Purdue will travel to take on the 16th ranked Iowa Hawkeyes in an effort to salvage a season that at one point seemed very promising at 3-3 following victories against Illinois and Minnesota. Head Coach Barry Odom will take on defensive play calling duties following a Sunday afternoon announcement that he had fired defensive coordinator Kevin Kane following a season of continued errors and fundamental mistakes. To get a victory would mean a seismic shift from what Purdue has been over the last several weeks but not out of the realm of possibility from what they have shown at times this season.
Iowa enters this game as a team on the fringe of consideration of a College Football Playoff invitation. Sitting at 7-2 with remaining games against Purdue, Illinois, and Nebraska, Iowa’s destiny is out in front of them to make their first appearance in the playoff under head coach Kirk Ferentz in his 28th season. The offense isn’t anything to call home about but the defense continues to be one of the nation’s best units under the widely considered best defensive coordinator in the country in Phil Parker.
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When Ryan Browne has been given time to throw the ball this season, he has done a pretty good job of finding his playmakers at receiver. The improvement of those receivers from last year has allowed Browne to take a big leap in his development but that quickly goes away when he isn’t given a clean pocket to work with. That starts up front with the offensive line that features some very promising but young players like Rico Schreiber, Brock Brownfield, Nuku Mafi, and Marques Easley.
Iowa’s defensive front relies heavily on pressure from their front four led by players like Joseph Anderson (4 sacks), Bryce Hawthorne (3.5 sacks/8TFL’s), Drew Campbell (2.5 sacks/4TFL’s), and several other players. DC Phill Parker’s main priority is to ensure explosive plays are limited and force offenses into long, sustained drives that end in mistakes. It’s a formula that is very simple but incredibly effective for the Hawkeyes as they consistently rank near the top of the B1G every season in total defense.
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What is most effective about this scheme is that the Hawkeyes force QB’s into mistakes and they have been able to get turnovers at a high rate. This season has been on the lower side of forcing turnovers with just 9 but the fundamental aspects of the defense remain: don’t miss tackles, limit big plays, force offenses to sustained drives, and don’t put yourself in bad situations by blitzing too much (roughly 20% of the time).
In Iowa’s recent victory over Northwestern, running back LJ Phillips racked up 128 rushing yards on 21 carries to keep control of the tempo. Purdue’s defense, which has struggled to play in the backfield most of the season, must hold Iowa to minimum yards on first down to force QB Hank Brown into drop back passing situations. One aspect that has seemingly gotten better over the last several weeks on the defensive side of the ball is that they are generating some turnovers. That has got to continue by forcing Iowa into obvious passing downs where the defensive backs can worry solely about defending the pass.
Through nine games, Purdue has struggled to consistently disrupt plays in the backfield, surrendering 170.8 rushing yards per game at a 5.2-yard clip while ranking 86th nationally in stuff rate. Purdue doesn’t need to suddenly become a dominant TFL team, rather, they simply need to win enough early-down reps to hold Phillips and the Hawkeye ground game to two or three yards on first down.
