3 hours ago, Mavric said:

 

 

33 minutes ago, admo said:

But, But, But.... 

How many flags were clearly missed and NOT called ?!! 

 

 

 

I'll see myself out

 

 

 

Well…

 

We are also in the top 10 for penalty yards, as are (I think) Colorado and Purdue. More data is needed but this could be a refereeing crew thing. 

 

I think we can all agree the Colorado crew went crazy in the 2nd half and just had a fetish for caressing yellow linen. 

[admo]

20 minutes ago, Moiraine said:

 

 

 

 

Well…

 

We are also in the top 10 for penalty yards, as are (I think) Colorado and Purdue. More data is needed but this could be a refereeing crew thing. 

 

I think we can all agree the Colorado crew went crazy in the 2nd half and just had a fetish for caressing yellow linen. 

Totally agree.  That Colorado crew was the worst I ever saw.  It was a Prime example of refs sucking on the teet of Deion's Celebrity status.  

[Mavric]