A 20/20 Snapshot of 2020 (Pt. 2)
Photo Cred: Mark Arron Smith
Yesterday’s look into the future was fun…this look ahead isn’t quite as enjoyable. Let us know, after reading the two, what you think will happen!
-BDowd
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Guest Post by Boilerson
Black Clouds
December 15, 2020—Twenty-twenty may forever be known as the yoyo season: After the frustrating opening loss at Nebraska, the thrilling shootout victory over #16 Memphis (finally an overtime win), the unexpected fourth-quarter collapse against Air Force, and a pair of double-digit wins over BC and Rutgers (Greg Schiano quickly learned that the Big Ten of 2020 is nothing like the Big East of 2006), our Boilers stood at 3-2. Then came the disappointing losses to Illinois (thanks in part to Jeff Brohm’s kryptonite: rain) and Michigan (thanks to some—ahem—creative officiating). And Brohm’s Boys dropped to 3-4.
The Northwestern game featured the unveiling of the “Make Rohrman Field Roar” slogan and the emergence of speedster Marcellus Moore. The slogan never took off, but Marcellus did: 140 yards receiving on the day, plus a TD catch and a jet-sweep TD run.
The Northwestern win pulled Purdue back to .500, with four games to go. But P.J. Fleck extended his mastery over Brohm, as the #17 Gophers crushed Purdue on a rainy November afternoon. That’s when Brohm’s Spurrier-like impatience with Plummer and AOC really flared. Plummer was benched at halftime. AOC started the third but was yanked after just three plays. The two-QB system ultimately morphed into a three-man rotation. But that didn’t meet Brohm’s high expectations, either.
Maybe it was the inconsistent play at QB. Maybe it was all the offseason changes. Maybe it was the distracting lights on the supersized scoreboard. Maybe it was those all-gold uniforms. (Nike calls them “Volt Gold.” But whatever you call them, we look terrible in them. Let’s toss them in the garbage.) Maybe it was the ongoing Rohrman Field controversy. (The social-media mob slamming what one group of protestors calls “the administration’s naked naming-rights greed” should remember that naming rights are in our school’s very DNA. After all, John Purdue donated land and cash in exchange for getting his name on a public university. And for that, we should be thankful; were it not for his donation and name, our favorite school would probably be called Indiana Polytechnic or Indiana A&M. There’s nothing sacred about the field where our Boilermakers play football—and nothing new under the sun.)
Whatever the reason for 2020’s frustrations, nothing seemed to give the offense the sort of traction needed to give the improved defense a chance to catch its breath. Even direct snaps to Rondale and Marcellus—Boilerdowd mockingly nicknamed it the “Goldcat” offense—didn’t do the trick. In the loss to Minnesota, the feast-or-famine O held the ball barely 20 minutes, leaving Diaco’s D gasping.
Even when the offense clicked, as in the Wisconsin game, it seemed to click too well. Purdue’s scoring drives against the #15 Badgers clocked in at 31 seconds, 58 seconds, 91 seconds and two minutes (plus Rondale’s scintillating kickoff return). But those 35 points weren’t enough to overcome the Badgers’ relentless second-half march through Ross-Ade. Purdue had the ball for just 9 minutes after halftime. And as the gigantic new scoreboard ticked down to triple zeroes that afternoon, Brohm found himself and his team—and his program—in familiar territory: forced to win out just to reach the six-win mark.
Purdue’s big-play offense scored enough and held the ball just long enough to surprise #13 Iowa. Brohm’s Boys then took out a year’s worth of frustration at IU. Purdue’s 55-point explosion not only humbled IU’s overhyped defense; it also marked the most points by a Brohm-led Purdue team. Fittingly, Purdue’s last score on a day full of big plays was a 77-yard catch by Rondale that began as a simple out-and-up and ended in a blur down the IU sideline. When BTN’s Kevin Kugler bellowed, “Ron…dale…Moore…is…gone,” those of us with ears to hear knew his words had a double-meaning.
The 6-6 record overall, 4-5 league mark and next week’s bottom-of-the-barrel bowl have left some fans (we call them idiots) clamoring for changes. Coacheshotseat.com has Brohm at #4 this week—behind Brian Kelly, Manny Diaz and Chip Kelly.
That said, even reasonable fans seem concerned that if Jeff Brohm can’t elevate the program back to where it was during the Tiller era, perhaps nobody can. There’s a sense that going all-in on Brohm was Purdue’s last chance to escape the Big Ten’s cellar. All of us at BS want Brohm to stay and keep building. All of us understand—and understood four years ago—that it would take time and resources to climb out of the hole it took years to dig before Brohm’s arrival. The 2013-16 seasons should remind the critics that things can be a lot worse. However, after the stunning turnaround in year one, all the wins over ranked opponents in year two and the hard lessons learned in year three, we would be lying if we didn’t admit that we expected something more than 6-6 (23-27 overall) at the end of 2020.
Equally troublesome, there’s a feeling of wasted talent and wasted years setting in. We now know that Rondale has played his last game at Purdue. It looks like two of the four QBs who took snaps this year are headed elsewhere. The recruiting class is ranked 78th—Brohm’s worst since arriving in God’s Country. And the AD says he’s “re-evaluating the scope and scale of the Ross-Ade renovation”—probably not the only thing he’s re-evaluating this Christmas break.
See you in Detroit.
If 10 wins seem like too much and six wins seem like too little, I’d be thrilled with splitting the difference at 8-4. Hammer Down!
