TCU 34, Purdue 13: Grading the Boilermakers

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It's time to hand out grades after Purdue's 34-13 loss to TCU.

Purdue entered the game No. 3 in the nation in passing, averaging 466.0 yards per game. Elijah Sindelar was No. 1 in the country in attempts (104), completions (68), yards (932) and TD tosses (9). But the Boilermaker aerial attack had no air with the fifth-year senior sidelined with a concussion.

In his Purdue debut, redshirt freshman Jack Plummer threw for only 181 yards, hitting 13-of-29 passes with a touchdown and two interceptions. The best friend of any quarterback is a good rushing game. Plummer didn’t have that “friend,” which was a big reason why he struggled. (More on that later.)

Sophomore wideout Rondale Moore was rendered ineffective by TCU. He entered the game first in America in catches (24) and receiving yards (344). But TCU sat on him all night, as Moore made just three receptions for 25 yards. (He didn't get catch No. 3 until the fourth quarter.) His long grab was only 13 yards.

Fifth-year senior tight end Brycen Hopkins was the lone bright spot, making four grabs for 77 yards. And hat’s off to redshirt freshman wideout Amad Anderson, Jr. on his first career TD catch. It also was Plummer's first career TD toss.

GRADE: D

From Game No. 1 at Nevada, running the ball has been an issue. The Boilermakers rushed 29 times for 96 yards at Nevada; Purdue ran 18 times for 31 yards vs. Vanderbilt; the Boilers carried 25 times for 23 yards against TCU. It’s just not working for Purdue on the ground in 2019. And, the squad may be toothless all season trying to run the ball in conventional ways. There is a lack of dynamic running backs, and the line isn’t physical. The Boilers rank 128th in the nation in rushing (50.0 ypg); only two schools in America (Akron and Texas State) average fewer yards rushing.

True freshman King Doerue ran a career-high 11 times for 27 yards. Sophomore Zander Horvath carried four times for 19 yards—all in the first half. Purdue never possessed the ball longer than six minutes in any quarter, a testament to its inability to move the chains with its run game.

GRADE: F

Punchless. Toothless. Impotent. Pick either one of those adjectives. They all are an apt description of Purdue’s offense on Saturday night vs. TCU. The Boilermakers were handcuffed by not having Sindelar and his savvy. Time and again, Plummer was pressured. He was sacked three times. It could have been worse. When Plummer wasn’t getting heat, he was handing off. That didn’t work, either, as the line’s struggles continued. It’s becoming a theme. (Interestingly, OT Grant Hermanns was the highest graded Purdue offensive player by Pro Football Focus; G Mark Stickford was No. 5.) Any coach will tell you that if you aren’t good up front, you will struggle—no matter who the skill-position players are. Well, welcome to Purdue’s reality. One last stupefying fact: The Boilermakers ran just 54 plays; TCU ran 82.

GRADE: D

TCU played two quarterbacks: Kansas State transfer Alex Delton and freshman Max Duggan. Neither was effective generating much of a passing game. Delton—the starter (19 snaps)—connected on 1-of-6 passes for five yards with an interception; Duggan (64 snaps) completed 7-of-18 attempts for 70 yards with a touchdown. Add it all up, and the Horned Frogs were a ghastly 8-of-24 passing for 75 yards with three sacks allowed. The longest completion went for 22 yards. And often, the TCU signal-callers misfired. When the Frog signal-callers weren't misfiring, the wideouts made several drops. Star wideout Jalen Reagor made just three catches for 29 yards. Purdue had three sacks.

GRADE: A

It didn’t matter that TCU's passing game had all of the effectiveness of a Pop Warner team because the Horned Frogs could run at will.

TCU carried 58 times for 346 yards and three touchdowns, averaging 6.0 yards per carry. Darius Anderson (179) and Sewo Olonilua (106) each eclipsed the 100-yard mark, often running through tackles. Anderson averaged a whopping 11.2 yards per tote. The TCU backs got better as the game went along, wearing down a Purdue defense that spent too much time on the field (82 plays for TCU) largely because the Boilermaker offense couldn’t control the ball (just 54 plays for the game). Time of possession tells that tale—TCU 40:33; Purdue 19:27.

Let’s mention that senior Ben Holt had 17 tackles, the most by a Boiler since Willie Fells had 20 against Iowa on Nov. 1, 1997. Nickel back Simeon Smiley and "Leo" Derrick Barnes played well. Next!

GRADE: F

The unit started out pretty well. Yes, it got gashed in the ground game in the second half. Still, when the teams went to the locker room at the break, Purdue trailed only 13-6. It was still a ball game. And, that was because of the Boilermaker defense.

But the defense slowly wilted in the second half, when TCU ran for 186 of its 346 yards and gained 233 of its 421 total yards. Rotating fresh bodies didn’t matter by then for Purdue, as TCU was like a hot knife through butter vs. the Boilermaker defense. The physical Horned Frogs running backs were running through Boilermaker tacklers.

A positive? End George Karlaftis had a sack, two TFLs and his first career pick to go with six tackles. The last Purdue true freshman with an interception and a sack in a game was Torri Williams at Iowa on Nov. 6, 2004.

GRADE: C-

These units remain a mixed bag.

It was good to see junior kicker J.D. Dellinger bang home a career-high 53-yard field goal, third-longest in school annals. It would have been good from 63 yards. He also hit a 31-yarder. And all three of his kickoffs were touchbacks. Take a bow, J.D. But other than that, the special teams didn’t provide a lift.

The punting was solid, as Purdue averaged 44.1 yards on seven boots with two inside the 20-yard line. True freshman Brooks Cormier bounced back from a bad Vandy game, averaging 46.4 yards on five punts. Zac Collins made his punting debut (two for 38.5 average). Danny Carollo had been the pooch punter the first two games.

The return game was a total non-factor. Rondale Moore was No. 1 in the nation in all-purpose yards (229.5 ypg) entering the day; he had 80 vs. TCU. Decision-making still can be dubious at times. Curious as to why Moore fair caught two kickoff returns in the second half. Why not try to make a play in the open field?

The Boilermaker coverage teams were OK. TCU had a long punt return called back by penalty.

GRADE: C

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