what stopped the purdue football team from delivering a huge upset?
Time to record your predictions for Saturday’s 7:15 p.m. kickoff between the Ducks and Boilermakers. I’m figuring the Ducks have the edge in two of the three facets of this game. Sure, Oregon’s defense had some things to fix from last week at Boise State. But for the most part the Ducks were pretty stout in their first game trying out very significant tweaks to their scheme. You’d expect them to be even more comfortable with the new looks this week. And the UO defense, in particular the secondary, has looked very good in practice this week, flying around the field breaking up passes. The Ducks will have their hands full with running back Ralph Bolden after his big game for Purdue last week, but particularly if linemen Will Tukuafu and Simi Toeaina are recovered from minor injuries, you figure the Ducks should be able to slow Purdue’s running game. Also, Oregon’s looks very solid on special teams right now. Punter Jackson Rice had a big night in his debut last week, and kicker Morgan Fl
On Thursday I posted “What to Watch For – Purdue at Notre Dame” with five things I thought would decide the Purdue game. I’m going to make a post like that each week prior to the game and then follow up with another post on Sunday looking back at how I did. For this first week, it looks like my five points to watch were dead on. Maybe I shouldn’t make this a weekly feature and just leave this feature on a high note? * Kyle Rudolph over the middle. Notre Dame looked Rudolph’s way early and Clausen nearly hit the freshman tight end for a huge play but his pass was just off target. Still, Rudolph ended the game with 3 catches for 32 yards and his first career touchdown. Had Clausen been on target with his first pass to Rudolph, there probably would have been another 30 or 40 yards on that yardage total. * The Notre Dame blitz vs. Curtis Painter. Unfortunately Notre Dame did not record a sack on Curtis Painter, but the Irish pass rush did succeed in disrupting Painter’s timing and forcing
Time to record your predictions for Saturday’s 7:15 p.m. kickoff between the Ducks and Boilermakers. I’m figuring the Ducks have the edge in two of the three facets of this game. Sure, Oregon’s defense had some things to fix from last week at Boise State. But for the most part the Ducks were pretty stout in their first game trying out very significant tweaks to their scheme. You’d expect them to be even more comfortable with the new looks this week. And the UO defense, in particular the secondary, has looked very good in practice this week, flying around the field breaking up passes. The Ducks will have their hands full with running back Ralph Bolden after his big game for Purdue last week, but particularly if linemen Will Tukuafu and Simi Toeaina are recovered from minor injuries, you figure the Ducks should be able to slow Purdue’s running game. Also, Oregon’s looks very solid on special teams right now. Punter Jackson Rice had a big night in his debut last week, and kicker Morgan Fl
On Thursday I posted “What to Watch For – Purdue at Notre Dame” with five things I thought would decide the Purdue game. I’m going to make a post like that each week prior to the game and then follow up with another post on Sunday looking back at how I did. For this first week, it looks like my five points to watch were dead on. Maybe I shouldn’t make this a weekly feature and just leave this feature on a high note? * Kyle Rudolph over the middle. Notre Dame looked Rudolph’s way early and Clausen nearly hit the freshman tight end for a huge play but his pass was just off target. Still, Rudolph ended the game with 3 catches for 32 yards and his first career touchdown. Had Clausen been on target with his first pass to Rudolph, there probably would have been another 30 or 40 yards on that yardage total. * The Notre Dame blitz vs. Curtis Painter. Unfortunately Notre Dame did not record a sack on Curtis Painter, but the Irish pass rush did succeed in disrupting Painter’s timing and forcing
