At times, it was painful to watch the Purdue offense last Saturday night. But upon further review, Jeff Brohm was generally OK with the play of quarterback Aidan O’Connell. At least for now.

“I thought Aidan did a decent job,” said Brohm during his Monday press conference. “I don't think it was one of his better games. But he made some throws when he had to. We need to do a better job with helping him and doing some things around him to take a little pressure off of him. But he was efficient.”

O’Connell hit 28-of-51 passes for 263 yards and two touchdowns for an offense that mustered just 265 yards during Purdue’s 27-20 loss to No. 23 Northwestern. It was a golden opportunity for the Boilermakers to gain an inside track on the Big Ten West title. But they let it slip away, suffering their first loss on the young season.

Purdue (2-1) will look to get back on track and maintain pace with division leaders Northwestern (4-0) and Wisconsin (2-0) as it heads to Minnesota for a Friday night game that starts at 7:30 p.m. ET on BTN. Could Brohm play sophomore Jack Plummer or junior Austin Burton under center vs. the Golden Gophers if O'Connell struggles?

“Jack and Austin will always be ready to play at any point we can stick them in,” said Brohm. “Without question, anything can happen. And as we prepare this week, we'll see where everybody's at. But all three of those guys will be ready to play.”

O’Connell had his issues on Saturday night. At times, he held on to the ball too long. His decision-making also was spotty, and he locked on to sophomore wideout David Bell too often. No doubt, Northwestern’s defense deserves some credit for containing O’Connell and the Boilermaker offense.

“But we just weren't good in general as much as we needed to be,” said Brohm. “So, we've got a lot of work to do to shore some things up and to be much more efficient at moving the ball. And Aidan is a part of that, and I'm sure he'll work hard to improve, as well.”

One of those areas that needs to be shored up: The running game. It was non-existent, as the Boilermakers ran 17 times for two yards. What is Purdue doing this week to amp up the rushing attack?

“Well, we're going to work hard on it,” said Brohm. “I think we have a better plan even as today moving forward to make sure that we stay a little more committed and we use a wide arsenal of different type of plays to help our guys be able to block and move people off the ball. And we had some struggles last year in a few games where we were able to get a little bit better at it.

“So, we just -- you know, I think we'll have a good week of practice. We've already mapped out a lot of things we want to do and we'll be very aggressive in using that attack to be more balanced and efficient.”

Another week passed, and still no Rondale Moore. Could the sophomore make his 2020 debut at Minnesota?

“Well, when he's healthy, we'll put him on the field,” said Brohm. “We're looking forward to that happening soon.”

Rumors swirled that Moore would play last week vs. Northwestern, but the school issued an email hours before kickoff stating he would be out … again. Brohm hasn’t said specifically why Moore is out. He hasn't played since Sept. 28, 2019, when he was hurt (hamstring) vs. Minnesota. In the offseason, Moore opted out to prep for the NFL, and then opted back in.

Is Moore even practicing?

“He's done everything that we've asked and more and he's worked hard to get back on the field,” said Brohm. “So, we're hopeful that will happen here soon.”

Like Moore, sophomore end George Karlaftis also missed Saturday’s game. He was hurt at Illinois on Oct. 31, when his left leg was rolled up on. Karlaftis dressed on Saturday and tried to play in pass-rush situations but wasn’t able to. Maybe Karlaftis will play Friday.

“Well, we're hopeful that will happen,” said Brohm. “I think he worked extremely hard last week to even give himself a chance to dress. He's way ahead of schedule, so we're hopeful that he has a good week this week and we're able to get him on.”

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