Purdue

[CalBoiler]

From what I noticed about Purdue defense is they don't really disguise blitzs or coverages and will play pretty straight up. Also their top pass rusher is suspended for the game

Purdue's defense was relatively young last year, especially late in the season. They used a couple of true Sophomores at DT and NT, a True Frosh (Bentley) at MLB, Redshirt Frosh (Ezechukwu) at one OLB and a redshirt Sophomore (Herman) at the other OLB spot. One CB (Brown) and one Safety (Williams) were Juniors. The DEs were both Seniors but underperformed in terms of pass rush (one did get drafted by Dallas however). That youth probably accounted for that lack of blitz disguise as they didn't try to do too much in the way of exotic schemes, just tried to execute some of the basics.

This season, one of the safeties, Williams, has moved back to his normal position of CB and the likelihood is that the new safeties will both be upperclassmen. Purdue has a promising true Junior, Panfil, taking over at one DE and brought in a JUCO, Henley, who'll likely start the season at the other DE/Rush LB position. Purdue's best D-lineman, in terms of TFL, is actually their DT, Replogle. Tops in sacks was who's expected to start at NT this season, Watson. The LBs all return and now have another year of experience (and in Bentley's case, a Frosh All American award) under their belt.

No telling if they'll be good, but they should be better than last year.

 

[CalBoiler]

Cato mostly ran when he was pressured out of the pocket. There weren't many designed runs for him. There was a red zone package for him but it was still ran out of the shotgun. He excelled at moving the pocket and keeping a play alive long enough to find a man downfield. He was deadly accurate to about 20-25 yards. The farther downfield the less velocity he had on passes and his accuracy dropped off.

My impression of Birdsong is that his stature will allow him to hold in the pocket longer and he has the arm strength to reach out with accuracy a little farther than Cato. His stature also gives us an option in the red zone, particularly at the goal line, that we haven't had in a few years.

The biggest question is Birdsong's command of the offense. What kind of decision maker is he going to be. I think, at least at the beginning of the season, the Herd is going to see most defenses try to stack the box and force a rookie QB to beat them.

Cato's ability to keep a play alive and be accurate with his throws on the move were what really set him apart from a lot of other talented QBs IMHO.

He gave Purdue fits back in 2012 with his scrambling ability. Luckily, as a young QB, he also showed some tendencies which Purdue's DBs were able to exploit. Not to dredge up bad memories, but coming into that game he had just two interceptions in 200 attempts. Purdue took away two for TDs and a third for good measure in 68 attempts.

 

[pdbailey]

You forgot to include Nebraska's Abdullah who got 1 yard on six carries but no doubt, last year's rush defense wasn't particularly good although those RBs ran wild on just about everyone (Gordon for instance rushed for 144 yards against LSU and 258 against Auburn not to mention the 410 he put up against Nebraska).

For much of last season Purdue's LBs were a liability in rush defense as they started a true frosh, a redshirt frosh and a sophomore. Now, all of those players have a year under their belt and have gotten bigger/stronger to better handle big runners like Johnson.

Most of those backs you mentioned above are a different size and type of runner than is Johnson. Gordon is 6'1 207lbs; Langford 6'0" 205lbs; Coleman 6'1" 210lbs; Abdullah 5'9" 195lbs, and; Cobb 5'11" 225lbs. Purdue did have success against bigger backs such as Iowa's Weisman (6'0" 240lbs) 24 carries for 76 yards and Nebraska's Imani Cross (6'1" 230lbs) 20 carries for 66 yards.

In the games I've seen, it appears most of Johnson's big gains came against Nickel formations so that's another thing to take into consideration for Purdue. I don't anticipate Purdue playing that much Nickel defense this game and I'd expect them to keep 7 or even 8 in the box to try and contain Johnson (who I assume has recovered from the shoulder injuries).

I'll also be interested in seeing how Johnson performs if he has to carry the ball 30+ times. It appears that he only had two games last year where he had more than 20 carries per game and the majority of his games were in the 14-20 carries per game as more of a "change up". With his running style, does he have the durability to hold up for more than that? Losing Butler obviously takes out Marshall's #2 runner so it could be up to Watson to pick up the slack unless Birdsong can match Cato's carries.

You play base defense against us and you're dancing with peril. Our QB has looked great in practice and we have very good WRs and TEs.

 

[pdbailey]

I've watched some of JMU's games when Birdsong was a Sophomore and I'd tend to disagree about the running. Birdsong isn't a statue but his running seems to generally be to escape the pocket or some designed runs which he's good at but not going to scare anyone as his 2.4 ypc at JMU can attest.

Cato's running seemed to be at its best when he was escaping the pocket to buy time to make a pass or to run upfield which put a lot more pressure on the defense. He was also an effective passer while on the move. I didn't see any evidence that Birdsong was very accurate when doing the same. While Cato only had a 2.97 ypc average last year, he did have a very good 5.13 ypc average in 2013.

In all honesty, Birdsong seems to be a very similar runner to Purdue's QB, Appleby. Appleby's running stats last year were 198 yards on 61 attempt (3.2 ypc average, 19.8 ypg average) with 5 TDs and a long of 62 yards. Similar sized QBs as well (6'5" 239 lbs).

I don't know that JMU ran that much different of an offense but with a change of OC's Legg may use Birdsong differently, but when he was with JMU, I just didn't see it.

Based on what I have seen of Birdsong in practice and on the practice reports, I would recommend just throwing any info from his JMU days in the trash.

 

[Penn2moss]

I think Birdsong will be treated as a game manager early in the season.. He'll throw when we have to and take an occasional shot down field to keep teams honest. But, I really believe we'll ride the run game and our defense through the early portion of the season. If you can stop the the run and force us in to more passing situations (thus giving you more opportunity to disrupt Birdsong and take advantage of his rust/inexperience at this level) than I think that is your best chance to win.. But, if the run game gets going than I don't expect Birdsong to throw it more than 15 time in game 1.

15 attempts? No way. Cato had 40+ attempts in his second game. Receiver is the most talented group we have on this team. We will get the ball in those guy's hands. DJ is a great player but if we abuse him early, he will be out when we need him most like last year.

 

[CalBoiler]

Based on what I have seen of Birdsong in practice and on the practice reports, I would recommend just throwing any info from his JMU days in the trash.

Well, he is what he is. I don't know that he's going to morph into a completely different player than he was at JMU. Can he be better? Certainly, that's to be expected, but his years at JMU are the only reference that anyone really has of what he's like when the lights come on and everyone's playing for keeps.

One of the exciting aspects of this time of year is everyone's expectations of their team, how the new players will perform and also how much the returning players have improved. Just a couple of more weeks and we'll all find out.

 

[Trebel06]

15 attempts? No way. Cato had 40+ attempts in his second game. Receiver is the most talented group we have on this team. We will get the ball in those guy's hands. DJ is a great player but if we abuse him early, he will be out when we need him most like last year.

I admittedly haven't seen Birdsong since the Spring game.. But what I seen out of him there doesn't make me feel like Doc will be ready to put the game on his arm.. If Birdsong tops 25 throws against Purdue I think that means we are in trouble.. Cato throwing 40+ time in his second game is null and void.. The team is built completely differently than it was then.. We had a decent defense with Vinny being an absolute force but overall it wasn't near the level this years defense is and neither was the run game.. Those two things allow us to milk the clock and sit on a lead if we get one, a luxury we didn't have with a Freshman Cato.

 

[Herd Fever]

So a true freshman in his second ever college game is ok to threw 40+ passes but a Redshirt Junior with 14 starts shouldn't? Come on now really

 

[Trebel06]

So a true freshman in his second ever college game is ok to threw 40+ passes but a Redshirt Junior with 14 starts shouldn't? Come on now really

I'm saying Birdsong shouldn't have to, if you're reading what I'm writing. I'm saying that the way this team is built we can ease Birdsong in to things in a way we couldn't with Cato.. Sure as a Freshman Cato was handcuffed playbook wise but we still put an awful lot on him as well.. I'm saying this team has a better defense and a better run game and those things will allow Birdsong to be more of a game manager early on in the season.. I'm sure he's ok to throw it 40 times but I don't think he should need to or have to and If he does than I think that isn't good news for us.

No reason, to baptize the kid and put it all on his shoulders when the talent is there to distribute the load evenly.. I believe 15-20 passes for Birdsong is a good recipe for Purdue.. If he has to throw too many more than that, then we struggled somewhere we shouldn't have.

 

[Herd Fever]

A QB throwing the ball that low is not our offense. That is what I'm saying. Our offense isn't made to go slow and not sling the ball. Come on now, We have this big armed QB who can hit the deep ball and you saw he shouldn't throw the ball more then 20 times????

 

[Trebel06]

A QB throwing the ball that low is not our offense. That is what I'm saying. Our offense isn't made to go slow and not sling the ball. Come on now, We have this big armed QB who can hit the deep ball and you saw he shouldn't throw the ball more then 20 times????

The offense changes with personnel.. From what I saw from Birdsong in the spring game, that while he has a strong arm he isn't particularly accurate.. You come out wanting to sling it all over the place straight out the gate when you have a run game and defense you can lean on and I think that's a bad game plan. But, like I said I haven't watched Birdsong any since that spring game so maybe he has showed some accuracy that gives the coaches the confidence to let him run the uptempo game from the word go.. But, from what I saw I think the best game plan at least early in the year is to let him manage the game, get some confidence, find a rhythm with his WRs and get re-acclimated to full go football before taking the reigns off of him and letting him come out and toss the ball around like Bret Favre.

 

[Herd Fever]

So I guess he hasn't gotten better all summer and camp and made himself the clear #1.

Also wasn't it raining like crazy during the spring game

 

[Herd Fever]

The offense changes with personnel.. From what I saw from Birdsong in the spring game, that while he has a strong arm he isn't particularly accurate.. You come out wanting to sling it all over the place straight out the gate when you have a run game and defense you can lean on and I think that's a bad game plan. But, like I said I haven't watched Birdsong any since that spring game so maybe he has showed some accuracy that gives the coaches the confidence to let him run the uptempo game from the word go.. But, from what I saw I think the best game plan at least early in the year is to let him manage the game, get some confidence, find a rhythm with his WRs and get re-acclimated to full go football before taking the reigns off of him and letting him come out and toss the ball around like Bret Favre.

But it was ok for Cato to do that???

 

[JBoiler14]

Hey guys, I have loved reading what you guys have had to say so far. I have one question, with Purdue planning on playing pretty spread out this year due to a lack of tight end depth and talent.

Do you guys think you have the DBs/pass rush to cover 4-5 wide out sets if we use them somewhat consistently?

 

[Herd Fever]

We play in a conference where everyone runs the spread offense. Your offense will be nothing new to us. Hell the defense will have been practicing against our Spread offense for a month.

 

[Herd Fever]

We will be running 6 deep at Corner and about 4 or 5 deep at safety. We will be good. We aren't built like your normal G5 program, we strive to have the best 85 players we can have on scholarship. When a former UA All-American loses his starting spot at WR, that tells you how much talent we have

 

[Herd Fever]

My question for Purdue is will you guys be able to handle our speed on offense and defense. We recruit predominately in the south unlike Purdue which mostly recruits in the midwest

 

[boiledmeconium]

My question for Purdue is will you guys be able to handle our speed on offense and defense. We recruit predominately in the south unlike Purdue which mostly recruits in the midwest

Speed for speed, the advantage goes to Marshall, IMO. However, from a hat-on-hat, power for power perspective, I think Purdue has the upper hand. Calboiler will do a more in depth analyses on KHC gor us, but I can already tell that Purdue has the advantage at the line of scrimmage and defensive front 7 in both size, depth and experience. Your DLs and LBs look fast, but undersized (except Petty) and have lost all your playmakers from last year while your oline is shuffled and has holes to fill. By all accounts, our running game is ahead of the passing game at this time, so I expect to lean on the run with some play action to the perimeter. Our entire o line returns and we've got both size and depth at DT and LB. Pass rush is unknown, buy so is yours. We also have two excellent senior CBs who we can put up against anyone. I expect our Offensive and Defensive lines to get a consistent push off the line of scrimmage. Question for the Herd: Can Marshall, playing exclusively against spread passing offenses, handle a consistent power running game? Do you have the size, depth and durability to grind it out in the trenches and front 7 for a full game? Because I think that's the goal for Purdue.

 

[JBoiler14]

My question for Purdue is will you guys be able to handle our speed on offense and defense. We recruit predominately in the south unlike Purdue which mostly recruits in the midwest

Well defensive line aside, we aren't very midwestern on D. Out of our starting DBs 3 are from Florida, and the other 1 is from Georgia. The linebackers are from Georgia, Maryland and Indiana.

And we have enough speed on the edges with our wide outs (Danny Anthrop, Trae Hart, Anthony Mahoungou, & Bilal Marshall)

 

[Herd Fever]

Stopping the run game has been a thorn in our side for some time now because our defense is built off speed to stop the passing offenses in our league. But as far as depth goes, we have 7 DL would played good minutes last year returning plus we add 6'8 270 pound redshirt freshman Ryan Bee to the DE spot. And we probably have the best LB core in our conference with a ton of experience and young but talented depth behind it. We have a 4* linebacker who was a freshman All-American who cant crack the 2 deep because of all the talent at LB. Plus we can go big on the DL if needed but honestly our weakness on defense is our corners guarding against the deep ball NOT stopping the run.

Our Offensive Line is by far the best in CUSA, its not even close and they are big, strong, athletic, and Nasty. Just a nasty bunch that love to put people on their backs.

 

[rbaggie]

Herd Fever, I love reading your detailed posts and your enthusiasm. I am just very ready for this season to kick off. I think this is a great opening matchup with both teams having real strengths and must make some adjustments to account for style of play. Can't wait!

 

[boiledmeconium]

Stopping the run game has been a thorn in our side for some time now because our defense is built off speed to stop the passing offenses in our league. But as far as depth goes, we have 7 DL would played good minutes last year returning plus we add 6'8 270 pound redshirt freshman Ryan Bee to the DE spot. And we probably have the best LB core in our conference with a ton of experience and young but talented depth behind it. We have a 4* linebacker who was a freshman All-American who cant crack the 2 deep because of all the talent at LB. Plus we can go big on the DL if needed but honestly our weakness on defense is our corners guarding against the deep ball NOT stopping the run.

Our Offensive Line is by far the best in CUSA, its not even close and they are big, strong, athletic, and Nasty. Just a nasty bunch that love to put people on their backs.

Thanks for the great reply. I'm really looking forward to the game because it will be an early litmus test for our team's season. A good showing hopefully will mean a positive season while a poor showing will... Well, lets not go there. Good luck.

 

[Herd Fever]

How many Purdue fans do you think will show up and make the 5 hour trip?? It is such an easy trip. Just take the 65 South to Louisville, KY then hop on the 64 East

 

[Trebel06]

But it was ok for Cato to do that???

In my opinion it was a necessity for Cato to do that in the games in which he did that for us to have a chance to win.. And actually if you look at the games he only threw the ball more than 25 times in 7 games and only more than 30 times in 4 games (Southern Miss was the only game he threw it 40 times).. He averaged 23.3 passes per game that year but factoring in the games he was benched that goes up to 29 times per start.. So it seems to me even with Cato when we could help it we didn't let him air it out.

I don't believe it is a necessity for Birdsong to have to do that at all and still win games. That's all I'm saying, if we have to throw it 40 times against Purdue than I believe that means our run offense or our defense didn't perform like it should.. Or that Birdsong is more ready than I believe and is just an absolute stud

 

[Herd Fever]

Its going to happen so Agree to disagree

 

[CalBoiler]

My question for Purdue is will you guys be able to handle our speed on offense and defense. We recruit predominately in the south unlike Purdue which mostly recruits in the midwest

Just to add to what has been already posted, Purdue's defensive 2-deeps are from the following states:
Florida - 6
Illinois - 4
Maryland - 3
Ohio - 3
Georgia - 2
California - 2
Indiana - 2
NJ - 1
(Note 23 are listed due to an "or" which puts 3 players in the 2-deep)

Marshall's defensive 2-deep come from:
Florida - 6
Georgia - 4
South Carolina - 3
California - 2
Maryland - 2
Indiana - 1 (how'd he get there?)
Ohio - 1
Texas - 1
Virginia - 1
West Virginia - 1

On offense, Purdue's 2-deeps hail from:
Texas - 4
Indiana - 4
Georgia - 3
Florida - 2
Ohio - 2
Arkansas - 1
California - 1
Kentucky - 1
Michigan - 1
Pennsylvania - 1
Sweden - 1
Virginia - 1

Compare that to Marshall's 2-deep on offense:
Virginia - 5
Florida - 4
Georgia - 3
Ohio - 2
South Carolina - 2
West Virginia - 2
Kentucky -1
Maryland - 1
Sweden - 1
Tennessee - 1

Odd that both teams start an offensive lineman from Sweden.

All in all, not really all that different. Purdue's prior coach made an effort to really hit Florida and Georgia hard and the current coach has also tapped into Georgia, Tennessee and the Mid-Atlantic states. BTW, Purdue now runs a summer satellite camp in Nashville.

 

[Herd Fever]

Just to add to what has been already posted, Purdue's defensive 2-deeps are from the following states:
Florida - 6
Illinois - 4
Maryland - 3
Ohio - 3
Georgia - 2
California - 2
Indiana - 2
NJ - 1
(Note 23 are listed due to an "or" which puts 3 players in the 2-deep)

Marshall's defensive 2-deep come from:
Florida - 6
Georgia - 4
South Carolina - 3
California - 2
Maryland - 2
Indiana - 1 (how'd he get there?)
Ohio - 1
Texas - 1
Virginia - 1
West Virginia - 1

On offense, Purdue's 2-deeps hail from:
Texas - 4
Indiana - 4
Georgia - 3
Florida - 2
Ohio - 2
Arkansas - 1
California - 1
Kentucky - 1
Michigan - 1
Pennsylvania - 1
Sweden - 1
Virginia - 1

Compare that to Marshall's 2-deep on offense:
Virginia - 5
Florida - 4
Georgia - 3
Ohio - 2
South Carolina - 2
West Virginia - 2
Kentucky -1
Maryland - 1
Sweden - 1
Tennessee - 1

Odd that both teams start an offensive lineman from Sweden.

All in all, not really all that different. Purdue's prior coach made an effort to really hit Florida and Georgia hard and the current coach has also tapped into Georgia, Tennessee and the Mid-Atlantic states. BTW, Purdue now runs a summer satellite camp in Nashville.

How did Armonze Daniel and Tyler Williams get here, your school pretty much ignored them during recruiting

 

[CalBoiler]

How did Armonze Daniel and Tyler Williams get here, your school pretty much ignored them during recruiting

IIRC, the word on Daniel was that he wanted to return to a southern school and never showed much interest in Purdue (Purdue's staff at the time didn't recruit the state very hard either). Purdue did also recruit some other OLBs that they thought would pan out. One, Phillips, went to DE, another Williams, had to retire due to injury, and a third DE/LB hybrid, Randy Gregory, went JUCO.

As for Williams, Purdue had already recruited two kickers for that class, Griggs out of North Carolina who was the #5 rated kicker in the nation (he currently is the FG kicker) and Meadows out of Virginia (punter). Purdue's special team's coordinator must have liked them better.