Trap games can happen at home too: Notre Dame needs to be wary of Purdue

The main issue is Purdue's passing game.  By way of a guaranteed starting slot, agreeable playing style, and plain dumb luck, the Boilermakes secured former uber-prospect turned disgruntled transfer Robert Marve.  He had a rough freshmen year (just like 98% of QBs) with Miami, but Marve represents as physically talented a player behind center for Purdue since Drew Brees.  He's also the source of this absolutely precious quote from Purdue coach Danny Hope:

"The one area that's foreign to him is the pursuit of academic excellence."

If Marve was dumb enough to pose for this photo, is it really surprising that he wasn't a great student back at Miami?

Ah, only in Indiana. 

That aside, Marve teams up with upperclassmen receivers Cortez Smith, Justin Siller, and returning 1100-yard receiver Keith Smith.  At 6'2", 226 lbs, Smith possesses a definitive size advantage over both Gary Gray and Darrin Walls, and should use his frame to post up on the 5-7 yard intermediate routes that define the spread offense.  The key will be for the linebacking corps to be effective dropping back and forcing Purdue to think downfield.  Teams like Northwestern--who have thrived despite undersized O-lines--have shown, blitzing the spread is not necessarily the answer, but with Marve coming back this year from an ACL tear, ND would be wise to find ways to test his mobility....just as Purdue will try to do with us.


The other concern is that we've may have been criminally underrating Purdue.  They went 4-2 to finish the season last year, and averaged a margin of defeat of under 7 points during the early 5-game losing streak that doomed their season to the depths of Big Ten irrelevance. 

Sure, most of their run was due to their passing game coming alive behind Joey Elliott, and that's the only real strength with this year's team (their starting halfback blew out his knee--they set up to be very one-dimensional), but we'd be wise to remember that this squad is coming into the year with just as much, if not more, momentum than Notre Dame is.  We just haven't heard about it because no one gives a damn about Purdue.  That doesn't mean they won't beat us if all the new starters and the new offense for ND doesn't produce right out of the gate, because the Boilers will be trying to have a shootout as always.


That said, Purdue is replacing their entire secondary, and only held two teams under 20 points all last season (one of them was Illinois).  With the way they were gashed by air and ground in equal measure in the weeks afterward, it's safe to say Purdue's dismantling of Ohio State and Terrellle Pryor (34 yards on 20 carries that fateful afternoon) was a big fluke...or OSU's attempt to participate in "breakfast club" gone horribly awry.  If you're familiar with Purdue, you get the breakfast club reference.  If you don't get it, then you've led a superior existence, and I envy you.

If Notre Dame is prepared to score by the buckets on a bad defense, then they should be fine.



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