Coach's corner: Purdue must deal with 1,700 pounds of Gopher offensive line

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When the Minnesota offensive line trots out on the Ross-Ade Stadium turf for Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff, it may block out the sun.

The unit goes 6-6, 325 at left tackle, 6-6, 325 at left guard, 6-5, 305 at center, 6-5, 345 at right guard and last but not least, 6-9, 400 at right tackle. No doubt, this will be the largest offensive line Purdue will face this season. Add it all up, and the Minnesota starting five weighs 1,700 pounds, an average of 340 pounds per man.

“We have to use our speed and quickness,” said defensive line coach Reggie Johnson. “We have to get off on the ball. And we have to get to our technique before they get to theirs. And that’s always the key when you are playing against larger guys. You have to be faster, you have to be more explosive and you can’t let them latch on and wear you down.”

Right tackle Daniel Faalele is the one who draws the most attention. The 6-9, 400-pound Australian is one of the biggest players in the nation. But, he’s still raw. In fact, despite all of this mammoth size up front, the Golden Gophers have struggled to consistently run the ball in 2019. Minnesota ranks just 11th in the Big Ten in rushing (123.7 ypg). The Gophers are 3-0. But, it's not a pretty 3-0, as the three victories have come by a combined 13 points.

It hasn’t helped that the Gophers have dealt with myriad injuries at running back. But Minnesota got good news this week when it learned senior back Shannon Brooks will make his 2019 debut this Saturday. He has been recovering from a torn ACL in his right knee and was held out of Minnesota’s first three games this year. Brooks has had two of the best games of his career at Purdue. He has 292 combined rushing yards in two games at Ross-Ade Stadium. No doubt, Purdue must be on guard.

“We need to get off the ball and play physical,” said junior defensive end Derrick Barnes. “I know this team is very physical. The backs are very patient. The o-line will wash it down and the running backs are gonna find their way through the gaps. We need to stay in our gaps and be physical and down hill.”

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Through three games, the Purdue defense has had its ups and downs—including the line. The unit is looking to bounce back after yielding 346 yards rushing in a 34-13 loss to TCU the last time out.

“Surprisingly, we are still a young group,” said defensive line coach Reggie Johnson. “We have a lot of youth that’s playing. But I do have a group of guys who I think are tough. I think they are smart. We just have to start doing things right late in the games to help us have success.”

Johnson is rotating plenty of bodies up front in hopes of keeping everyone fresh.

“We have guys with different skill sets,” said Johnson. “(End) Branson (Deen) is inside sometimes. (End) George (Karlaftis) is inside sometimes. (End) Kai (Higgins) is inside sometimes and you have your staple guys in there in (tackle Anthony) Watts and (tackle) Lawrence (Johnson), (tackle Jack) Sullivan. I have to keep rotating them. We wanna keep guys fresh in the fourth quarter so we can do things right late in games.”

Who has surprised Reggie Johnson the most? He had to pause a while to think.

"I don’t know if it’s a surprise, but I’ll say Lawrence,” said Johnson. “For him to play as many snaps as he has had to play. He has had some production. He has done a good job. The next guy I probably would say is Branson because again he is doing double-duty inside and outside. Those would be the two guys who have played a bunch the first few games who I would say are surprising.

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Purdue hasn’t forgotten what happened the last time it played Minnesota. It was ugly. It was embarrassing.

The Boilermakers were 5-4 overall and 4-2 in the Big Ten, still in the thick of the Big Ten West race as they played in the Twin Cities on November 10 of last season. Purdue had a lot on the line at kickoff in the frigid 21-degree temperatures. Plus, Purdue was facing a reeling Gophers team that entered the game allowing 43.2 points and 507.7 yards per game and had fired its defensive coordinator after allowing 646 yards in a 55-31 loss to Illinois.

Easy win for Purdue, right? Wrong.

Minnesota responded with a boffo effort, dominating the Boilermakers in a 41-10 victory. P.J. Fleck's club out gained Purdue, 415-233, and had 265 yards rushing to the Boilers' 65. The Gophers built a 41-3 lead and never looked back. The longest drive for Purdue, which entered the tilt averaging 485.2 yards in Big Ten play, was 30 yards until midway through the fourth quarter when it finally tallied a TD. Some say it was Purdue's worst loss of the 2018 season. Yes, even worse than the 63-14 defeat to Auburn in the Music City Bowl.

“It definitely was,” said junior defensive end Derrick Barnes. “I wouldn’t say we had the mind-set that we were gonna blow this team off the field. But we knew it was a team we had beaten (31-17) the previous year … I know if we had played strong, we could have blown them out of the water. It was one of those games when weather conditions weren’t so well. We hope to go out on our own turf and win.”

Purdue is off to a disappointing 1-2 start and needs to get on track as it takes the lid off Big Ten play vs. a Minnesota club that like Purdue was off last week. There is a sense of urgency for the Boilermakers with a trip to Penn State on the heels of this game. Still, junior safety Brennan Thieneman is unmoved, focused and isn't dwelling on that ugly loss last year in Dinky Town.

"Not too much," he said. "I think we focused this time around on just stopping the run. I think defensive-wise, we had them and we let it slip away, especially in the second half and we couldn't move the ball offensively. But we have some players back. I look forward to this game. I think we can stop them defensively if we are playing our game."

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