Purdue's offense sputtered at Maryland, failing to get going in large part due to a dysfunctional offensive line.

The Boilermakers had only 205 yards, scored seven meaningless points late and lost 50-7. Tuesday, we talked to offensive coordinator Terry Malone.

GoldandBlack.com: What are your thoughts on Saturday?

Malone: "Well, not very good thoughts to tell you the truth. It was very disappointing. We did not block them well enough, we didn't throw the ball well enough, we didn't catch the ball well enough. It just was a pretty disappointing performance all around."

Q: How much of it was a domino effect from the tackles situation?

Malone: "It had an effect but you've got to be able to overcome those things. We were a little bit down at the tackle spot, but we made some adjustments during the game and yet it didn't seem like we could bounce back from it. And that can't be. We have to be able to take some punches and roll with it."

GoldandBlack.com: Did David Blough get a little jumpy because of the pressure early and then never feel comfortable?

Malone: "That's part of being a really veteran quarterback, understanding that we're having some problems and we have to make some adjustments and get it fixed.

"But you can not allow your quarterback to get hit as many times as our quarterback got hit and expect him to play well."

GoldandBlack.com: Maryland played press man coverage and brought a lot of pressure on third down. Did you anticipate that?

Malone: "Yes."

GoldandBlack.com: What made the Terps still effective?

Malone: "Well, we've got to block them better. I mean, knowing that they're going to bring pressure and blocking them is one thing. Knowing that they're going to bring pressure and not blocking, that's an issue."

Q: And Illinois can also bring pressure.

Malone: "It's not going to get any easier, we're in the Big Ten now so every team that we're going to play has very good players, so we'll have to attack them each week. Honestly, if we don't run the ball better and if we aren't physical, we're going to have an awfully hard time competing in the Big Ten. It's been that way forever."

GoldandBlack.com: And that's part of the problem, too, that you couldn't run block, either.

Malone: "No question. That was a disappointing part of it. Even if we weren't protecting really well, if we were running the ball like we should, like it's designed, then we can hang in there with teams. But if we can't run and we can't protect, that's ... that's ... tough cheddar right there."

GoldandBlack.com: You can move the personnel around a bit up front, but does that really solve things?

Malone: "Well, hey, we're going to play better. We're definitely going to play better than we did last week. Our guys understand that the performance was not anywhere near where we need it to be. And so, they're challenged right now and there's no more disappointed group than the group we have in the team room, so we're going to bounce back and play better this week."

GoldandBlack.com: Can it help you this week to go with a set five — Cameron Cermin at left and a healthier Matt McCann at right — during practices? Not to give you an excuse but you were juggling guys around last week.

Malone: "Honestly, there's no excuses for what happened. We have to play better. Certainly this week's practices with having the same guys playing in the same spots for three practices will help us."

Q: How much does it affect play-calling because of the struggles of the tackles? Do you try to get the ball out of the quarterback's hand quicker? Shorter drops? Anything like that?

Malone: "Yeah, it's a combination of things, because certainly Maryland was doing a good job pressing our receivers and making it hard to get off the press and forcing us to hold the ball a little bit longer than we'd like to. And when you do that, then you certainly need great protection."

GoldandBlack.com: You want to throw the ball down the field, but that's hard to do under pressure, so do you change your philosophy?

Malone: "Oh certainly you have to adjust, you can't just sit there and get hit every time, so we'll adjust what we're doing protection-wise a little bit but we'd still like to push it down the field. That certainly makes people pay for pressuring you and when we can get it picked up, we'd like to get the ball in our big guys' hands."

GoldandBlack.com: The offense had some third-down penalties that turned third-and-threes into third-and-eights and in some instances wiped out first downs. Where'd those come from?

Malone: "I wish I could answer that, because it's one of the things we'd been really strong with, we had not had many penalties. We had not hurt ourselves with playing dumb football, and that's playing dumb football. So you have to learn your lesson, take your medicine and you have to move on."

GoldandBlack.com: What else is concerning about Illinois?

Malone: "Illinois, they have two really good ends, their linebackers are really active. Their front four is probably the best front four we've played, so we'll have our hands full up front. So we're going to need to play at our best."

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