The Ten at Ten

The Boiling Point: This week’s Ten at Ten.

Welcome to another addition of the Ten at Ten; a combination of 10 positives/negatives from the previous Purdue football weekend posted at 10am eastern every Monday. Without further ado…

Positives
1) Decisive Win- Like we said last week, Purdue couldn’t get more lucky than opening with Minnesota for Big Ten play. The Boilers came out with 24 points in the first quarter and didn’t let up. Minnesota didn’t do anything really effective until Purdue’s backups were in.
2) Confidence Boost- After the blowout loss to Notre Dame, the Boilers are sure to get a confidence boost after this win. It comes at a great time with Big Ten season starting and a trip to Happy Valley up next. Penn St’s home crowd can be an intimidating bunch and some say arguably the toughest road venue to play at in the country.
3) Defensive Line- Purdue was finally able to get pressure on the quarterback this week. The defensive tackles, specifically Kwann Short, were able to literally just push the Minnesota guards and center backwards. Ryan Russell also had a big game, recovering two fumbles, tying a Purdue record for fumbles recovered in one game.
4) Ricardo Island- Allen had a tough week matching up with Michael Floyd of Notre Dame and admittedly said he didn’t do his job. He definitely bounced back this week with a pick-six. Allen can be one of the best corners in the conference, maybe even the nation with time, and will be instrumental the rest of the year on defense. It helps that he has already faced his toughest test in Floyd, and won’t face a receiver close to his caliber the rest of the year.
5) Created Turnovers- Purdue was finally able to generate some turnovers while not having any themselves. There were three, with Russell recovering the two fumbles and Allen having the interception which all happened in the first quarter. This has been a big struggle for Purdue in the past, and creating turnovers and capitalizing on them is essential for the future.
6)Team Was Ready- Last week it was clear the coaching staff didn’t have the Boilers prepared. Against Minnesota it looked as though they came out ready to go from the start. There was much more energy and as a whole the team on the sideline looked much more cohesive. There weren’t as many cliques I guess you could say and everyone was supporting one another. Looks as though the players only meeting the previous Sunday may have had an impact.
7)Running Back Talent– This win provided everyone the opportunity to see some of the young talent at the running back position. Raheem Mostert and Akeem Hunt were quick to hit the holes and exploded out of them. Don’t know if RB will be Mostert’s permanent position but Hunt looks like he is there to stay. Brandon Cottom provided a look at the physical presence he will bring to the field. With Ralph Bolden potentially still nursing a thigh injury, look for these guys to get on the field a bunch.

Negatives
8) Carson Wiggs Consistency- There’s no doubt Wiggs can be one of the best, if not the best, kickers in the country. Lately though, he seems to be in a funk with his accuracy. Against ND he missed a 54 yarder, needed a bounce off the goal post to make a 53 yarder against Minnesota and missed a 30 something yarder as well against them. Yeah, crazy to complain about misses at a 50 some yard distance, but they’re almost chip shots with his power.
9)Justin Siller’s Hands- Siller is a wide receiver that is going to be targeted a lot since he’s our biggest target of the group. However, every time he gets open he seems to drop a ton of balls. Antavian Edison looks to be catching everything and Siller needs to get this problem taken care of to balance the receiving core out.
10) Offensive Line Penalties- In what seems to be a reoccurring theme, the offensive line had way to many penalties once again. I’ll give them credit in that they did a much better job blocking, particularly in the running game. These penalties are going to continue to kill us though against harder opponents.

Let us know what your positives/negatives are below.