Coming off of a bye week and with a home game against a struggling Iowa offense Purdue had some buzz as it looked to make a November run to a Big Ten West title.
Halfway into their matchup with Iowa, that buzz felt dead.
Between a mix of turnovers, lackluster offense, and big plays given up by the Purdue defense the Hawkeyes broke out to a 24-3 lead early in the second and were content to put the game in the hands of their stout defense the rest of the way.
While Jeff Brohm's teams have struggled in adverse weather conditions before, the windy and damp weather was hardly the sole reason to blame. Purdue was unable to convert an early 41 yard pass to Charlie Jones from Aidan O'Connell into points and were forced to punt from midfield. Jack Ansell pinned the Hawkeyes at their nine, but Spencer Petras hit Sam LaPorta for a 41-yard gain shortly thereafter. Just seven plays later Petras found LaPorta on 3rd and 8 for a 16 yard TD, LaPorta's first TD of the season.
O'Connell was then intercepted by Seth Benson and Kaevon Merriweather on Purdue's next two possessions, each on passes that sailed high over the middle. Just three plays after the first interception Petras found Nico Ragaini for a 29 yard score on a crossing route. After the second interception Purdue's defense managed to hold for a field goal, but with 6:11 left in the first half the Hawkeyes led 17-0 and had the luxury of sending out one of the nation's top defenses the rest of the way.
Purdue was able to reach first and goal at the Iowa 2 just before halftime, but despite nearly six yards per carry to that point by Devin Mockobee Purdue called three straight passes that resulted in two incompletions and a sack. Mitchell Fineran did get Purdue on the board with a 34 yard field goal, but any momentum going into halftime was quickly erased as Kaleb Johnson's 75 yard touchdown run on the second play of the second half essentially put the game away.
Purdue's defense did do an admirable job the rest of the way in trying to give the offense a chance by giving up only two more first downs, but Purdue finished the game 2 of 16 on third downs and 2 of 5 on fourth down. The passing game was never really in sync. Charlie Jones has been the next Purdue receiver to have a special year following Rondale Moore and David Bell, but he has been relied upon far too much. Although he had 11 catches for 104 yards today, that held the offense back. Only two other wide receivers had receptions today, the rest were either tight ends or running backs on check downs.
On several occasions, O’Connell had a back wide open in the flat, a receiver that was just getting open when he had the time, or just flat-out missed someone in favor of going Jones’ way. In the same way he had David Bell as a safety net, he treats Jones. Jones is a great talent and has had a special year, but in a Jeff Brohm spread-out offense, that’s not going to cut it.
On defense, the trend of allowing explosive plays continued against the least explosive offensive team in the Big Ten. A lot of their issues are due to bad tackling, but a play like Johnson's 75-yard touchdown run came about by a poor scheme that led to a nearly wide open run. Johnson would finish the day with 200 yards rushing after entering the game with 353 yards through eight games.
In the postgame presser, Coach Brohm said they’ve been beaten too often in those scenarios and need to change that. Whether that is playing a little bit of a different style, or blitzing linebackers less, it is yet to be determined. Petras finished with 192 yards passing and two touchdowns, but it is more troubling that he entered the game with only three TD passes on the season.
All of the mistakes of the early half of the season were covered up because of Purdue’s wins, but now they have nowhere to hide. That leaves a lot of questions to be answered going into the last three games of the season. The dream of a Big Ten West title is still alive if Purdue can defeat Illinois next week, but after two consecutive lackluster efforts the Boilers head to Champaign with some serious doubts.
