So happy to be on the other side of rock fight against a very good team. Purdue's passing attack was amazing. Their QB threw pinpoint strikes all over the field, and on most of their completions you just had to tip your hat. We tackled well, and GW did what he could to contain Jones. That guy is a nightmare to cover - especially with a QB who's that good. The only serious issue I noticed on D is coverage of the TE in the red zone - wide open TWICE. That has to be cleaned up.
In the end, we did what we had to. Credit should go to Purdue's D. Their DL gave us fits in PP. In the run game, we had a hard time opening holes against 7 in the box. Our WR's struggled against press coverage. And clearly GS wasn't himself.
Gutsy win against an excellent team.
Yep. I gotta add- Charlie Jones is more than just the real deal. His route running, hands and speed remind me a ton of Cooper Kupp. I don't say that lightly either. You add in an elite QB in terms of vision and accuracy and that is a lethal combo. They connected on throws where Garrett had it covered extremely well. The trip up on the long ball late hurt- some bad luck there but earlier Jones barely missed hauling in a similar pass that was off by inches.
Because he doesn't have the national profile quite yet, and Purdue is 1-2, Jones is probably not going to get the best WR in the country designation but in the total package I don't think there is a better WR in college football right now- forget what he did the previous few years.
As for O'Connell- no way there is more accurate QB out there. I was actually impressed that despite his lack of mobility, he does a nice job moving within the pocket with great composure and feeling the pressure to move away from it to buy time. It's something to a lesser extent I've been happy to see from Garrett as well. The play on the INT was a shocker and out of character and I'll point to a product of environment and Mikell bearing down on him.
