Chalk up this past week as a learning experience.
Jeff Brohm and his staff spent this past few days schooling players on areas that need sharpening coming off last Thursday’s disappointing 35-31 loss at home to Penn State.
“Every week is important,” said Brohm on Thursday. “I do think we had a rough start to the week. A lot of guys weren't real happy with the outcome. And that's good. We want that. I think we've gotten better as the week’s gone on. Our guys understand college football, you got to show up every week ready to play.
"We've got a lot of things to work on. We'd like to see improvement in all those areas across the board. We'd like to play hard, physical football for four quarters. I think it's important that all our guys understand that's what it takes to win."
One of the areas of focus this week as Purdue prepares to play FCS Indiana State in Ross-Ade Stadium on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET on BTN: Tackling.
“We've had a couple extra days to emphasize that,” said Brohm. “That's probably why people weren't happy at the beginning of the week. It's unfortunate. We've got to clean those things up. Tackling is always important. The few that you miss are going to be the ones that people remember. So, we've got to swarm to the ball. We've got to use our arms and wrap up and take to the ground and everybody's got to finish through the whistle.”
As for the offense.
“I think on offense, clean up penalties, just some silly things, missing alignments and things like that, we've got to get better at” said Brohm. “And then, of course, taking care of the football. Being efficient in both the running game and passing game is gonna be very important if we want to win.”
Purdue quarterback Aidan O’Connell was a busy man last Thursday, throwing the ball 60 times. But he completed only 30 of his attempts, throwing for 365 yards. He has things to clean up, too. Among them: Throwing the ball too early on occasion, and throwing off his back foot. There are other areas, too.
“So, I just think having a firm, strong base, following through on every throw, trusting the protection, allowing the receivers to get open when it is press coverage are the small things he needs to improve upon,” said Brohm. “If you throw the ball that many times with no interceptions was good. He did a good job of keeping two hands on in the pocket, but I do think there's a lot of things, a lot of small things, that he could do better.”
From an injury standpoint, Purdue is in solid shape. WR Broc Thompson will be a game-time decision (knee), as will DE Joe Anderson (illness). WR Elijah Canion will be out (knee) along with WR Abdur-Rahmaan Yaseen (knee).
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