Upon further review: Purdue-Iowa
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Took one last look at Purdue’s 26-20 loss at Iowa. Upon further review, here are some things I noticed …
Purdue opened the game in a 4-3 defensive alignment with Semisi Fakasiieiki at middle linebacker between senior Ben Holt and sophomore Jaylan Alexander. Fakasiieiki is an end by trade but was moved to linebacker to bolster a unit depleted by injury. The 6-2, 250-pound junior looked good, finishing with four tackles and half-a-tackle-for-loss. He entered the game with two tackles and one TFL. I think he should stay at LB, where he is a tough, strong anchor on the interior. Spot him in at end as needed.
The defense bled yards in the first quarter, as Iowa ran 17 plays for 119 yards and held the ball for 10:25. But Purdue yielded only two field goals. Iowa led just 9-7 at halftime despite having the ball for 18:27 compared to Purdue’s 11:33. Iowa was just 2-of-7 on third downs in the opening 30 minutes. Kudos to coordinator Nick Holt's unit, which has yielded just five touchdowns in the last 10 quarters.
The offensive line had issues with penalties in the first quarter. The unit was called for three penalties in the opening 15 minutes. C Sam Garvin (ineligible downfield); T Eric Miller (false start); T Grant Hermanns (false start). Hermanns was then whistled for a hold in the second quarter. But the group settled down after that.
Redshirt freshman wideout Amad Anderson, Jr., played his fewest snaps of the season, just 29. His previous low was 34 vs. Vanderbilt in the second game of the season. His high is 59 at Nevada in the opener. Anderson's first quarter lost fumble in the red zone was costly and may have played a role in his limited snaps on Saturday. But, was it really a fumble? Taking a close look at the replay, it looked like Anderson was down before the ball was out. Even ESPN2 analyst Anthony Becht didn’t think it was a fumble. Bottom line: This shouldn’t have been ruled a fumble. It killed a 12-play, 52-yard Purdue drive that had reached the Iowa 18-yard line with the Boilers trailing, 6-0, with 11:55 to go in the second quarter.
Purdue’s fourth drive of the game was the “David Bell Drive.” It resulted in a touchdown to cut Iowa’s lead to 9-7 right before halftime. The Boilermakers ran seven plays for 78 yards. And Bell made four catches for 64 yards. And the freshman capped the drive with a sliding seven-yard TD catch. Bell finished the day with 13 receptions for a school-freshman record 197 yards and a TD.
As the first half closed, Purdue had the momentum and was receiving the ball to open the second half. The offense had driven to the Iowa 40-yard line … but that’s when Jack Plummer under threw a pass to David Bell that was intercepted by Hawkeye CB Riley Moss. (And Iowa S Geno Stone looked to take a questionable hit on Bell after the pick.) Iowa subsequently drove for a TD to take a 16-7 lead. That was Purdue’s second turnover in Iowa territory as it trailed, 9-7, early in the third quarter when this pick occurred. Killer.
Saturday was a mixed bag for redshirt freshman quarterback Jack Plummer. He was 16-of-22 passing for 162 yards with a TD in the first half. In the second half, he hit just 14-of-28 passes for 165 yards with a TD and pick. No doubt, leaky pass blocking impacted him. When Plummer was on the mark, he was hooking up with freshman David Bell, who grabbed 13 passes for 197 yards (school-record for a freshman) with a touchdown. But after Plummer threw his pick on a pass intended for Bell (about 12 minutes left in the third quarter), Plummer didn't complete a pass to Bell on each of the next five series. In fact, Bell's next catch came with less than four minutes left in the game. Add it up, and Bell went about 23 minutes between catches in the second half.
After cutting Iowa's lead to 19-13 with 2:59 left in the game (and with three timeouts remaining), Jeff Brohm opted for an onsides kick instead of a traditional kickoff. The decision was questioned by some, including ESPN2 analyst Anthony Becht who said right before the kickoff: "I absolutely want to kick this off."
Purdue went with an onsides kick ... and it was an ineffective effort by kicker J.D. Dellinger. Iowa recovered with ease. And the Boilermakers exasperated things when Jackson Anthrop flopped on Hawkeye Nico Ragaini who recovered the ball, incurring a 15-yard personal foul penalty. The Hawkeyes got the ball at the Purdue 35-yard line and scored a clinching TD two plays later to take a 26-13 lead with 2:16 left in the game. Purdue tacked on a late TD with 24 seconds left in the game, but it was too little, too late.
"I don't like this 100 percent," Becht went on to say. "You got three minutes on the clock. You kick this ball off. Your defense is playing lights out today. You gotta trust in what they are doing. Now, not only do they get the ball at the 50, they are gonna tack a penalty on. And it's almost gonna put them in field-goal range."
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