Purdue offense should recover, but Brohm says has to 'see it to believe it'

The most daunting challenges are over, it seems.

Purdue’s offense struggled mightily against the best defenses it likely will face in the Big Ten this season, managing only one touchdown and 410 total yards against Michigan and Wisconsin, both elite-level units with superior talent up front and the athleticism, physicality and press-man schemes in the secondary to gain the edge.

For the first time in his head coaching career, Jeff Brohm’s offense didn’t score a touchdown Saturday. The Boilermakers certainly had chances against the Badgers, reaching the red zone three times, including sitting with a first-and-goal from the 10 in the fourth quarter. But they couldn’t cash in.

That did not leave Brohm feeling very good afterward either.

He flat-out said it wasn’t one of his better games as a play caller.

“I’m not going to lie, I was disappointed after the game in myself,” Brohm said Monday during his weekly press conference. “I was disappointed that we weren’t able to score. It’s never fun when you can’t do that. It’s always good when you hate losing, and it makes you angry. I know that we have plenty of work to do, and I don’t take anything for granted. I’d love to be able to find a way to get the thing going and score some points, and that’s going to be the goal.

“But I’ve got to see it to believe it.”

There could be easier roads ahead, at least.

The second-half schedule includes six teams that rank in the bottom half of the league at this point in many key statistical defenses categories — in scoring defense, five of six opponents rank in the bottom seven; in total defense, four of six; in rush defense, four of six — and Purdue (3-3, 1-2 Big Ten) has shown it can produce bigger chunks of yardage and score more points against those types of units so far this season.

Taking Michigan and Wisconsin out of the equation, Purdue averaged 454.5 yards of total offense, 34.5 points, 4.3 offensive touchdowns per game and 162.3 rushing yards in four games. (Those Michigan-Wisconsin totals: 205 yards, 9.5 points, .5 touchdowns and 48 rushing yards.)

Its offensive line and, thus, run game was much better against less-physical and aggressive fronts, and its quarterbacks were much better against defenses that do less disguising, play more zone and have fewer athletes at linebacker.

Starting quarterback Elijah Sindelar completed 58 percent of his passes for 511 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions in four games not against Wisconsin or Michigan, a 14-percent boost in completion percentage alone. David Blough didn’t attempt a pass against Wisconsin — he played only three snaps and was sacked twice — but he was only 5-of-13 for 32 yards against the Wolverines. In his four other games, he completed 74 percent of his passes for 656 yards, seven touchdowns and four INTs.

So there are signs Purdue can return to its point-producing days on offense soon.

“I think our guys are working hard. I think they’re giving us great effort. We’re just not able to win at certain times. When that’s the case, we’ve got to figure out a few different things to do,” Brohm said. “Whether it’s run the ball more or move the pocket more or play action more. Whatever we can do to find ways to move the chains. We had some moments but once again, just too many negative plays, and that’s been the problem. Too many big losses. We have to find a way to not do that, and that may mean be a little more conservative or doing a few things different.

“We’re hard at work to try and find a way to fix it. Hopefully, I want our guys to believe they can get it done because they can, but we’ve just got to work hard at it.”

Brohm more conservative? That seems unlikely.

He typically schemes for some kind of trick play regardless of the opponent, whether it’s some version of a flea flicker, a throwback to the quarterback or just mixing up the offensive package by adding, like last week, a speed option or diversifying personnel groupings and tweaking formations.

But the more Purdue faces zone defenses, the bigger chunk plays it has seemed to hit. Of the team’s 29 pass and run plays of at least 20 yards on the season, only six came against Wisconsin and Michigan.

With that in mind, Brohm thinks it’s possible his offense will see more man coverage — and, probably, pressing on the outside receivers — going forward because it’s an area Purdue has struggled.

“I think (Rutgers is) pretty consistent with what they do,” he said. “Front-wise, they’re going to try to take away the run and even when they play a two-safety look, they’re going to press on the outside. I’m sure teams are going to want to press even more now. We’re going to work hard to figure out ways to find ways to get open and move guys around. I did think we were able to motion some guys and, at times, when we got open, once again, we either didn’t have time to throw it or our quarterback didn’t sit in there long enough to throw it because there were some guys open a few times. We’ve got to get better at it, but I anticipate them challenging us.”

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