For Purdue week, we exchanged some questions with Purdue's SB Nation blog, Hammer and Rails. You can find my answers to H&R's questions over at their site. Purdue-centric questions and answers below.
BSD: What's the current quarterback situation at Purdue? Is Robert Marve now relegated to mop-up duty?
H&R: Absurdity is the quarterback situation at Purdue. It seems like most everyone on the planet, including midgets, dwarves, woodsprites, people in mental health wards, those on the International Space Station, and people buried deep in the African bush know that Robert Marve is the best quarterback for this team. Caleb TerBush has played about as best as he possibly can. He is a good system kid, but Marve just has a little bit of those intangibles on his side.
It is an odd situation because coach Hope continued to site Marve as his guy. Going into camp this year. Then, when it seemed obvious his knee wasn’t ready to start the opener, he tossed him aside. Hope seems to be addicted to a two-quarterback system that obviously does not work. You guys know this. Against Notre Dame Marve had better results if you watch the game, yet Hope said that he did not play "within the system" and that TerBush played better. How ridiculous is that. A senior quarterback, especially a highly touted one who is trying to use his last chance at playing at the next level, should come up to the line and be able to read the defense and make the right call. Hope’s comments after the ND game showed this is discouraged with Purdue, and that should tell you all you need to know about this weekend.
BSD: Purdue used to be known as a pass-heavy offense. Has that changed recently?
H&R: It should. We have a plethora of backs and an offensive coordinator that refuses to commit to either the run or the pass. Guys like Ralph Bolden and Akeem Shavers can clearly move the ball on the ground, but we seem to be committed to the pass without doing anything other than random screens and short outs. We don’t throw deep and we don’t throw over the middle, yet we still throw more than we run. That makes the offense very easy to figure out.
BSD: Other than CB Ricardo Allen, who should Penn State be fearing on Purdue's defense?
H&R: No one. We don’t have a pass rush. Josh Johnson has been in position to break up a few passes and Joe Holland has a ton of tackles, but the defense is a basic as it can be. We rely on straight man coverage, and if you throw over the middle on third down it is an easy completion for a first down.
BSD: What is the current, general sentiment toward Danny Hope and his staff?
H&R: I have never played a down of football in my life and I can figure out our schemes. We lost to friggin’ Rice when we should have manned up and ran the ball down their throats, but they were not smart enough to do that. We do not play to our strengths, and we refuse to take advantage of a team’s weaknesses. What does that say about Saturday?
BSD: How many ACL's do you expect to be torn on Saturday?
H&R: We’ve avoided it so far, so I pray the curse has been passed on. I am more worried about protecting Robbie Hummel than anything. It’s Indiana. We love our basketball.
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