Ryne Smith turned to his teammates near the Purdue bench and screamed in excitement after making a three-pointer.WEST LAFAYETTE – With Football Championship Subdivision school Western Illinois coming Saturday to Ross-Ade Stadium and then back-to-back Mid-American Conference opponents on the slate the next two weeks, Purdue coach Danny Hope figures his team has a great chance to make some strides over the next three weeks.
Hope liked his team’s overall effort in a 23-12 season-opening loss last week at Notre Dame, but he’s targeted some specific areas to focus on this week.
The points of emphasis start with the run game – offensively and defensively.
The Boilermakers spent a lot of time preparing for the Irish’s passing game, and the defense was spread thin to cover the spread offense and still handle the running game. Notre Dame had nine rushes of 10 yards or more.
But Hope expects the Leathernecks (1-0) to run the ball – Michigan State transfer Caulton Ray is the starting running back – and that should give Purdue’s defense a chance to work on a weakness.
The Boilermakers were 94th among Football Bowl Subdivision schools last season in rushing defense, giving up 173.4 yards per game. They gave up 153 against the Irish in the opener.
“This is a good time for our defense to take some steps in that direction,” Hope said of the run defense improving. “We did some good things against the run the other day, particularly in the fourth quarter when they were trying to run the ball to put the game away, and we did some good things at times against the run.
“It’s a good time for us to focus a little bit more on the run game from the defensive standpoint because that’s been our Achilles’ heel in the past, and it was hard to get great focus and time committed preparation-wise to that getting ready for Notre Dame.”
Offensively, Hope would like to establish a run game, too. Purdue didn’t have much of a threat from the backfield in the opener – and likely won’t until Ralph Bolden returns from injury – as quarterback Robert Marve led the team with 10 carries. But the Boilermakers do have a solid, steady ballcarrier in senior Dan Dierking. He rushed for 56 yards on nine carries last week and likely will get another start ahead of Al-Terek McBurse, who missed time with an injury during training camp.
McBurse could get more playing time Saturday – Hope said he’s still committed to McBurse as a “great investment” – but it’s likely backup quarterback Rob Henry and receiver Antavian Edison will contribute to the running game, too.
Marve’s hoping that the offense does whatever it takes to finish drives this time.
Against the Irish, Purdue was 1 of 2 inside the red zone and its two longest drives (79, 89 yards) ended in a field goal and an interception.
“We need to score a lot more points, and I believe we can,” Marve said. “We have a lot of talent. You saw when we got in a rhythm, we were flowing pretty easy down the field. … We’ve got to finish better. So I think our emphasis will be on finishing.”
