MORE: 10 things you need to know about the Minnesota loss | GoldandBlack.com Blog | Gold and Black Radio Express | Final Thoughts | The 3-2-1 | Grading the Boilermakers | Gallery

PDF: Purdue-Minnesota stats

Re-watched the Purdue-Minnesota game. Here are observations and analysis of key moments and events from the Boilermakers' 38-31 defeat.

The leaks in the secondary began from the first play of the game, with sophomore Kenneth Major getting beaten for a 17-yard catch by a wide-open Rashod Bateman. Major was benched soon thereafter in favor of redshirt freshman Cory Trice and never returned. The Gophers culminated a nine-play, 75-yard game-opening drive with a touchdown. And Minnesota never looked back. Major played just five snaps; he played 76 at Nevada; 82 at Vanderbilt and 81 vs. TCU. Trice played a season-high 54. He had played nine total all season entering Saturday.

"Major came up and gave up a wide-open pass," said Jeff Brohm. "Didn’t like it. We want people to do things right. I don’t think it’s that hard to play your guy. He has done some good things. He will find a way to fight his way back in there. But we had guys running free all over the place. The second half, we told our guys , the guys who are playing hard and want to compete will stay in. If you’re not, you’re out. You aren’t going back in. I think they appreciated the honesty. And we saw a better performance in the second half."

Purdue’s defense looked just as lost on the second drive of the game, when sophomore cornerback Dedrick Mackey was beaten badly by Minnesota’s Chris Autman-Bell for a 70-yard touchdown catch. It was a two-play, 75-yard drive. Purdue’s linebackers got sucked up to help with the run, leaving Mackey exposed. Autman-Bell was untouched.

Story continues below photo

Purdue’s season changed forever on the Boilermakers’ 11th play from scrimmage on its third possession of the game. That’s when it happened. That’s when both quarterback Elijah Sindelar and wideout Rondale Moore got hurt … on the same play. It was a surreal scene in Ross-Ade Stadium that cast a pall over the proceedings. Sindelar was rolling to his left when he was sacked from behind by Tai’yon Devers for a seven-yard loss. Sindelar landed on his left shoulder. He was escorted off the field but later returned to watch from the sideline. Down field, Moore had a misstep while running a route and hyper-extended his left knee. He fell to the ground at midfield and held his left knee. He tried to walk after being helped up but quickly collapsed, causing an audible gasp from the crowd. Moore spent an extended stretch in the medical tent before leaving the field on a cart. Redshirt freshman Jack Plummer came on to finish the 11-play, 71-yard drive with a seven-yard touchdown pass to running back Zander Horvath to cut Minnesota’s lead to 14-10.

"It’s just one of those years," said Jeff Brohm. "Some years, things happen to go your way. Others they don’t."

Story continues below photo

With Rondale Moore out, Purdue needed more from its tight ends. It didn’t happen. Fifth-year senior Brycen Hopkins was a non-factor on Saturday. He played 61 snaps but didn’t make a catch. He couldn’t haul in a pass that was a tad low on Purdue’s first drive of the game. Later, he was unable to corral a high pass along the Purdue sideline. And that was it: Hopkins was targeted just two times. Fellow tight end Payne Durham was targeted just once and didn’t make a catch after playing 29 snaps. So, the Boilermakers got no production from the tight end position vs. Minnesota. In the post-game press conference, Brohm mentioned his tight end was “throwing up” on the sideline.

Purdue struggled to deal with Minnesota’s run-pass-option play. Time and again, the Gophers ran a RPO with quarterback Tanner Morgan pulling the ball out of the running back’s belly at the mesh point, rising and hitting an often wide-open Minnesota wideout who was running a slant vs. Purdue’s zone coverage. It happened on the Chris Autman-Bell 70-yard TD catch in the first quarter and on the 45-yard Rashod Bateman TD grab in the second quarter. The TV replay highlighted Boilermaker linebacker Cornel Jones often frozen in indecision, not playing the run or pass … allowing Minnesota to make big play after big play. Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan set a Big Ten single-game record for completion percentage (95.5 percent, minimum 20 attempts) by hitting 21-of-22 passes for 396 yards with four touchdowns.

"I am very disappointed in our pass defense," said Jeff Brohm. "I have been for a while."

Purdue played nine offensive linemen on the day--a season-high. Jeff Brohm had said leading into the game that the staff wanted to play more linemen to create more competition. Redshirt freshman Eric Miller (tackle), redshirt freshman Jimmy McKenna (guard), sophomore Mark Stickford (guard/tackle) and sophomore D.J. Washington (guard) all played off the bench. The starters were from left to right: Grant Hermanns, Alex Criddle, Viktor Beach, Matt McCann and Will Bramel. Hermanns and Beach each played all 86 snaps. Of the reserves, Stickford played the most (24 snaps). McKenna played (19). But Jeff Brohm after the game said: "When we are playing nine, it probably means we aren’t where we need to be."

After the TCU game, Purdue talked about using wideout Jackson Anthrop as a running back on occasion to spice up the ground game. But the junior was credited with just one carry for three yards vs. Minnesota. And that came early in the game. But with Rondale Moore out, Anthrop was targeted 10 times as a wideout; only David Bell was targeted more (14). Anthrop finished second on the team with seven catches for 66 yards. He played a season-high 63 snaps. He entered the game with 56 snaps in three games.

With Rondale Moore out—for who knows how long—you have to think any thought given to redshirting freshman wideout TJ Sheffield is over. In fact, this was his first action since the Nevada game when he played a scant two snaps. Sheffield figures to play more. And fellow freshman receiver Milton Wright should see his snap count, rise, too. Sheffield played a season-high 15 snaps vs. Minnesota, while Wright played a season-high 39.

Purdue battled back to cut Minnesota’s lead to 38-31 with 3:59 left in the game and three timeouts in its pocket. But the Boilermakers failed to get the ball back, as the Gophers ate up the rest of the game clock by running eight plays on the drive. Purdue had a golden chance to get the ball back, getting Minnesota in a third-and-6 at the Gopher 29-yard line with a chance to force a punt with 3:05 on the clock and two timeouts. But Boiler corner Simeon Smiley was whistled for pass interference on Tyler Johnson. First down, Gophers. Purdue never got Minnesota in another third-down situation the rest of the game. It was a good call on Smiley, who got his left hand up high on Johnson and got some jersey, too. It would have been some high drama if Purdue had gotten the ball back with a chance to tie the game.

Membership Info: Sign up for GoldandBlack.com now | Why join? | Questions?

Follow GoldandBlack.com: Twitter | Facebook

More: Gold and Black Illustrated/Gold and Black Express | Subscribe to our podcast

Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2019. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.