OMHR Spots Purdue a Lead; Wins Anyway

Purdue winless skid in the Big Ten will inch at least another seven days closer to the 700 day mark, as the Boilers were unable to overcome a somewhat listless performance from Iowa today and lost on homecoming 24-10. An agreement was clearly reached between the two hated rivals prior to kickoff, as the Hawkeyes spotted Purdue an early 10 point lead. Frankie Williams continued to give Boilermaker fans something to be excited about as he took a pick to the house. Stop if you’ve heard this one – Purdue squandered early opportunities, though they still got the aforementioned lead. Their first two drives were of 29 and 27 yards, resulting in a punt and a missed FG. And I hope you enjoyed those drives, because Purdue didn’t get close to one that long again. In fact, the Boilermakers gained about 56 yards in the second half, if my numbers are right (doing math on the drives).

Iowa, for their part, did their best to keep Purdue in it, gained ten yards in the first quarter, while punting four times and being intercepted once for Frankie’s pick-six. That’s really the best possible way for the defense to start a game for Purdue and if you’re going to win a Big Ten game, taking a double-digit lead at home and having your opponent look befuddled for 25% of the game is a good start. Alas, it was not to be, as Purdue then went into their usual second half malaise a bit early this week.

Let’s just talk raw numbers, because they are as ugly as can be. Purdue had only 9 first downs all day (to 22 for Iowa), 156 total yards, and went a collective 13/32 passing. The fans appear to have almost had enough of the Danny Etling era, with Danny going 11/26 for 61 yards and a pick. Yeesh.

I know everyone wants a change at QB and maybe it’ll happen. The only excuse I can come up with for the coaching staff is that both guys are young and so maybe they’re worried about the same growing pains for Appleby. Who knows. I think that this point, you have to seriously consider Appleby starting – not just playing – next week. I don’t know how much better he is, but Etling has officially shown that Austin probably can’t be worse.

Purdue had no offensive flow and almost no offensive points (with only the field goal to show). It’s safe to say that any optimism people had after the up and down 2-2 start has withered away. This Purdue team suddenly looks just like last year’s, where you have almost no hope of them moving the ball or scoring more than ten points.

Not much to be said – this was a bomb. Your thoughts are welcome in the comments.