Michigan Not a Big Threat

This weekend the Boilermakers host the Michigan Wolverines. I think that Purdue should come away with a win this time. The struggling Wolverines are only 2-6 right now and on a 4-game losing streak. With the Boilers at home this game, I feel that Purdue's losing streak is about to be snapped.

Michigan has a struggling offense that Purdue's defense should be able to shut down. Our Boiler defense has done extremely well against the top 25 teams that we have played lately, it is just our offense's inability to put points on the board that we have failed to come away with a victory for a while. Both of Michigan's quarterbacks are completing just over 50% of their passes and only go for an average of 5 yards per attempt. Only 2 Michigan receivers have caught over 20 passes this season compared to Purdue's 5 receivers. Both of their quarterbacks seem to throw a lot of interceptions and don't seem to get into the end zone that often. They are suffering the same passing illness that we are right now. Their throwing game should not be a problem for our defense at all.

The Wolverine running game is their strong point, however. Michigan has 3 running backs that have carried the ball for over 150 yards with Sam McGuffie leading the team with 470 yards. Michigan likes to share the ball with many running backs compared to our very own Kory Sheets who has ran for 806 yards by himself. If Purdue's defensive line and linebackers are able to shut down the Wolverine running game, Michigan will have a hard time coming away with many points against the Boilermakers. I predict that the Boilers will win this game, but it will be an offensive struggle the entire game. Hopefully our new quarterback Justin Siller will be able to make our offense more productive and come away with a win.

Heisman Update

The top Heisman contender has changed almost as much as the Purdue Football team loses (sorry Purdue Fans…lmfao). The top contender usually changes each week and really has just became constant in the last week because of his teams great success. The top Heisman hopeful right now is the Texas Longhorns Colt McCoy who has had incredible season not to mention his team is number one team in college football according to the Associated Press and USA Today’s Coaches Polls. Although his team has won eight straight and just recently blew out the old number sixth ranked team. Although his leadership and stats show that he is the man for the award there is still four games left and the runner-up behind Colt McCoy is Texas Techs Red Raider, Graham Harrell. His numbers speak for themselves because with four games left he already has 3100 passing yards and 28 touchdowns. If he keeps putting up these great numbers for the rest of the season and the team goes undefeated then I believe that he could pass Colt McCoy and become the Heisman winner. Both players have a good chance of winning the great award although I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Colt McCoy will walk away with it because the Texas Longhorns are unstoppable.

Winding Up

The College Football regular season is starting to reach towards its end of life this year, with only four games left for most teams (not including bowl games). This means that teams are trying to make an impression on the public so that they can get their bowl dreams to actually come alive and become realities. One team that has turned itself around is the Virginia Cavaliers after being blown out by Southern California 52-7 on their home opener and then losing their next two of three to Connecticut and Duke. These three loses made them one and three. Since this pitiful record they have been undefeated and now are five and three and are atop their conference, ACC coastal, although they have four games left and who knows what could happen they are sure improving quite well. Florida State is another team who is improving well and becoming quite a good football team. After they had lost their third game some college football analysts thought that they had gone back to their old ways and become the Florida State Football team that always rolled over and died after a good start. Although with an ACC Atlantic lead in the conference and a strong showing against Miami and Virginia Tech the Florida State Seminoles are ranked 15th in the AP Poll with only five games left. These five games will be a test of will power and determination because of the difficulty of the remainder of their season. The first team they will face is Georgia Tech, at Georgia Tech; this will be a difficult game because of the size and quickness of Georgia’s defense and also because they have Jonathan Dwyer who is averaging six yards a carry this late in the season. Their next two games are not as difficult not because of the teams but because of the home field advantage that the Seminole fans give their team in Doake Campbell Stadium. Then they go to Maryland and play which will be their second toughest opponent; with number one being the last game of the regular season the Florida Gators. This team is one of the best in the nation with a loss only to Ole Miss because of a last second drive. Florida State has one of the toughest last stretches in the nation to go through but if they succeed and win they could be potential to be a top runner for the BCS Championship Bowl Game. These teams are two of the more improved teams in football and where there is always someone improving, we just gotta know who is declining.

Year of the Tiger…NOT!!!

Well if I know one thing it’s that it is not the year of the tiger in college football because the two well known tiger teams are declining and going fast. But by far the most nationally known team that is declining is LSU, I mean what the hell happened to the DEFENDING NATIONAL CHAMPS. National champs are not supposed to fall this hard and this fast, but I guess it just was not LSU’s year. Although they are just five and two they still are just the shell of the team that beat THE Ohio State Buckeyes last year for the National Championship title. Sure they lost All-American players such as DE (defensive end) Glenn Dorsey, FS (free safety) Craig Steltz, and TB (tailback) Jacob Hester. They were just thought to replace this talent with more talent from the offseason but after the blowout by Florida where the Tigers lost by thirty points; it showed the team that their system is not working well enough because with four interception returned for touchdowns; that’s just one stat that can be looked over. Another struggling team that was optimistic about where they would be this far into the season is the Auburn Tigers. After having such a taught, menacing defense and their new spread offense they were supposed to be a forced to be reckoned with, although this is not the fact because their offense is just terrible and their defense finally buckled after the lost to West Virginia. After becoming three and o the Auburn Tigers have lost four of their last five and need a turnaround if they want to be even noticed for a bowl game. It’s just not these two teams time to become a helluva team.

Brandon Taylor Commits to Purdue

Brandon Taylor, a 6-foot-1, 290-pound defensive tackle, from Miami, Florida verbally committed to Purdue after visiting over the weekend despite seeing the Boilermakers lose 6-17 to the Minnesota Gophers. When asked about the Boiler's loss, Taylor responded, "It really didn't bother me, because I saw they were playing really hard," Taylor said. "What I really liked was that the coach wasn't really hard on them, but he still motivated them." Brandon Taylor likes the coaches here at Purdue, especially Danny Hope, who will take over for Joe Tiller next season. "It went pretty well. I think he's a good guy," Taylor said about his meeting with Danny Hope. "I felt comfortable being around him. And I'm confident he's going to take this team to the next level." Brandon Taylor is one of eight players to verbally commit to play for the Boilermakers next year.

Brandon Taylor is the son of Lawrence Taylor who was a hall of fame linebacker for the New York Giants. Taylor has been under pressure all his life to play well since he is the son of a star football player. Taylor has started the past 2 years at his high school playing defensive tackle and offensive guard, and he has done remarkably well. In just 6 games, he has recorded 40 tackles and 7 sacks. Taylor hopefully will be a key addition to the Boilers football team next year who will make many plays for the defense.

Controversy Continues

Purdue's quarterback controversy is still not over even though Joey Elliott is out for the season with a separated shoulder. During the 6-17 loss to Minnesota, starter Curtis Painter was pulled out early in the game and replaced with third string quarterback, Justin Siller. Even though Painter was only in long enough to complete 6 passes, he was still able to throw an interception without a touchdown. Painter was replaced with Siller because Curtis Painter supposedly recieved a slight separation of his right throwing shoulder. A minor injury like this is one that many quarterbacks are able to play through. Maybe Painter is done and looking for an excuse for playing so bad.

Justin Siller went into the game and was able to make his first collegiate appearance. He didn't do too bad for his first game at the college level. He had 10 completions out of 17 attempts for 73 yards, however; he was unable to produce a touchdown and threw an interception. One thing that Siller has that Painter lacks is his ability to make a play on the ground. Siller is a lot more agile and quicker than Painter. He was able to avoid a couple of sacks by either running the ball for a gain of a couple yards or using his feel to buy enough time for one of his receivers to get open to make a catch. He rushed for 41 yards but officially only rushed for 17 yards after you subtract the yards that he was sacked for. Siller is able to make these plays on the ground since he is a former running back that was converted to a quarterback when quarterback Joey Elliott was put on the injured list for the rest of the season.

The Boilers have a good chance to win this upcoming game since the struggling Michigan Wolverines are 2-6 this season. Purdue needs a win badly to break this losing streak and get some confidence back. Will the injured veteran or the young rookie be the starting quarterback this weekend? I guess we will have to wait and watch the football game this weekend to find out.

Sheets Off Limits to Media

After Purdue's loss to Northwestern, the Boilermaker's star running back Kory Sheets made some comments to the press that Tiller was not proud of. Sheets criticized his quarterback Curtis Painter in some of the after-game talks with the press. He blames Painter for not looking to him in his flat routes and Sheets claims he is wide open most of the time, which is true. Painter has been overlooking Sheets since he is always looking downfield, trying to go downfield for the big play. Kory Sheets states that Painter has too much going through his head during the time of the play and forgets to look to Sheets for the short option pass.

Not only does Sheets criticize his quarterback Curtis Painter, but he also criticizes the play calling by the coaches. He wonders why the coaches still would rather throw the ball even though they are getting nowhere with passes and giving up turnovers. Kory Sheets says that they need to run the ball more often to be more productive. "Right now, Painter hasn't been consistent. ... I'm being real consistent, I think they have to start looking at me for some answers and giving me the ball and let me carry the team, instead of keep putting the ball in Painter's hands," Kory Sheets stated to the press after their loss. Sheets has made it clear that he wants the ball more and he believes that the Boilermakers will play better the more touches he gets.

Head coach Joe Tiller is not mad enough to suspend Sheets or anything for his remarks or anything. Tiller has been putting up with Sheet's mouth for years and knows that he has a big mouth. "We all know Kory pretty well. Anything Kory says doesn't surprise any of us, players or coaches. Kory is liable to say anything at any time," Tiller states. "I have an issue with what he says, somewhat. The other side of the coin, he's playing hard. I think his heart is in the right place. I think he's frustrated. I think it manifested itself in some comments. I don't think he's malicious or thinks anything really bad about his teammates. Am I happy with some of the comments? No. But I know Kory. And I know Kory is competitive and wants to win. So do I." Coach Tiller understands where Sheets is coming from, but put him off limits to the press so he doesn't say anything that he will regret. He is just releasing some of the stress from being on a losing streak when he believes that they should be able to play a lot better than they are playing right now. We will have to wait and see if Joe Tiller listened to Kory Sheets thoughts of giving him the ball more often.