The Ten at Ten

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

You are offensive. So is whatever dance you’re doing.

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Ten at Ten; a combination of 10 positives/negatives from the previous weeks game posted at 10am eastern every Monday.

Positives
1) RicoIsland- Ricardo Allen had his second big test this year, and he delivered. AJ Jenkins had 92yds receiving but they were pretty much meaningless. Allen came up with his 3rd INT of the year, and the secondary as a whole did a pretty excellent job.
2) Kwann Short- Short had 2 sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss. He seemed to be in the backfield all day. After the game Coach Hope said he was just starting to hit his potential. If that’s the case, when he hits his potential he might as well just start in the opponent’s backfield every play.
3) Gerald Gooden- Gooden finally came through with a big play. I have no doubt that his play at defensive end was instrumental to how the rest of the line performed on Saturday. Teams won’t be able to double-team Short every play if Gooden can keep it going. He made the right reads, and made sure to contain Scheelhasse.
4) Quarterback Play- Is the quarterback debate over? Caleb TerBush seems to be improving every game and Robert Marve didn’t get in at all against Illinois. TerBush made some great throws and was able to create some offense when plays broke down; specifically the long throw to Justin Siller.
5) Coaching- I liked the stuff Purdue did on offense. They had a good balance between the pass and run and through a lot of different players in there, particularly at running back, so Illinois couldn’t get used to one guy. Having Siller at QB a couple times was a nice look, though when IL keyed in on it, might be able to throw down field with him next time. Can’t really complain about many coaching decisions this game. I guess main thing is the second half let down. Some people wanted to Purdue to keep their foot on the throttle and keep going after Illinois. Though I’m sure those same people would also tear Hope apart if he did that and we had some late turnovers and lost. Purdue came out ready to play and now find themselves tied for second in the Leaders division.
6) Special Teams- Last week special teams play was disastrous. If they did well against Purdue might be in first in the Leaders division. This week they got back to their normal selves. Carson Wiggs and Cody Webster kept pinning the Illini deep with their kick offs and punts.
7) Offensive Line- This was one of the best games, if not the best, that Purdue did with low amounts of penalties. Even better is none of them really came at a crucial point in the game. The offensive line also held Wiley(the nation’s leader in sacks) to a big zero.
8) The Field- The field looked amazing this weekend. I don’t know the last time I’ve seen the field look this good this late in the season. I’m sure it translated to TV as well. Nothing better than a beautiful looking field on a beautiful fall day with some beautiful Boilermaker victories.

In The Middle
9) The Third Quarter- The third quarter had some positives and negatives. Purdue’s offense kind of stalled this quarter but the defense kept doing what they were doing and didn’t allow any points. Illinois drove down the field a couple times but the defense held them to no points.

Negatives
10) Fourth Quarter- This was definitely the worst part of the game. I don’t know if the play calling was more conservative on defense, resulting in bigger gains for Illinois, or if the players weren’t executing. Purdue let up two touch downs late but recovered the onside kick(yay Justin Siller’s hands, an unofficial positive) to seal the victory.

There are probably some other positives I could have included, like the running game, but I’m trying to live true to the post’s name. As always, leave any positives, negatives, or any commentary below.

Here is a bonus clip posted on The Paint Crew’s Twitter which is hilarious. Probably not the result Akeem Shavers and Justin Siller were looking for in their celebration: