Purdue Football Film Room: Return of the RPO

Indiana State offered Hudson Card free money, and he was obliged to pick it up.

Ok y’all, I know the Indiana State game wasn’t super exciting, but for me, it was a gold mine for film review. I’ll admit that at times last season, I wasn’t sure what Graham Harrell was up to on offense. It’s not that his offense wasn’t working, because he figured out a way for Purdue to close the season with one of the best rushing attacks in the Big 10 despite a completely decimated offensive line; it’s that I didn’t recognize it.

The Graham Harrell offense I spent all last season previewing was not the offense I saw on the field in 2023. There were aspects of it that looked familiar, but overall, if you showed me the film and asked me who I thought was calling plays, Harrell wouldn’t be first on the list. I get that he tweaked the “air raid” system he used as a quarterback under Mike Leach, but it wasn’t so much a tweak as a total revamp in 2023.

He didn’t have the wide receivers to run his system, so he changed the system to better fit the players. That’s the sign of a good coach. I was interested to see if the more ground based offense was going to dominate his play sheet again this season. I got a decent answer on the first offensive play of the game.

THE AIR RAID IS BACK BABY!

Easy Money RPO

Light Blue Triangle – QB/RB

Yellow Circle – Field WR (Edrine)

Blue Square – Indiana State CB

Purdue lined up in a run heavy set with two tight ends to the field (wide side) to start the season, not exactly classic air raid.

Indiana State is in their 4-3 base defense, playing press man (off screen) to the boundary and off-man to the field (blue square).

RPO

The first play of the game let me know the staff is fully comfortable with Hudson Card calling the shots, because this play gives Card the option to hand the ball off to Mockobee or rise up and fire to Edrine.

Notice, like most RPOs, the offensive line (purple rectangle) is run blocking. Card can’t wait to make the decision, otherwise he risks getting called for a lineman down field.

This is a simple math problem. Card can either hand it to his running back who has 8 defenders trying to tackle him or he can rise up and throw it to a 6’3”, 220-pound wideout isolated on the perimeter against a 5’10”, 175-pound defensive back. The read, of course, is to throw the ball out to Edrine. This is the part of the offense that was missing last year despite being a staple of the Mike Leach and Graham Harrell air raid in the past.

Card gets credit for a pass, but in this offense, the pass he completes is considered a long handoff. In theory the air raid allows the offense to create 2, if not 3, “lines of scrimmage”. The field receiver is considered a second running back. If he has the numbers, like he does on this play, he gets the ball.

Plenty of Space

Card makes the pass read pre-snap, pulls the ball, and fires it over to Edrine. The nice thing about having a quarterback with a rocket strapped to his arm is the ability to make these sorts of horizonal passes. If Card lobs the ball to Edrine, the defensive back has the opportunity to close and make the tackle. He needs to get the ball outside in a hurry, and his arm strength makes it an easy throw.

A Corners Worst Nightmare

Card snaps the ball out to field receiver and Edrine, who still has 5 yards of grass between himself and the closing corner. Remember, Jahmal has 45 pounds on the corner. This is not how the Indiana State defensive back wanted to start his season.

Stiff Arm

This is how a wide out should play if they have a 45-pound advantage on the corner. Edrine doesn’t try to outrun him to the corner, instead, he does his best Derrick Henry impression and introduces the Sycamore defensive back to his stiff arm. The only chance the defensive back has to stop Edrine is to get into his legs, and the stiff arm doesn’t allow that to happen.

Oh…Oh, No He Needs Some Milk

When a defensive back is face down on the field and the receiver is still upright, it’s usually not a good sign for the defense.

First Down!

This was an easy pitch and catch for 10 yards to start the game. Card made the right read, delivered a perfect pass/long hand-off. Edrine caught the ball (which is an underrated part of this play, the catch has to be clean, and the receiver can’t look up at the closing DB) and morphed from a wide receiver to a power back.

What I Love About This Play

This is an auto-read for Card. It’s amazingly simple, and yet effective. The best part is Purdue picked up a first down and set up a big play in the future. After you hit this play a few times, the defense gets tired of giving away 10 yards and moves their corner up into press man.

Very few corners are going to win in press man against Edrine. His strength lets him win off the line and keep a defensive back pinned. If the safeties stay in the middle of the field, and the corner presses Edrine, this turns into a one-on-one fade route to a receiver with a 4-inch height advantage and a 45-pound weight advantage. That’s still an auto-read for Card. If Edrine’s corner is in bump and run without safety help, he’s more than likely going unleash the deep fade route and see if Edrine can make a play.

What I Really Love About This Play

If the defensive coordinator doesn’t want his corner in press man, but doesn’t want to sacrifice a safety (remember, in most games, the boundary receiver, CJ Smith, is one of the fastest guys in the Big 10 and will require deep safety help as well) he can try to trap this play.

The defensive coordinator knows this is an auto-read for Card. He’ll have his defender cheat and drive on this at the snap to eliminate space while the ball is in the air. That might work once, but once Harrell sees it, the next time he gets this look, it’s a pump-and-go to Edrine over the top for 6. There is no way for the closing defensive back to stop, turn, and run with Jahmal. The air raid is really tough to stop with the right players and Purdue went out and picked up the receivers it needs to run it this offseason.

What I Really, Really Love About This Play

Remember how Purdue struggled to pick up short yardage plays last season?

This is what I expected from Harrell.

When teams stacked the box against the run when he was at West Virgina or USC, he’d have his quarterback fire it to the outside and allow his jumbo receiver to make a play in space instead of having his back run into a wall of defenders.

Think about it.

There is no way the corner is stopping Edrine for less than 3 yards on this play. Even if he reads it, he’s got to wrestle Jahmal to the ground before he can pick up short yardage and that ain’t happening.

Overall

You’re going to see a good bit of this game from me because this is what Harrell’s offense is supposed to look like. Indiana State is a good opponent to run your stuff against, and Purdue, Harrell and Card ran the offense close to perfection last Saturday.

The level of competition will continue to improve, but the air raid helps neutralize a dominant interior defense by shifting the line of scrimmage to the outside. Harrell made his money in college throwing to the hyper physical Michael Crabtree. Edrine is bigger and just as physical as Crabtree. I’m not saying the results will be the same, but at least there is an opportunity to use this portion of the playbook in 2024.