Boiling Point

Tiller likes linebackers

Josh Ferguson and Dan Bick have held up nicely by splitting time at middle linebacker this season, and Purdue coach Joe Tiller is happy for it.
Tiller and his staff were concerned enough about the ability of the injury-plagued combo to make it through the season that Anthony Heygood was getting reps in the middle during training camp. Heygood is the starter on the strong side.
Ferguson was coming off shoulder and hip injuries, and Bick was bothered by a neck injury. Ferguson re-injured the shoulder this season but didn't miss any time, and Bick hasn't missed a game.
They both have 46 tackles. Bick has two sacks, and Ferguson has deflected five passes.
"We felt like (Ferguson) was a good player from tackle to tackle," Tiller said. "He has some limitations the further the ball got removed from him. But we thought he was a good player from tackle to tackle, and that's been true throughout the course of the year.
"The way we've rotated them and played (Bick) mostly in nickel and dime situations has helped Bick, and the fact we haven't put him on the field and let him on the field for a full game has helped him."
Tiller isn't only pleased with the play in the middle. He also thinks starting weak-side linebacker Stanford Keglar is playing his best since he's been at Purdue. Keglar is second on the team in tackles with 51.
Tiller thinks Heygood, in his first full season at the position, will only improve, and Tiller likes how Jason Werner has progressed. Werner has been worked in slowly because of issues with his back, but he had a team-high six tackles last week and also added a sack.

• Tiller said the team came out of the Northwestern game healthy and didn't have any injuries to report Tuesday.
• No changes on the depth chart, and that includes Kory Sheets still being listed as the starter at running back. Tiller said not to make much of that designation because Jaycen Taylor still will get plenty of carries. Sheets started last week, and Taylor wound up with a game-high and career-high 20 carries.

-- By Stacy Clardie, The Journal Gazette

Purdue beats Northwestern

Dustin Keller usually is all about dancing to "Shout" during the break between the third and fourth quarters.
But Saturday, there was nary a bounce or a raise of the hand when standing in the huddle with teammates waiting for the end of a TV timeout.
It was time to be focused with Purdue trailing 17-14. He knew it, and so did his offensive teammates.
Dorien Bryant said he and Keller gathered the rest of the players in the huddle.
"We got the point across," said Bryant, whose team proceeded to drive for the go-ahead score in an eventual 35-17 victory. "We don't have to yell. We don't have to, 'You do this. You do that.' We know what we have to do. It's kind of an understood thing, and we just went at it."
Purdue ripped off a 10-play, 69-yard drive capped by Jaycen Taylor's 1-yard touchdown run. It didn't lose the lead again.
For this team, full of experienced players on offense, that was huge.
The Boilermakers had yet to be in a close game heading into the final quarter this season -- I suppose you could count Ohio State, but Purdue never really had a chance in that game -- and to show they could step up and produce when a victory was on the line was encouraging.
But not necessarily surprising to the players.
"When our guys don't just say they want it, but really want it, I don't think there's too many people that can stop us," Bryant said. "But when we're really on and want to do something, we'll be able to do that. That happened in the fourth quarter."

-- By Stacy Clardie, The Journal Gazette

Boilers bowling again

The Boilermakers became bowl eligible for the 10th time in 11 years under Joe Tiller with a 31-6 victory over Iowa Saturday, and it was an encouraging victory. At least in the sense that Purdue's offense showed some life for the first time in three weeks.
As expected, Iowa rarely blitzed, and that gave Purdue quarterback Curtis Painter typically plenty of time to be able to make his reads and find receivers. A good sign for the Boilermakers offensive line: on the several occasions Iowa did blitz, Purdue did a pretty good job of picking it up. On Painter's first of two touchdown passes to Dorien Bryant, running back Jaycen Taylor and tackle Sean Sester absorbed the extra rushers to give Painter just enough time to make the connection.
Purdue also went back to running the ball more against the Hawkeyes with 42 carries. The average wasn't great -- only 2.8 per carry -- but starter Kory Sheets had 71 yards and Jaycen Taylor played well in his first game back since breaking his left arm in Week 3 (67 yards on 19 carries).
All in all, scoring 31 points while mixing up the offensive play-calling made this a nice victory for the Boilermakers.

-- By Stacy Clardie, The Journal Gazette

Total recall

Purdue's most lopsided loss last season was at Iowa where the Boilermakers were manhandled in a 47-17 game that feature the Hawkeyes rushing for 286 yards.
It's a game Purdue's players haven't forgotten, especially the players on the defensive line.
"They ran over us last year literally," tackle Ryan Baker said. "Let's put it that way. We've talked about it all year. Our defensive line coach has brought this game up probably every week, and we've probably seen that tape 30 times. That's not an exaggeration. That was motivation in the summer because you don't like it when someone runs over you. It's going to be fun to play them."

• Minor changes to the two-deep this week. Garret Miller is listed as the backup to Zach Jones at right tackle, and Elliot Hood is Sean Sester's backup at left tackle. Adam Wolf also moved onto the depth chart at safety behind Justin Scott with former No. 2 Torri Williams out for the season with an injury.

-- By Stacy Clardie, The Journal Gazette

Offense disappears ... again

Another game against a physical defense, another game in which Purdue's offense hardly shows up.
This two-game stretch reminds me a lot of the two-game stretch last season when the Boilermakers stalled against Wisconsin and Penn State. The offense starts hot against lackluster competition but as soon as it faces decent defenses, it goes in the tank.
The most obvious reason in a 48-21 loss to Michigan was the lack of protection for quarterback Curtis Painter. But when I asked center Robbie Powell after the game if he thought the line played poorly, he was hesitant to give an answer. He finally said he didn't think they were awful and had to "watch the tape" (a common answer Saturday). Coach Joe Tiller said he thought Painter panicked in the face of some of the pressure.
But the passing game didn't get much help for the second consecutive week from the running backs. Purdue had only 39 yards on 25 carries. That could perhaps be some offensive line issues, too.
That unit had players rotating Saturday, including Garret Miller getting some time at right tackle for Zach Jones and Cory Benton giving Zach Reckman a breather at guard. I saw Jones and Benton both get beat at least once that led to either a sack or an incompletion.
Play caller Bill Legg wouldn't place the blame on any one unit. But he certainly is having trouble understanding the struggles. He said he was surprised by the offense's lack of output last week and disappointed this week.
"You can't disappear when the game gets big," Legg said. "Why else do you play? Don't you think you ought to be a little excited about playing last week against the No. 1 rated defense in our league on national TV and then this week against a team that has won more games than anybody in the history of the game again on TV? You can't disappear when games get big. You've got to step up and compete. It takes 11 guys to do that. We made some adjustments coming off of last week. ... Evidently, we're going to have make some more adjustments, more changes, more corrections."

-- By Stacy Clardie, The Journal Gazette

Purdue thumped at Michigan

Another game against a physical defense, another game in which Purdue's offense hardly shows up.
This two-game stretch reminds me a lot of the two-game stretch last season when the Boilermakers stalled against Wisconsin and Penn State. The offense starts hot against lackluster competition but as soon as it faces decent defenses, it goes in the tank.
The most obvious reason in a 44-21 loss to Michigan was the lack of protection for quarterback Curtis Painter. But when I asked center Robbie Powell after the game if he thought the line played poorly, he was hesitant to give an answer. He finally said he didn't think they were awful and had to "watch the tape" (a common answer Saturday). Coach Joe Tiller said he thought Painter panicked in the face of some of the pressure.
But the passing game didn't get much help for the second consecutive week from the running backs. Purdue had only 39 yards on 25 carries. That could perhaps be some offensive line issues, too.
That unit had players rotating Saturday, including Garret Miller getting some time at right tackle for Zach Jones and Cory Benton giving Zach Reckman a breather at guard. I saw Jones and Benton both get beat at least once that led to either a sack or an incompletion.
Play caller Bill Legg wouldn't place the blame on any one unit. But he certainly is having trouble understanding the struggles. He said he was surprised by the offense's lack of output last week and disappointed this week.
"You can't disappear when the game gets big," Legg said. "Why else do you play? Don't you think you ought to be a little excited about playing last week against the No. 1 rated defense in our league on national TV and then this week against a team that has won more games than anybody in the history of the game again on TV? You can't disappear when games get big. You've got to step up and compete. It takes 11 guys to do that. We made some adjustments coming off of last week. ... Evidently, we're going to have make some more adjustments, more changes, more corrections."

-- By Stacy Clardie, The Journal Gazette

A sign?

I'm in my hotel about 15 miles from Ann Arbor, Mich., Friday afternoon and just finished watching Purdue-Michigan from 2000 on ESPN Classic. I hadn't seen the game before, but I knew the score. So when Travis Dorsch lined up for a 32-yard field goal with about 2:20 left, I figured that'd prove to be the game-winner. But he missed, and the final couple minutes of the game were about as exciting as I've seen. Dorsch got a second chance and squeezed in a 33-yarder with 4 seconds left.
Did I mention that game just happens to be the only time coach Joe Tiller has beaten Michigan while at Purdue? So maybe it was at Ross-Ade Stadium but could this be a sign Purdue can get Victory No. 2 Saturday?

-- By Stacy Clardie, The Journal Gazette

Playing in the Big House

Purdue was piping in crowd noise toward the end of Wednesday's practice in an effort to prepare for the likely rowdy crowd at Michigan Stadium on Saturday.
A sellout would mean almost 108,000 fans, and that's an environment few of these Boilermakers have experienced. Purdue hasn't played at Michigan or Ohio State since 2003, though it did have back-to-back trips to Penn State in 2004 and 2005.
"I'm fortunate enough, and a lot of guys on the team are, we've got quite a few guys who are older guys, we've played in some pretty big atmospheres, Penn State, Notre Dame, Wisconsin," quarterback Curtis Painter said. "So, for the most part, hopefully the older guys will be able to handle it well. We've been in this situation before. But from what I've heard, it's a great atmosphere to play in. It's going to be a loud environment, but hopefully some of those experiences from the past will help us handle it OK."
The chance to play at the Big House has some players excited.
Linebacker Anthony Heygood said players come to the Big Ten to play in big-time environments, which is what he expects Saturday. He said he thinks playing with a hostile crowd will help him get more pumped for the game, too.
Coach Joe Tiller doesn't necessarily consider Michigan Stadium to be an intimidating place to play, but he does expect a good atmosphere.
"I think the older you get, there's less glitz or whatever," Tiller said. "I suppose for a young person going in there, it's exciting. ... To me, it's a Big Ten football stadium. It's a fun environment to play in. I like going to State College, to Columbus, to Madison, to Ann Arbor. There's a lot of electricity in the air. If you can't get ready to play in an environment like that, I'm not sure you have a pulse."

• Current Michigan quarterback Chad Henne visited Purdue while in high school, and Tiller said he and Henne had a nice chat in his office. "He was interested in Purdue until he went to Ann Arbor (to visit)."
• Tiller can't pinpoint why Purdue hasn't won at Michigan since 1966, other than his team simply hasn't played well in those games. So it's not a surprise to hear what he hopes transpires Saturday. "I'd just like to see us go and just play a good, solid football game," he said.
• Purdue isn't the only school in the Big Ten that has had some off-field incidents with its football players. Did you see the story this week about Penn State? At Michigan, coach Lloyd Carr handed out an interesting punishment for one of his players.

-- By Stacy Clardie, The Journal Gazette

More from Purdue's loss

Be sure to check out Monday's story for more on the effort of Purdue's defense in the 23-7 loss to Ohio State Saturday. Here are a couple other notes from the game:

• Starting defensive end Cliff Avril limped off the field with 5:49 remaining. Coach Joe Tiller said he got two different reports of the injury, one on the field and another in the locker room. He told the media Avril's injury was a knee strain but didn't indicate when he was told that. He said he didn't know if Avril would miss the Michigan game but did say the injury didn't look like a "long-term thing."
• Cory Benton is listed on the depth chart as the backup center to Robbie Powell, but he relieved left guard Zach Reckman in the second quarter. Reckman re-entered later in the game. Tiller said Reckman, who has a partial tear of the labrum in his shoulder, will continue play in a rotation.
• Players and coaches walk past fans to get to the locker room after the game, and some fans were cheering "Boiler up" and others were praising the defense. But there were some boos, too. That also happened during the game. When Tiller opted to punt on fourth-and-8 near midfield in the fourth quarter, fans booed when punter Jared Armstrong trotted to the field.
• The Boilermakers struggled on special teams. Armstrong punted 12 times in the game, tying Purdue's all-time record and averaged 41 yards on those kicks. Dorien Bryant fumbled a kickoff and his only punt return was for negative 4 yards.

-- By Stacy Clardie, The Journal Gazette

Ohio State beats Purdue, 23-7

Purdue's 23-7 loss to Ohio State shouldn't be too surprising, considering top defenses usually best top offenses. But what impressed me was how fast the Buckeyes' linebackers were and how much that affected Purdue's offense.
Coach Joe Tiller said he expected his team to be able to throw the ball underneath and connect on hitch routes. But with the speed of Ohio State's linebackers, including Marcus Freeman and James Laurinaitis, made that tough to do. Purdue quarterback Curtis Painter tried to throw underneath anyway, but he had some passes deflected and double-clutched on others when he saw defenders flying around.
Simply, Ohio State was as advertised and took away what Purdue does best: quick hitters over the middle and smothering any kind of screen attempts.

-- By Stacy Clardie, The Journal Gazette