You get an A and you get an A and you get an A!
Purdue did exactly what they should have done to an FCS team after a one-win season, maybe even more convincing than many believed it would be.
A lot of A’s are to be handed out after such a dominant performance at Ross-Ade Stadium,
Offense:
Hudson Card torched the undermanned Indiana State defense, completing 96% of his passes onto one of the best days a quarterback has ever had in the old gold and black.
He completed 24 of 25 passes for 273 yards and four touchdowns, while the total yards may not be one of the best of quarterbacks to play at Purdue, the efficiency and completion percentage sure is.
Devin Mockobee paced the starting unit with 11 carries for 89 yards, but did not score a touchdown. But, Reggie Love II, Elijah Jackson, and Jaheim Merriweather all scored rushing the ball, including a nice 69-yard touchdown by Elijah Jackson.
Twelve different Boilermakers caught passes on Saturday, none made more of an impact than Tight End, Max Klare, who has star player written all over him. Jahmal Edrine is physical on the outside, he should provide Purdue the type of presence on the outside that they lacked so much last year.
The Offensive Line played well, they were much bigger, stronger and faster than the Indiana State defensive line, but still gave up two sacks, with Card and Browne both taking a sack.
Offensive Grade: A
Defense:
Will Heldt, the sophomore Rush End from Carmel, Indiana, was the star of the defense, having two sacks and tallying up 7 tackles. Jeffrey M’ba was unblockable as well as an interior defensive lineman, racking up 6 tackles.
A bright spot in the secondary was Antonio Stevens, who many years ago suffered a severe injury and has worked his way back to being the player that everyone thought he could be. He is a mountain of a man coming to hit you from the safety position, at 6-2 200+ pounds.
Kydran Jenkins picked up where he left off as well, tallying a sack on the afternoon and five tackles.
The Purdue defense held Indiana State to just 104 yards rushing on 43 attempts, (2.4 Yards Per Carry) and 50 yards of total passing, as the freshman quarterback for Indiana State was just 5 for 10 on the day, they forced the Sycamores to punt ten times during Saturday’s contest, which has to be close to a record for the Boilermakers.
Overall Grade: A
Special Teams:
Purdue did not attempt a field goal, as they scored on 7 of 10 possesions and punted the other three times, but they were 7 for 7 on the PATs, as that operation looked very smooth.
Crimmons averaged nearly 47 yards per punt, pinning Indiana State inside the 20 once, and forcing a fair catch once as well.
Overall Grade: A
This is exactly what Boilermaker fans wanted and needed to see from Purdue against a FCS opponent. Purdue will now head into the bye week, in which they are undefeated, before they host Notre Dame on September 14th, at 3:30 PM.