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SAN FRANCISCO — The season seemingly had to end this way.
With Purdue’s defense facing an ultimate test, just like it had done to start. With that same defense so many times rising to those challenges this season, delivering consistent effort and production. With a unit packed with seniors — starters Ja’Whaun Bentley, Da’Wan Hunte, Danny Ezechukwu, T.J. McCollum and Gelen Robinson — who have been so pivotal to the resurgence and playing their final games as Boilermakers.
When Purdue (6-6) steps onto another NFL field — it started there, too, at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium — on Wednesday to play Arizona (7-5) in the Foster Farms Bowl at Levi’s Stadium, it looks to cap a surprising, special season with a victory.
And if it does, it’ll likely be because the defense, again, delivered.
Because it’ll have to: The Wildcats have the nation’s third-ranked rushing defense, led by quarterback Khalil Tate, and average more points per game than all but five teams in the country (41.8 per game).
“I think throughout the season we always loved going into the games where everybody was like, ‘They can’t do this. They can’t do that.’ This is another one of those games where we’re going against a high-powered offense,” said defensive tackle Lorenzo Neal, who’ll likely need to play more snaps with Eddy Wilson out. “I think we’re excited to be able to show ourselves because a lot of people, especially on the West Coast, they don’t really watch Purdue a whole lot. People out here aren’t very familiar with Purdue. They don’t know what we’re about. I know Arizona is one of those teams everyone thinks is going to win the Pac-12 and do all those things next year, so we’re excited to see them in the time of the season this is because they’re expected to do so much next year.”
Naturally, Tate gets most of the publicity for the Wildcats. He didn’t move into a prominent role until mid-season against Colorado, and then he finished the season as a starter, racking up ridiculous rushing numbers. On the season, Tate has rushed for 1,353 yards, but it’s not just that: He averaged a whopping 10.2 yards per carry, the best average in the country. He’s done it largely from shotgun sets that oftentimes feature at least one, sometimes two, running backs with him, though when Arizona gets in third-and-long situations, it can spread out and go with four or five receivers and still lets Tate run freely, trying to take advantage of defenses that are stressed across the field.
He’s athletic, but he’s also strong and bigger than a typical running quarterback. Purdue coach Jeff Brohm said Tate is built more like a running back, weighing about 215 pounds.
Purdue will need to contain Tate’s dynamic ability and, somehow, limit his big plays. On his 12 touchdown runs, he averaged 47.7 yards. He has five rushes of 70-plus yards.
“We pride ourselves on stopping the run and keeping the ball in front of us and inside of us,” senior Danny Ezechukwu said. “We make teams drive the field. If you get those 75-, 85-, 95-yard drives, we tip our cap and have to go back to the drawing board and do something different. But more times than not, it’s hard for teams to consistently withstand long drives when we do what we can do.”
Purdue has generally been able to limit the run much of the season.
It has held five opponents under 100 yards — the most by a Purdue team since 2004 — and it is allowing 133 yards on average per game this year on the ground.
It’s always the plan to stop the run first and force teams to win by passing.
That’ll be the plan again.
It didn’t work well in Week 1 against another athletic quarterback: Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson torched Purdue’s defense for 378 yards (as well as rushing for 100-plus). But it could be a difficult proposition for the Wildcats, if it comes to that, because Tate isn’t particularly developed as a passer.
In the games he’s been forced to throw often, Arizona has not fared well. He attempted a season-high 35 passes against Oregon, completing only 18 and threw two interceptions in a 48-28 loss. Two weeks earlier, he was 14-of-31 with two interceptions against USC, a 49-35 loss. He has seven interceptions in the last six games.
He’s also a young quarterback, and Purdue often offers different defensive looks, especially on third downs, which could serve as an opportunity to confuse Tate. (If he doesn’t just take off and run when he’s confused.)
“I feel like when we get to third down, I feel like we could have a lot of success,” Ezechukwu said. “If we take away the run game like we’re supposed to and make them pass the ball in those third-and-long, third-and-medium situations and we can get to our exotic blitz packages, I feel like we could really confuse him and get off the field.”
Purdue could use a similar defensive game plan Wednesday as it had with Louisville’s Jackson. The difference, Purdue hopes, is it executes it much, much better.
If it does, it feels good about its chances to be celebrating a “winning” season by the evening.
“I think we’re way better, way more mentally ready just because we know all of our assignments,” linebacker T.J. McCollum said, comparing now to that opener. “That first game, there were a lot of missed assignments, a lot of people not doing what they were supposed to do but still having a close game. Not everybody had a feel for everything, the whole system. Now, I think everybody will play faster. We’re just going to have a great game.
“We just want to go out as a defense on top. Show that we have the best front seven, we’re the best in the country, not just in the Big Ten. I know they’re, like, the top three in rushing yards. We definitely want to go out there and showcase our front seven and show that we can definitely stop the run and make them change their whole game plan to what they’re not used to doing.”
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