Week 8 Preview: Purdue Boilermakers at Michigan State Spartans
By Evan Reller
Oct 12, 2013; West Lafayette, IN, USA; Purdue Boilermakers quarterback Danny Etling (5) is sacked in the end zone for a safety by Nebraska Cornhuskers defensive end Randy Gregory (44) at Ross Ade Stadium. Nebraska defeats Purdue 44-7. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
The Purdue Boilermakers disappointing season rolls on this weekend with a trip north to face the Michigan State Spartans. Purdue has struggled in everyone of their outings this season, and this coming weekend will be no exception.
The Boilers haven’t shown many signs of life this season and its prompted coach Darrell Hazell to pull out all the stops. He’s changed quarterback (had to happen, Rob Henry was terrible), pulled red shirts off freshmen, and even change the base defensive scheme.
Purdue (1-5, 0-2) is facing a MSU (5-1, 2-0) team that should be ranked in the Top 25 (and have been receiving votes the past few weeks).
Michigan State has the best defense in the country. Purdue, on the other hand, has the 119th ranked offense (out of 123 FBS teams). The Spartans are likely going to pitch a shutout this weekend.
Offensively, this game is going to be as ugly as it gets for Purdue. If you could combine all the awful from the last three games, odds are it wouldn’t be as bad as this game will be. Sure, Danny Etling is the quarterback for the future, but his present is going to be rough on Saturday.
The Spartans are averaging just over an interception per game. Purdue has a serious need at wide receiver and its unlikely that many of them will be able to get separation, thus forcing Etling to throw into tight coverage. Which will lead to incompletions and turnovers against this defense.
As far as the ground game, good luck. The Spartans are giving up just 58 yards rushing per game. Purdue on the other hand has only been able to gain about 78 yards a game. Akeem Hunt isn’t going to find much room to run, and it all honesty Hazell might be smart to abandon the run game altogether.
The only chance of hope for Purdue would be on defense. The Spartans haven’t been very good on offense, but are showing signs of improvement. In all honesty, those improvements came against IU, the worst defense in the Big Ten. If Purdue can limit the Spartans on offense, and force a few turnovers, the offense might have a chance to hit a few field goals.
This is not going to be a pretty game for the Boilermakers, and there isn’t much to say about the game. Thankfully for the fans they won’t have to witness the beating in person.
Expect another blowout loss for Purdue as Michigan State wins 35-3.
Don’t forget to follow us on twitter, @InkOnIndy.