Iowa vs Purdue: The Grades Are In!

After a late night second viewing of the game, the grades are in for the 24-3 Iowa Hawkeyes defeat over Purdue. After an ugly, uninspired game, Purdue still is in the mix for the B1G West thanks to a Michigan State upset of Illinois. Purdue will travel to Illinois next week in hopes of keeping that dream alive. Illinois is now 7-2 with a 4-2 record in conference. Purdue is one of four teams with a 3-3 conference record.

With the wind circling around in Ross-Ade Stadium making the passing attack less than efficient, one would think - "establish the run!"

Early on Purdue featured Devin Mockobee. Even with the box fully loaded, Purdue was still getting bodies on bodies, to the tune of nearly 6 yards per carry in the first half. After a 15 yard Mockobee run put the Boilermakers on the two-yard line, the abandonment of the run game began. Purdue attempted a pass 3 times in a row from the two-yard line. Two incompletions preceded a third drawn up pass play from the two yard line where AOC was flushed from the pocket right and was dragged down for a 15 yard loss by Lukas Van Ness.

Talking after the game, Coach Jeff Brohm took part of the blame for play calling in this scenario. The second down play play which was an incomplete fade pass to TJ Sheffield on the left side had the option to be a run or pass. AOC chose to throw the fade. Purdue wouldn't get a better look at the end zone for the rest of the game.

That moment was a turning point in the game, instead of cutting the lead in half, the Boilermakers trotted out Mitchell Fineran for a field goal that moved the score to 14-3, Iowa. Devin Mockobee finished the game with 14 carries and 65 yards, he probably should have had twice as many carries on a day where AOC completed less than half his pass attempts.

Aidan O'Connell struggled for the second game in a row. In the last contest against Wisconsin, he threw three interceptions, he added two more to that this weekend, and now has ten on the season. O'Connell completed less than half of his passes, (20 of 43) for a measly 163 yards and no touchdowns.

Of those 43 attempts, 20 of the targets went to Charlie Jones who ended the day with 11 catches for 105 yards, but most were not pretty catches. Only two other wide receivers had catches (Two receptions for four yards). Iowa did a nice job of taking option #2 away in Payne Durham. Purdue really needs Broc Thompson back for the home stretch.

Purdue simply could not afford to let Sam LaPorta get going early on. But, early and often, Sam LaPorta was running free down the middle of the field. LaPorta finished with 3 catches for 71 yards and a touchdown, but that all came during a vital drive in the game that got Iowa's offense rolling.

Spencer Petras was only 13 of 23 for 192 yards and two touchdowns, but he did just enough during this gusty day in West Lafayette. He extended plays, worked the play-action pass game well, and managed the game. He did exactly what was asked of him - get Iowa in the right situations and manage the game. Oftentimes, you saw Petras checking into a run play or changing the run play at the line of scrimmage, this led to Kaleb Johnson's best game of the season.

Johnson had 22 carries for 200 yards, and a touchdown. Including the second-half opening 75-yard touchdown rush where he went right, cut away from two defenders, and ran the rest of the way up the sideline for the score. Johnson was often carrying multiple Purdue defenders and breaking tackles in the open field. Open-field tackling remains a problem for this defense.

The Purdue defense had two weeks to prepare for an Iowa offense that has been historically bad at times this season. Led by a freshman running back and a below-average quarterback, Iowa made the Boilermakers look foolish.

The problems from 2 weeks ago are still problems now.

This is a tough one to grade. Mitchell Fineran made a 34-yard field when called upon, but had no other chances throughout the game. Jack Ansell averaged just over 36 yards per punt, which is not terrible, considering he punted three of those right into the wind during the first quarter. Brendan Cropsey punted one time for 47 yards with a rugby-style punt.

The return game did not really spark anything for the offense. The kick-off coverage and punt coverage were solid, as they limited Iowa in the return game.

As mentioned earlier, the drive where the Boilermakers got to the two-yard line and did not score a touchdown changed the landscape and momentum of the game. Three pass attempts from the two was a questionable decision and still is today. The Boilermakers looked deflated for the remainder of the game after that failed drive.

Two weeks to prepare for this game as Coach Brohm stated, they got their butts kicked.