Arizona prep picks up this week for Purdue
Jeff Brohm was in no rush.
Purdue's first six practices for its bowl game against Arizona on Dec. 27 were largely light, focusing on fundamentals and without any hitting. Players ran around Mollenkopf's indoor field in helmets, shorts, mostly, and jerseys without shoulders pads.
That slower start allowed some players' bodies to heal, after the grind of a long season, and the coaching staff did filter in some Arizona film at times over those several weeks.
But practice cranked up in earnest Tuesday, as the Boilermakers were in full pads and cracking each other even during drills.
"It’s kind of game week," junior captain Kirk Barron said after practice. "We treated (Monday) like Sunday, so we didn’t do much. We kind of came in, watched the IU game, did corrections for that and then ran like we always do on Sundays. (Tuesday) is our Tuesday practice. Wednesday is off. Thursday is going to be our Wednesday practice. Then Friday is going to be our Thursday practice in helmets. So it feels like a game week. But instead of going to play a game on Saturday, we’re going to California.
"They’re doing what they’ve always done, and it’s always worked. They’re 3-0 in bowl games."
The first handful of practices lasted only 45 minutes or so, but Tuesday's was significant, clocking about two hours, as players started to get their first glimpse of the early makings of the game plan for the Foster Farms Bowl.
The last few weeks, Barron said players were just watching general game film of the Wildcats, but nothing in-depth like tendencies or specific breakdowns. But Tuesday that changed, and it'll continue to get deeper and deeper prep-wise leading into next Wednesday's game in Santa Clara, Calif.
"You kind of start to understand more the blitzes they bring, the percentages, kind of breaking down the personnel," Barron said about the approach now. " We’ve had the personnel for two weeks, maybe, a list of who’s going to be their projected starters, who’s going to be their backups and we started watching some film. So now we’re starting to get into details a little bit more."
Purdue's defensive challenge could be considerable with Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate considered a Heisman hopeful for 2018. He's a running quarterback similar to Louisville's Lamar Jackson except built more like an actual running back, Brohm has said.
But the Boilermakers' offense knows it'll have some challenges against Arizona's defense. Though young and not great statistically, the Wildcats do show a variety of looks and will try to disguise coverages until close to the snap. But Barron feels like Purdue's offense is ready to handle those things now more than ever, considering they'll have time to prepare and also have gained confidence from the last several victories.
"As an offense, the guys always said, if our defense keeps them to 21 points, we should win the ballgame. That hasn’t always been the case this year. But as we’ve progressed, been able to click a little bit more often in the passing game and in the running game, as you saw the last game we played, we were able to open up the offense a little bit more and kind of get into that Western Kentucky, Coach Brohm type of offense where we’re getting the ball down field for big plays," Barron said.
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