Purdue tries to extend win streak against Spartans
A month ago, Purdue looked like it might have a hard time gaining bowl eligibility. Now, the Boilermakers, winners of four in a row, find themselves back in the Big Ten race.
Saturday’s 49-20 drubbing of Ohio State leaves the team tied for first in the Big Ten West along with Northwestern, Ohio State, Iowa and Wisconsin. The latter two teams still must travel to Ross-Ade Stadium, with the season-opening loss to Northwestern serving as the Boilermakers lone conference blemish.
But that still leaves the Boilermakers no margin for error the rest of the way, and it means coach Jeff Brohm has to get his team ready for a road game against a Michigan State team smarting from a loss to rival Michigan.
“It’s going to be a tough environment and a tough game for us,” Brohm said. “For us it’s always been a one-game season. That’s the way we treat it and we’re going to have to continue to make sure we stay with our principles on that. We’ve had some bad losses and we’ve had a good win.”
This isn’t one of the better Michigan State teams of recent years. The Spartans have struggled with injuries, and the offense — particularly the running game — has looked out of sync. But the Spartans won’t lack for confidence, having won the last seven meetings with the Boilermakers.
Purdue’s defense struggled early in the season, but the Boilermakers were outstanding defensively against Ohio State, particularly in the red zone. That kept the Buckeyes from staying in the game once the Boilermaker offense started to click.
“I think the red zone — really, inside the ten-yard line — is when we’re very good, because the field gets shorter,” Brohm said. “When you look at our short yardage defense on third and short and fourth and short, we’ve been outstanding because we just tighten things up and we’re going to make you earn it and we’re going to err on the side of having too many guys up in there and too many one-on-one matchups, but hopefully guys up in their face, and because of that, teams have to earn it.”
As for the possibility of a Big Ten title and the prominent bowl game that goes with it?
“I don’t think we’re anywhere close to worrying about what’s going to happen at the end of the year and I definitely don’t think about it one bit,” Brohm said. “I think it’s important that everyone strictly focuses on just finding a way to win this game. The key is if you do all the things necessary at the end of the year, normally you’re where you want to be and if you haven’t, well then actually probably that’s where you should be because you didn’t get it done. So there shouldn’t be any excuses.”