The Sidelines

It's the annual ACC/B1G Challenge and Purdue has a tough test Purdue has done pretty well throughout this season so far. They have taken care of lesser known teams and have played close to good ones, Now we reach the toughest part of the season as we now travel down to Tallahassee to play the Seminoles #14 FSU  2018/19 Record: 5-1 (Lost to Villanova) FSU's offense so far is averaging 79 PPG while shooting just half their shots in the paint and 38% from behind the arch, on the offensive glass they average 13 ORB/gm and average 24 DRB/gm. On the defensive end, they hold teams to 66 PPG and holding opponents to 51% shooting in the paint and 31% from behind the arch. They only allow 8 ORB/gm and 20 on the defensive end. #19 Purdue  2018/19 Record: 5-1 (Won against Robert Morris) Purdue's offense is averaging 85 PPG while shooting 57% in the paint and 39% from behind the arch. We are averaging 14 ORB/gm and 26 DRB/gm. On defense, we are allowing 66 PPG while holdin...

Purdue will have a nice tune up game before a tough non-con stretch Purdue did very well in the Charleston Classic losing to a very good VaTech team who came out of the half hot while we grew more and more cold. Now with that done and over with, Purdue has a breather game of sorts when it plays host to Robert Morris #24 Purdue  2018-19 Record: 4-1 (Lost to #16 VaTech) Purdue is averaging 85 PPG with 59% shooting in the paint and 38% from behind the arch. On defense, they are allowing 70 PPG and holding teams to 51% shooting in the paint and 36% from behind the arch. We are also out rebounding teams by a margin of 9, holding teams to just 8 ORB/gm and 20 DRB/gm. Robert Morris  2018-19 Record: 3-2 (Won against Stetson) The Colonials on offense are averaging 75 PPG with 50% shooting in the paint and 35% behind the arch. on defense the are allowing 69 PPG while holding teams to 50% shooting in the paint and 28% behind the arch. They are getting out rebounded by a mar...

Can this finally be the year? This has been an interesting week. From the horrendous loss to Minnesota, to Bobby Petrino being fired to Brohm speculation on Louisville. All of this has been in the way of what's really at steak here. Beating Wisconsin to not only snap a 12 game winning streak, but to get bowl eligibility before driving down to TsiB for the bucket game. Now the question remain, can this be the year? Purdue  2018 Record: 5-5 (Lost to Minnesota) Nothing has changed for Purdue on offense as they are a pass-centered offense, averaging 312 yds/gm through the air and 149 yds/gm on the ground. Since this is senior day, I would expect Blough to play in this one. His stats aren't too bad as he is averaging 282 yds/gm with 18 TD's and 7 INT's while completing 66% of his passes. Other players to look out for will be Moore with his explosive speed as well as Knox for the run game, and pretty much the entire wide receiver corp. On defense, we still lack a ...

Its Tournament Time! I have been looking to this since the 2018-19 season tipped. And with this will come a new format that I will try to implement with all tournaments. What gonna happen is that all the dirty work will be done behind the scenes (like comparing the teams, looking at the stats, etc.). Then I will give my prediction and move on to the next team, so without further to do, lets dive into this. Quarterfinals  Ball State v #16 Virginia Tech Ball State put up a fight against Purdue on Saturday but couldn't put it away. They are averaging 80 PPG with 52% in the paint and 42% behind the arch.And their defense is decent allowing 76 PPG but only allowing 30% shooting from 3 and 47% in the paint.Some of their flaws is turnovers as they commit 13 on average. another issue is rebounds as they are loosing the battle on the offensive end. Virginia tech is averaging 86 PPG with 57% shooting in the paint and 40% from the arch. On the defensive side they are stuffing offe...

Purdue is looking to go 2-0 before the Charleston Classic Purdue cruised to an easy victory over Fairfield, and they now continue their 2 game home stand when they play Ball State #24 Purdue      2018/19 Record: 1-0 (Won against Fairfield) Purdue played pretty well as they went 62% in the Paint and going 46% behind the arch while out-rebounding the Stags 40-25 and putting up 90 points. On the defensive front we held the Stags to just 36% shooting in the paint and behind the arch forcing 12 turnovers and holding them to 57 points. The key players to watch tomorrow night will be Carsen Edwards who had 30 points and went 7-11 from behind the arch. Ryan Cline who had a quiet game racking up a modest 13 points and going 50% across the board. The players to watch on defense will be Grady Eifert and Matt Haarms who both had 9 points apiece and had 18 rebounds combined. Some of the flaws that I have seen is turnovers. while this is not huge now, it can come back a h...

LSU got obliterated by Bama last week, but their opponent this week will be a nice breather Last week was not the game we had hoped for. Instead of a cutthroat battle between two SEC teams proving who should be in the playoff race, we got a very lopsided 29-0 game where the victor is the unstoppable and likely reigning champion, Alabama. and while the Crimson Tide stay at the No. 1 Spot, LSU falls out of the race entirely and opens the door for Georgia to sneak in to the playoffs. But  I think the Tigers will get a much needed breather as they head over to Arkansas will they will play against the Razorbacks. #9 LSU 2018 Record: 7-2 (Lost to #1 Bama) I don't know what happen to LSU during that game, all I know is that their offense was stifled by Bama's offense. LSU has a run-centered offense as they average 170 yds/gm on the ground and 192 yds/gm through the air. Joe Burrow has started in all 7 games. The Ohio St. transfer is having a pretty solid junior year averaging...

A win against the Gophers will make us bowl eligible for the second straight year under Brohm Purdue is rolling right now, coming off a last minute field-goal to win against Iowa in the final seconds and in a great spot to become bowl eligible if we can take care of things against the Gophers. Purdue  2018 Record: 5-4 (Won against #19 Iowa) Purdue's offense hasn't changed as their main strength on offense is the passing game as thy average 330 yds/gm and 155 yds/gm on the ground. Blough has not played some of his best games these past couple of weeks, put he still puts up great numbers. averaging 298 yds/gm to go with 17 TD's and 7 INT's and is completing his passes at around 66% which is the best in his career. Minnesota's defense is bad, so bad that they fired their defensive coordinator after getting pounded by the Illini. the Gopher's allow 235 yds/gm on the passing game and 188 yds/gm on the run. which is saying something after they allowed the I...

IT'S ALMOST TIME We are less than 4 days till the opening tip of the 2018-19 basketball season for Purdue. And this year I don't expect Purdue to have a high caliber team since we did loose the one of our best teams last year, but I do see us making a run in the tourney come March, but with that being light years away, let's focus on the Boilermakers first match up of the season against the Stags of Fairfield #24 Purdue  2017 Record: 30-7 (Lost to Texas Tech in Sweet 16) Purdue last season was good all across the board averaging 80 PPG as well as 54%  shooting in the paint and 42% behind the arch. This year with the departure of what was one of the best senior class in the nation, a lot of these numbers will most likely drop. Our strengths last season on defense were  defensive rebounds as we averaged 26 DRB/gm as well as allowing 66 PPG as well as limiting offenses to 45% shooting in the paint as well as 33% behind the arch. The key players to watch this seaso...

The MM Committee has debated quite some time about this decision One of the greatest things about being a one-man committee is that, I can change the rules however I like, and with this, the MM committee has decided along with the Power 5 conferences, to add the Fighting Irish into the mix, with the reasons as followed They are playing really well so It would make sense that they are in And with the fact that they are Independent, they get to play some really good power 5 opponents With that out of the way, the Irish go on the road for a second straight week to face of the Wildcats of NU. Northwestern 2018 Record: 5-3 (Won against #20 Wisconsin)   Northwestern is in full control of the B1G west after their home win against Wisconsin which is impressive after their 0-3 skid after winning against the Boilermakers in week 1. The wildcats have a pass-oriented offense as they are averaging 280 yds/gm through the air. But they haven't seem to get anything going on the run ...

Can the Boilermakers bounce back after a momentum-killer lost to MSU?  That loss sucked But for some reason, this wasn't a bad loss unlike the EMU loss, we just couldn't get anything going on offense, Blough was pressured all game and could never get hot and threw 2 INT's one not being his fault as Hopkins took a beating, and overall very poor game by Purdue after a stellar performance 2 weeks ago against the Buckeyes. But now we need to put that behind us as we host our 2 nd most hated rival, the #19 ranked Hawkeyes Purdue 2018 Record: 4-4 (Lost to Michigan St.) Purdue did not have their way last Saturday as they struggled to have any success anywhere on offense but like I said before, they need to put this game behind them. Purdue is becoming a more pass oriented team averaging 330 yds/gm but the run game is there too, but not as impressive as the pass with 162 yds/gm. Blough struggled last week as he couldn't find any rhythm with MSU pressuring the hell o...