Purdue Football: 3 things I want to see against Maryland
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — After a loss to a very tough Penn State team, Purdue now gets a chance against a lesser opponent in Maryland. The Homecoming game is scheduled to kick off at Noon ET and will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
Purdue and Maryland have met just twice in their storied histories. The first matchup was the 2006 Citrus Bowl, where the Terrapins won 24-7. The second meeting came in 2016 and ended in a 50-7 defeat for Purdue. Saturday will be coach Jeff Brohm’s first meeting with Maryland during his Purdue tenure.
Here are three things I want to see from Purdue:
1. Show that you can compete with Big Ten teams
Purdue has opened the Big Ten season with two losses, 38-31 to Minnesota and 35-7 to Penn State. The loss to Minnesota was not as close as the score shows, with Minnesota in complete control until a late surge by the Boilermakers. Playing two of the better teams in the Big Ten to open the schedule, Purdue has been outmatched. On Saturday, they play a team in Maryland that is more on their level and should be able to keep the game close, or pull out the victory.
With a young team, it’s important that they show that they can compete with other Big Ten teams. Playing in some close games will help this group gain confidence and improve going forward.
2. Get off to a good start
If Purdue is going to keep the game close and show that they can compete, the key will be to start the game well. The last two weeks the Boilermakers have come out slow to begin the game. Against Minnesota, they fell behind 28-10 by halftime and against Penn State they were down 28-0 shortly into the second quarter.
Maryland is an offensive-minded team that likes to score, so Purdue will have to be ready to go from the start if they want to keep things close. Getting down early in games has caused Purdue to change the way that they want to play. If they can get off to a good start, they should be able to stick to their game plan.
3. Stay creative on defense
This week leading up to the Maryland game, Brohm discussed the defensive changes were made after Penn State’s four early scores last week. They began to get more creative, and gave Penn State some new looks on defense. According to Brohm they showed more blitzes, actually blitzed more and kept the Penn State offense guessing. After doing so, Purdue limited Penn State to just one score through the remaining 44 minutes.
This is something that needs to continue against Maryland and the rest of the season. Playing against Big Ten teams, you need to get creative and continue to show new looks on defense.
